Would I be better listing “New” books as “Like New”?
My main speciality on Amazon is selling “New” copies of long out of print well regarded books well stored at great expense which over the years customers have bought as they would prefer a new copy to second hand. Hardly ever had a problem until recently.
Before listing on Amazon I examine each copy to make sure it is perfect, and keep it separate from my other sales stock. They are carefully examined before sending to ensure they are still perfect.
I have received a claim with the heading: “Damaged or defective item: Request a replacement item” with the message “My order arrived but it has scratched and rubbed covers. I decided to keep it anyway, but I was wondering if you could issue a discount. “
This was a sale to one of the largest best known book resellers. I have few sales on AZ at present, and I can clearly remember carefully examining this book and packing to be bomb proof so I am staggered at the message. It feels to me they just want to get a reduction to the price for their commercial purposes. I’m still pondering how I shall respond.
Inevitably I don’t have an invoice less than a year old for the books so on the very odd occasions there has been a claim recently the title has ended up locked for my selling.
Some imperfect books have been listed as such and I have never had a claim for one. I’m wondering if I change my listings of “new” books to “Like New” the torture we are put through if there was a claim would be less severe and I can still sell the book. Inevitably it would be less clear to customers – but to my mind the “Buy box” has made customer choice much more opaque.
I am a business seller but no longer have a professional account as sales no longer support it.
Any thoughts will be gratefully received as claims are noticeably rising – one customer didn’t like the smell of the paper the book was printed on – how do you explain to AZ how that happened and how you will prevent it in future – and it feels Armageddon is approaching for reasons outside my control.
Would I be better listing “New” books as “Like New”?
My main speciality on Amazon is selling “New” copies of long out of print well regarded books well stored at great expense which over the years customers have bought as they would prefer a new copy to second hand. Hardly ever had a problem until recently.
Before listing on Amazon I examine each copy to make sure it is perfect, and keep it separate from my other sales stock. They are carefully examined before sending to ensure they are still perfect.
I have received a claim with the heading: “Damaged or defective item: Request a replacement item” with the message “My order arrived but it has scratched and rubbed covers. I decided to keep it anyway, but I was wondering if you could issue a discount. “
This was a sale to one of the largest best known book resellers. I have few sales on AZ at present, and I can clearly remember carefully examining this book and packing to be bomb proof so I am staggered at the message. It feels to me they just want to get a reduction to the price for their commercial purposes. I’m still pondering how I shall respond.
Inevitably I don’t have an invoice less than a year old for the books so on the very odd occasions there has been a claim recently the title has ended up locked for my selling.
Some imperfect books have been listed as such and I have never had a claim for one. I’m wondering if I change my listings of “new” books to “Like New” the torture we are put through if there was a claim would be less severe and I can still sell the book. Inevitably it would be less clear to customers – but to my mind the “Buy box” has made customer choice much more opaque.
I am a business seller but no longer have a professional account as sales no longer support it.
Any thoughts will be gratefully received as claims are noticeably rising – one customer didn’t like the smell of the paper the book was printed on – how do you explain to AZ how that happened and how you will prevent it in future – and it feels Armageddon is approaching for reasons outside my control.
42 replies
Seller_64jziShTiTjOq
If you did not buy direct from the publisher, or a recognised wholesaler like Gardners, or don’t have recent invoices from them, you will not get Amazon to accept the books as New. Used - Like new is your only option
Seller_DROodOAYHftnc
The advantage of listing as ‘Like new’ is that you can at least put a condition description., so could put something along the lines of ‘This is actually a new, unused book, been carefully stored as such, but due to age has been graded as like new’…or similar, in your own words.
I’m on the verge of downgrading from Pro. Plan too as not even averaging a sale a day for the past 2/3 months - it’s dire.
I used to be 80-90 a month a few years ago.
Seller_taDBgt7LctucW
If you are selling out-of-print books then I imagine that you are quite competitive on price as there are presumably no other sellers, or at least very few, listing new copies, right? However it’s quite likely that there are plenty of used copies at prices far lower than yours. If that’s all correct then if you list as “Like New” then your offer will be a long way down a list of other sellers’ offers and will be seen by far fewer potential buyers. If you list as “New” then your offer will be far more visible and you should get far more sales.
In my experience this is certainly true. I regularly sell New copies of out-of-print books listed at say £19.95 even when there are dozens of used copies at prices starting from a few pence. I also regularly have slightly shelf-worn but brand new stock listed as either “used - very good” or “used - like new” and these sell far slower.
Seller_87mKFKKA3Vwkx
I stopped listing CDs and DVDs as ‘like new’ (even when they were - brand new items but not sealed) as customers seemed far more picky with products described this way than if I’d just listed them as ‘new’.
I know you’re talking about books - but it just takes one miniscule scratch, dink, bend or stain for customers to complain when listed as ‘like new’ - but if they were described a ‘new’ these defects would correctly be attributed to something going slightly awry in the manufacturing process
Seller_ugiIC6Uads3Rv
I’ve had the same. I offered a full refund on return, heard nothing else. Suspect I won’t get too many orders from them in future…
Seller_9SyKla9PvPecT
I think it’s well worth a try listing new books as “like new.” Apart from anything else you can submit a detailed description, which you can’t do when listing a book as “New”. When listing it as New you can only submit the price and no description whatsoever so unless the purchaser is familiar with the book, it’s unlikely to be purchased.
Irrespective of how it’s listed there are always rogues and chancers but thankfully they generally seem to be few and far between in the world of booksales. Every once in awhile you’ll lose out and often to someone dishonest. Best just roll with the blows as in the grand scheme of things it shouldn’t normally make a world of difference.
Good luck whatever you choose to do.
Seller_RiVN2dcWY6xy9
You should also be aware that listings “old” books as “New” may put buyers off believeing them to be another of the ubiquitous “print on demand copies” rather than a presumed “remaindered” original hardback copy.
I would be tempted to list “As New” unless the original publishing date is within a couple of years. This way you can describe the book exactly, eg, “The book is an unread remaindered copy in mint condition without any marks or damage” assuming of course that they dont have a remaindered mark to the edge of the text block.
