This lesson will will walk you through the process of listing books on amazon.com. To do this you will log in to your account. In the right sidebar under the ‘Marketplace’ heading click on the ‘your seller account’ link. This will take you to your seller account dashboard.

Under the ‘Manage your inventory’ heading select the ‘list single items’ option. This will take you to the ‘list single items for sale’ page. This page allows you to identify the book that you are listing. Enter the ISBN number if one is available. If the book that you are listing lacks an ISBN then look up the book by title. After entering either ISBN, or title, press the corresponding ‘continue’ button. You will move to the condition page.

Look at the top third of the condition page and check that the book you are listing matches the book identified in the text and photo. If you are comfortable with your identification, you will proceed to selecting a condition from the drop-down menu. The condition that you choose should conform to the condition guidlines from Amazon.com:

• New: Just like it sounds. A brand-new, unused, unread copy in perfect condition.
• Like New: An apparently unread copy in perfect condition. Dust cover is intact; pages are clean and are not marred by notes or folds of any kind. Suitable for presenting as a gift.
• Very Good: A copy that has been read, but remains in excellent condition. Pages are intact and are not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.
• Good: A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dust cover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include “From the library of” labels.
• Acceptable: A readable copy. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (the dust cover may be missing). Pages can include considerable notes–in pen or highlighter–but the notes cannot obscure the text.
• Unacceptable: Moldy, badly stained, or unclean copies are not acceptable, nor are copies with missing pages or obscured text. Books that are distributed for promotional use only are prohibited. This includes advance reading copies (ARCs) and uncorrected proof copies.

Be sure to read and understand the conditions. If you sell a book in ‘very good’ condition and the buyer finds that it contains underlining you will receive negative feedback or a request for return of goods.

The form below the condition menu is titled ‘Add your comments about the condition’. This is where you will completely describe the condition of the book that you are selling. This is the most important part of the process. We have written a lesson specifically about writing a good description. (See, Writing accurate descriptions.) When you have entered your description press the continue button to proceed to the pricing and shipping page.

At the top of the pricing and shipping page you will have the option to set your asking price for this book. In order to set an appropriate price you will want to look at the ‘pricing details for your item’ box, at the right side of the screen. Here you will find the ‘list price’ or the price on the cover, the current low price for new copies selling on Amazon.com, and the current low price for used copies selling on Amazon.com. On some occasions there will be a low price for collectible copies and if there is a buyer waiting to buy a copy this information will be added.

Our suggestion is to price one penny less then the lowest priced copy in the category that you are list in. This is not always the best option but is a very good rule of thumb for beginners to go by. Later on you may find that you will list some books higher then the lowest price because you anticipate the price fluctuating. Seeing these patterns just takes time.

The next form allows you to specify the quantity that you are listing. Just remember that if you list more than one book by increasing the quantity all copies will list with the same condition and description. Be sure that conditions are identical before using this feature.

Below the quantity for you will see your ’shipping from’ location. If your location is incorrect you can change this from your sellers account dashboard.

The final section on this page is the ’shipping methods’ options. Here you may choose to add expedited or international shipping to your customers. Anyone who has opened an account with Stamps.com or Endicia should offer expedited. It is simple to ship and you will usually be left with some of the shipping allowance as profit. International shipping is a more complicated process and one that we are not going to cover in this tutorial. We suggest that before offering international shipping to your customers you fully research the process. When you have selected the shipping options that you wish to offer, click the continue button.

You will see a review page, which you will want to check for mistakes before excepting. You have now successfully listed a book and are ready to list another or get back to scouting.

Next lesson, Writing an accurate description.