Are People Buying Books on Amazon Anymore...
I used to Complain about selling one book per day...
Now I Sell one book every week or 10 days...or Less! My inventory is competitive with titles that should sell on a national basis... Something has Changed....
Are People Buying Books on Amazon Anymore...
I used to Complain about selling one book per day...
Now I Sell one book every week or 10 days...or Less! My inventory is competitive with titles that should sell on a national basis... Something has Changed....
25 replies
Seller_GcgO8JJ3AX3Rw
I don't know about books besides some audio books I have on cd but I can tell you that cds sell in bunches then literally stop for days. I don't think it is the product but something going on with the algorhythm that is affecting sales. I've never had more streaks of 4 to 7 days between sales in the last 3 months but still have met recent historic averages or even exceeded them in total sales. I think my sales would be through the rough if something funny was not going on.
I suppose I should be glad sales are averaging out for me when considering what you are experiencing.
As I told you, I've seen you taking heat on these forums for seemingly decades (I've been here since late 2000) for claiming there is cycling but I think there is no dispute that something resembling de dacto cycling is occurring today !
Seller_CjhiPF5uEpNUQ
Were you listing as Collectibles? I was. When you search for a title now you really have to know what you are doing to find collectibles.
On close to 12,000 books on Amazon my sales are reflecting about the same as yours.
Michelle_Amazon
Hello @Seller_awYU0oH8skccg,
Michelle at Amazon here. I am not aware of any changes made, but I will reach out to the category manager so they can look to see if anything is wrong. I do know that a lot more people are going to reading online rather than a paper book, so that could be the decrease in sales. If I get any insights, I will be sure to let you know.
Thanks,
Michelle
Seller_CW0P5hgbsiqWX
Yes, customers are still buying books on Amazon. What makes the difference is what type of books you offer.
Seller_TeK7HYTK7PiOb
We sell a few new books in our niche. Some sell a few times a day, some a few times per week. It's a small sample size so I can't infer much about overall trends but our sales for most of them are up year over year.
Seller_vviQKhuusNwko
Yes they still sell. I've been selling book ss a hobby for 14 years on Amazon and the real issue as I see it is that its much harder for buyers to see that a book can be purchased used from a multitude of vendors. Over my time its gotten harder for customers to see this, especially un-savy computer users. Between 2010 and 2016 it was much easier and the volume of books I sold was much higher. As this is just a hobby for me I've just grown to accept the drop off.
Seller_ToPPYvOWlyp9j
They're buying!
We had the best Aug/Sept sales-as in 25%-30% better-we've had in years. I was shocked, surprised, delighted! At this point in OCT, had 20% more sales than the same time last year. Not a big deal- 8 books, equaling one more daily for OCT.
Why, I couldn't tell you. We listed approx. 3000 more books than usual within the last 12 months. Since we don't bulk-list, look at every volume , this is more of an achievement than one might think.
Yes, many of the titles we sold were rare or scholarly( not textbooks. We haven't sold those, again, in years. Too many returns, supposed INR's or A-Z's.). As a bibliophile, books are a requirement to me. Glad to learn some buyers feel the same.
Seller_PavQMibAWMTz2
It is the way Amazon has it's webpage setup. Most people buy things off their phone. If you search for a book and click on the item, it shows a picture of the book and under it is the "buy it now" button. A lot of people are lazy and just click it thinking "this is the best deal". They have no clue how to search for the small used price button, probably because it is hidden. Most of the time the "but it now" is for a new book sold by Amazon themselves.
I'll give you an example. I just entered a book ranked 300,000. On Amazon "buy it now" is $12.99. On the bay the first one that pops up is $4.40 for used. On abe it is $6.17 for used.
I don't know why Amazon does this, but if it keeps on going the way it is (customers / readers) will realize they are being screwed and start purchasing their books elsewhere.
I remember 15 plus years ago I would list 100 low ranked, high quality, books a day. Within 24 hours I would have sold at least 50. Now it is more like 5. It is not because of e-books it is the way Amazon customers are being "forced" into buying new instead of used.
Seller_qLuD9SeTjyiFW
My account was just shut down because I mistyped one tracking number, I cannot get it re-opened as of today. My book sales were down, and the postage is killing me. I think they are trying to get rid of a small seller like me. So sad. So much for free market economy. I sell if lucky 5 books a week.
Seller_CRAHk6FHN1cLe
Amazon has almost every book available new for 15.00 or less. As an experiment I downloaded and analyzed an entire publisher's catalog. The buy box for 95 percent of them were below 20.00 with Amazon holding most of the buy boxes. The days of selling books with high returns are pretty much over. Don't even get me started on the 95 percent of "new" booksellers who don't have a solitary invoice to their name. They are all done the second Amazon locks the category and ask for invoices for new books. Don't think it can happen? DVDS 2008 right before the holidays.
