What happened to the book sales?
Is anyone else experiencing a serious decline in book sales? We're down 38% ytd. We've been at this since 2005, have a 99% customer approval rating, and have absolutely no clue why this is happening. Thoughts?
What happened to the book sales?
Is anyone else experiencing a serious decline in book sales? We're down 38% ytd. We've been at this since 2005, have a 99% customer approval rating, and have absolutely no clue why this is happening. Thoughts?
52 replies
Seller_qTJiCxRI8PpIZ
We have too. I haven't had a chance to take a look at the exact figures. But I would say my sales are down about 70% tp 75% from this time last year. Part of it is Amazon's crappy search algorithms. I think the other part of it is Amazon lumping special editions and signed copies (which are a lot of my inventory) with non special editions so that buyers can no longer find them. That being said, sales on all 5 venues I sell on are slow so who knows.
Seller_nRFmxiQg4EGrw
My volume is down, but my ASP is way up; almost enough to compensate.
Seller_VQbP3pHGEgs6f
Same here. The pandemic years saw record sales, but 2022 was disappointing. 2023 was abysmal. At first I thought that people were tired of purchasing books and were spending their post-pandemic dollars on travel and recreation, but now I wonder if books have just gone out of vogue?
Seller_roNdLQpqbVoOH
My thoughts are that this has been a regularly-appearing discussion over the years, and a lot of sellers' "thoughts" can still be found by searching the forums...old and new.
Book sales are, have been, and will probably continue to, slow everywhere. I don't know that anyone can ever ascertain the "why" of this, so I don't think that much about it. (But, on Amazon, I have to agree with those who say the search function - and I use the term "function" loosely - does NOT help customers find what they want.)
January and February have always been my best months. Still are, just lower volume.
I just keep tweaking my (older) inventory - editing and raising/lowering prices as necessary - and this seems to help in some mysterious way. If only to tell Amazon that I'm still here! 📗📘📙
Glenn_Amazon
Thanks to everyone for providing their insights and experiences on this concern,
In general there are many factors that can attribute to slowed sales of any product, books included, and it is generally not possible to find a single source of slowed velocity. Often the issue is tied to buyer interest, products have ebbs and flows and markets can be unpredictable.
For any feedback that you have here I will ensure it is directed to the appropriate teams but please note that I won't be able to provide any specific updates. Thank you for your understanding.
-Glenn
Seller_keSnEDesLFVwv
I think that book buyers are slowly moving away from Amazon.
They are doing this because the buy box is often given to obviously bad sellers ( Obvious to you and me, but probably not to the average buyer )
You or I would skip through the sellers, avoiding the bad ones. But the average Amazon customer does not see the issue so easily nor so clearly. All they know is that they clicked on the Amazon buy box and they received a piece of junk
So their response is to stop buying books on Amazon.
Amazon does not only allow bad sellers to get the buy box, they are actually complicit in this. Over the last year I have seen a huge increase in feedback that has been struck through. The seller can send a badly damaged book to FBA, sell it as new, and Amazon suppresses the victim's feedback.
The net result is that more and more damaged and misgraded books are being sold. Customers conclude that the only way to avoid this is to stop buying books on Amazon.
BTW, my latest feedback praises me for the item being as described. That should be the minimum, and not worthy of mention. But now it is exceptional.
Seller_awYU0oH8skccg
Its all in the AZ Algos. '
There are "Blessed" Sellers who Sell Everything All the Time...& Others Who Only Sell When AZ "Lets Them"...I have Hot & Cold Periods when my "Sprinkler" is On or Off...Right Now its OFF Big Time...I Usually Vacation Books if Nothing Sells for a Week.
Seller_Nmq8J08fnpZ4R
My sales down a little bit; it does not help when amazon inactivates a book for too "high" a price when I raise the price $0.30 to $4.29 to cover the increase in postage.....a totally bogus maneuver.....their algorithm for pricing is totally out of control and in essence is counterproductive since it is taking commission and fees away from amazon.....it is not a valid pricing tool
Seller_C2NiEkAU4xTGT
We have been selling books here since 2003. It is becoming more and more difficult to sell books here. I believe it is because Amazon has made it extremely difficult for buyers to find books, and when they do find a book that they are looking for, all but the buy box offering is practically hidden.
It is extremely frustrating, but unless Amazon goes back to the way books were searched and found previously, I don't see it getting any better.
