I am always intrigued by the idea of selling my old stuff on eBay or Craigslist to make a few extra bucks. However, I rarely put in the time or effort to make it happen. My occasional listing on Craigslist did nothing, so I put the idea on the back-burner. However, a new option to sell your stuff has piqued my interest.
Selling on Amazon.com
As far as I always knew, you could sell your stuff on the Amazon Marketplace similarly to how you sell on eBay. You list your stuff and if someone buys it, you send it over. This takes a lot of effort. You have to list each item, wait for the sale, and ship the item out yourself.
Things have changed.
Fulfillment by Amazon
If you just want to get rid of the stuff today and worry about the money later, Amazon has a service that allows you to ship your junk over in a big box all at once. When it sells, Amazon ships it out to the final customer for you.
This is a great service if you have valuable stuff to sell. If it will sell for $5 or more, this could be a great deal for the lazy seller. If the items are going to sell for less, you are probably better off with other options. When you add the item to your shipping list, Amazon will give you the value so you can decide whether or not to send it in.
Amazon also handles all customer service issues that come up after the sale, rather than you. Items sold through the service are also eligible for free Super Saver Shipping and free Amazon Prime shipping. This makes your total sale price lower so your items are more desirable than competitors selling on Amazon.
How to Sell Your Stuff
If you already have an Amazon account, getting started is easy. Just go sign up as an Amazon seller and add the Fulfilled by Amazon service to the account.
Next, get your boxes (Amazon does not provide these) and your stuff that you want to sell. Pick your first box (you list items by the box, so it is important to stay organized) and figure out what will fit inside. Go to Amazon Seller Central and choose “add a listing” from the inventory menu.
Follow the prompts to add your item, list its condition and selling price, choose to sell it using the Amazon fulfillment service, and where you are sending the box from. You can keep adding as many items as you can fit in the box. Make sure to add the items to the existing shipment rather than create a new one.
Sending Your Stuff to Amazon
After you are done adding items to your box, choose the option to “work on shipment.” Follow the prompts and make sure your inventory list matches what is in the box. Choose SPD for your shipping option and send from the Amazon partner carrier.
Print your packing slip, stick it in the box, and seal it. On the next page, enter the box size dimensions and weight. You will be charged for shipping, so try to be accurate so you are charged correctly and the carrier accepts your shipment.
Print your label and attach it to the box. From there, schedule a pickup from the carrier or just take the box to a shipping store. Amazon will take care of the rest for you.
If you have a lot of old DVDs sitting around and you are now a streaming person, or you are a big reader with a lot of old books that could be worth something, or are a reformed married gamer that has a big stash of conquered quests you won’t play anymore, this could a great service to use.
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I have sold many books in the past on amazon, and also sold old movies, CDs when they used to be a bit more popular. Amazon is not a bad way to go, but if I remember correctly their fees are higher than ebay’s fees are.
I think you are right about the fees, but for the time savings it could be worth it for some people.
that is awesome! I didnt know it was this easy. I may be moving soon so this could really help!
Plan on a little time to get familiar with the system. After you send your first box, it is pretty easy.
I’ve looked into this myself, and if you’re moving a fair amount of items, I think it really could be a great way to go. One thing to keep an eye out for is that they do charge a fee for the storage of items. I haven’t looked far enough to know what it is, but I believe it’s based on volume used for storage (so DVDs are likely cheap).
I didn’t know about the storage fee, I’ll have to check on that
Wow, it almost sounds too easy! I have a lot of old stuff up in the attic that i never use. Mainly a lot of electronic equipment from my old business venture.
They might take them, just check on the weight first for shipping costs to Amazon.
As a married gamer (but married to a gamer) who also has the remnants of a game store in her basement, let me know if you are noticing any game items that are actually worth anything. Much of what we have would only be worth selling on eBay in batches
I don’t have too big of a stack of games at home. Most of what I have that I don’t use anymore are old PS2 games, which are not worth much anywhere
Had no idea Amazon even offered this. Sounds like it might be time to head back to the ‘rents and clean out some old stuff in storage. Certainly seems to be easier than dealing with eBay.
It is the easiest way to sell, just make sure your old stuff will sell for enough to cover the higher fees.
Eric, I’m quite surprised that Amazon offers something like this. I’ve got a ton of stuff to sell but didn’t want to go through the hassle of selling it all separately. Definitely need to look into the Amazon fulfillment option soon! I wonder if anyone would want to buy a bag of 10-15 usb flash drives….
Selling the USB drives in bulk, you might have better luck on eBay. It is a lot of work to list everything there, but I have seen success stories. I didn’t want to go through the work, so this seems like a great option.
Selling on Amazon is great… I’ve now made about $2000 on stuff I didn’t need. I wrote about it here: http://www.economicallyhumble.com/2011/12/sorta-passive-income-report-amazon.html
That’s a great story. It looks like you just sold the books directly. Does this sound like a better deal based on your experience?
I’ll have to check it out! I never consider them as an option really. Good job finding a new path!
Thanks Don. Let me know if you give it a shot.
Aha! I learn something new every day. I sell stuff online already mainly through eBay and etsy and my own website. I never really considered Amazon before but will definitely check it out now. Thanks for the informative post.
It is best for selling used stuff with a bar code, so Etsy products probably would not work. Without a bar code, you would have trouble adding it to a shipment.
Etsy products
probably would not work. Without a bar code, you would have trouble
adding it to a shipment.
That is correct, this method really only works well for items with bar codes.