Getting an Add to Basket to appear
I have an individual seller account (not professional) which I have had since 2018, although was inactive for a while and just started listing again. I have added the listing for a book, and there is no Add to Basket, only See all Buying Options.
No one else sells this book by the way, if that is relevant.
Can anyone recommend please the fastest most reliable way to get the Add to Basket to appear?
Do I need to do FBA? I don’t want a Professional account as I am likely to sell less than 40 per month at the beginning.
Getting an Add to Basket to appear
I have an individual seller account (not professional) which I have had since 2018, although was inactive for a while and just started listing again. I have added the listing for a book, and there is no Add to Basket, only See all Buying Options.
No one else sells this book by the way, if that is relevant.
Can anyone recommend please the fastest most reliable way to get the Add to Basket to appear?
Do I need to do FBA? I don’t want a Professional account as I am likely to sell less than 40 per month at the beginning.
Seller_DTufFoxJuMU0M
Ok that’s good.
So to get back to the original question of the buybox your options are: pay for the professional plan, or do FBA
30 replies
Seller_DTufFoxJuMU0M
I believe the buybox is only available to people on the professional selling plan.
Seller_BS5lg2keRs2QO
FBA sellers can be eligible without being on the pro selling plan, FBM sellers cannot.
Seller_Cag7tt44VLqxQ
Thanks. I guess I’ll have to sign up for FBA then.
Seller_BS5lg2keRs2QO
Make sure the maths works out in terms of sending to Amazon, storage fees etc. Note it also only makes you eligible for the BB - it doesn’t guarantee you’ll get it. That’s especially the case for selling used media where you might find Amazon don’t like your price.
Seller_DTufFoxJuMU0M
I’m pretty sure the cost of sending the item into FBA and the storage, would not be worth it for a book especially if you don’t plan on selling more than 30 items a month.
From what I understand the profit on books is tight enough as it is.
People can, and do, still buy when you don’t have the buy box.
Seller_Cag7tt44VLqxQ
Thanks, I checked and it looks less than 50p per cubic foot per month. That doesn’t sound a lot to me. Am I missing something here?
Seller_DTufFoxJuMU0M
And probably £2-3 to get the book into them in the first place, plus the FBA fulfilment fees, referal fees, closing fee for books, vat on all the above.
Like I said I understood books to have a very small margin.
Seller_Cag7tt44VLqxQ
Understood. I appreciate the advice, thanks.
Seller_DROodOAYHftnc
…and if they don’t sell, then you have long-term storage fees.
Do you actually mean Individual Seller Account, or Individual selling plan (ie. do not pay the monthly Professional plan fee) ?
As above - Professional is not the name of a seller account, only the name of the selling plan.
Are all the books you sell your own personal second-hand, used items ?, or are you buying items to sell on for profit ? - if so you need to have a Business Seller Account, not Individual Account.
Seller_FQHkqHJI5SqTh
Don’t know where you have got the idea that margins are small on books. The traditional used book trade is characterised by very high margins, but slow turnover. We aim for 500% gross on purchases.
This may be different for the outfits knocking out mass market dross for coppers and making their money on the postage.
Seller_LpjhinHAD7f55
Please can you tell me what your judging your quotes on low margins on books as I been selling books for 40years plus and this is not the case as Allen Williams books quotes
Maja_Amazon
Hey Toolbox_Trading! In case you have not seen it yet, there is a Help Page dedicated to Buy Box and Becoming Buy Box eligible.
Hope it is useful for you!
Maja
Seller_DTufFoxJuMU0M
I am not a book seller. But I have seen many threads on here with people complaining about how they can’t make money on books, so that is where my impression came from.
like I said originally “From what I understand the profit on books is tight enough as it is.”
I didn’t say that I was sure it was, or I had experience, I just quoted an opinion based on my understanding.
If that is incorrect then I stand corrected, obviously the many posts complaining about the profitability of books, the high fees, the low margins, the low sales volume and the mess of the catalogue have led me to the wrong conclusion.
Seller_DROodOAYHftnc
@Julia_Amazon @Jessica
Here we are again with sellers not understanding the difference of the two ‘Individuals’, and assuming that Individual Account is same as sole-trader - which it is NOT.
Surely the ‘higher-ups’ must realise that the use of the same name causes complete confusion.
