BOOK TO THE FUTURE - Selling on Amazon's FBA Program

44 Pages·2010·1.39 MB·English

by  Preferred Customer

Selling on Amazon’s FBA Program

Nathan Holmquist

www.sellfba.com
Copyright © 2010 Nathan Holmquist
All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
DISCLAIMER AND/OR LEGAL NOTICES: The information presented herein represents
the view of the author as of the date of publication. Because of the rate with which
conditions change, the author reserves the right to alter and update his opinion based
on the new conditions. The report is for informational purposes only. While every
attempt has been made to verify the information provided in this report, neither the
author nor his affiliates/partners assume any responsibility for errors, inaccuracies or
omissions. Any slights of people or organizations are unintentional. If advice
concerning legal or related matters is needed, the services of a fully qualified
professional should be sought. This report is not intended for use as a source of legal
or accounting advice. You should be aware of any laws which govern business
transactions or other business practices in your country and state. Any reference to
any person or business whether living or dead is purely coincidental.

Nathan Holmquist
1121 N. 94th Street #B
Seattle, WA 98103
[email protected]
Introduction

“When you sell a man a book, you don’t sell him 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue –
you sell him a whole new life.”
— Christopher Morley

When I first started playing poker, I assumed that the only way to win was with a good hand. But the
more hands I played and the more books I read on the subject, I had one of those “Ah-Ha” moments:
I realized that the quality of the hand is not always the key to winning. There are other factors
involved in the game, such as the position at the table and knowing your opponents. Once I had
figured this out, I felt I had an almost unfair advantage over the competition. I could take down a pot
with even the most worthless hand by utilizing my position and my knowledge of my opponents.
The same is true for book selling. Even the most worthless books can be sold at a profit by utilizing
position and knowing the buyers. Fortunately, Amazon has a new program which allows sellers to
capitalize on this. The purpose of this eBook is to:
 Show the tremendous benefits of Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)
 Provide step-by-step instructions on how to get started
 Give examples on how to leverage FBA to maximize profits
This book is full of screen shots because, if you’re anything like me, it is much easier to learn with
visual examples. There are many pictures of actual listings, sales, and payments to help get the point
across.
I hope you enjoy reading this eBook and wish you the best of luck selling books in the future.

—N.

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PART 1:

The Benefits Of FBA

(Fulfillment By Amazon)

Fulfillment by Amazon is a program where you ship all (or some) of your inventory to Amazon’s
warehouse and they store and fulfil orders on your behalf.
When I first heard of the FBA program, I was extremely sceptical. I did not want someone else
storing, packing, and shipping my books. I wanted to control my business. But after using the
program for a couple months, the benefits far outweighed any disadvantages.
I will get into the exact benefits of the FBA program a little later in this section, but first I want to get
to some examples.
For more information on the FBA program, please watch this short video.
How to Profit From Penny Books
Let’s get right to business, and learn how to sell penny books for a profit. Once you have joined the
FBA program, it’s time to learn about pricing strategies. With FBA, you can price books $3.98 higher
than the competition, and still remain on the top of the listings.
How is that possible?
The price listings are based on price plus shipping. When you list at $3.99, customers do not have to
pay for shipping because they qualify for Super Saver Shipping or Amazon Prime.

 The term “penny book” will be used interchangeably with paperback and mass market paperback throughout this
book. For the purpose of this book, the definition of a penny book is any light-weight book (under one pound) that sells
for or around one cent on Amazon’s listings.

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Here is what a listing looks like when you list a penny book at $3.99 with FBA. My Amazon seller
name is Book to the Future.

The beauty of this is that, unless there are other FBA sellers, you have an unbeatable position. You
are at the top of the listing.

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Commissions
When you sell a mass market paperback for $3.99 you have to pay commissions, of course.
Here is a cost-analysis break down:
 15 percent commission
 $1.35 Variable Closing Fee
 $.50 Fulfillment Fee
 $.40 per lb. weight based fee

So, let’s do the math.
$.60 (15% of $3.99 = $.60)
$1.35
+ $.50
+ $.13 (A typical mass market paperback weighs 6 oz.)
= $2.58 in commissions
$3.99 – $2.58 = $1.41 in profit

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Here is a screen shot of a sample payment for a mass market paperback book:

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Pricing High to Maximize Your Profit
I have even tried some crazy pricing experiments and sold used penny paperbacks for $8.49 and
$6.95. These books were James Patterson’s 4th of July, and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and The
Chamber of Secrets (Book 2).
Here is a screen shot of James Patterson’s 4th of July.
ISBN: 0446613363

As you can see, the profit after commissions is $5.11 – for a penny book! Using these methods, it is
possible to profit from penny books:
 Minimum Pricing at $3.99
 Pricing high to Maximize Profit

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**Update on the Penny Books**
When the first version of this eBook was written, there were very few FBA sellers. Now, two years
later, there are numerous FBA sellers selling penny books. They are also selling way below $3.99 – all
the way down to $2.49.
Because of this, I no longer recommend that you send penny books to FBA. The profit margin is slim
to none these days. On the bright side, there are still very few FBA sellers on books priced at $.02 and
above. There is still good money to be made with these books!
I decided to leave the penny book section in this latest version because it does a good job of
showing the pricing/sorting advantage for FBA sellers.

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How to Triple Your Money on a Sale
If you’re not interested in making small profits on paperback books, these strategies also work well
for books at all price ranges. Here is an example of a book that sold recently. ISBN # 1571314075.

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