Selling ebooks on ebay?

Discussion in 'General Marketing' started by hneagle1, Jan 19, 2008.

  1. #1
    Does anybody here sell ebooks on ebay? I have been trying to sell ebooks on ebay for about a month but I have had very poor sales when trying to sell them on ebay. I do everything right but it is still not good enough. Is there a certain niche that does good on ebay or is it not worth it? Or do you have any other tips that I could use? Thanks for your help :)!
     
    hneagle1, Jan 19, 2008 IP
  2. frodosringfinger

    frodosringfinger Well-Known Member

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    #2
    I recommend not even bothering trying to sell ebooks on ebay. For one, nobody really cares about ebooks that much. Secondly, there are so many on ebay already, why would they bid on yours over anybody else?

    I suggest going into the buy/sell/trade forum here and selling ebooks though. If they're informal and well put together, people here will buy them. Not for much though. Maybe like a $1 or 2. Thats all ebooks are really worth though. So give a shot.
     
    frodosringfinger, Jan 19, 2008 IP
  3. hneagle1

    hneagle1 Peon

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    #3
    Thanks for the advice!
     
    hneagle1, Jan 19, 2008 IP
  4. roseau

    roseau Peon

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    #4
    ebay is not really a good place for ebooks. That market is saturated. The other problem is particularly if you have written the book yourself, you will never get the value on ebay. These books are sold for pennies.

    Further, if you have a copyright on the book, even if you say it cannot be resold, it will be stolen immediately and resold.

    Also, a lot of people are just giving away ebooks to get themselves high feedback scores. It seems to be the way to get oneself to a power seller fast.
     
    roseau, Jan 19, 2008 IP
  5. Kevin T Perry

    Kevin T Perry Peon

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    #5
    There are actually a few niches that sell relatively well on ebay. By searching through completed auctions (done by using the advanced search) I found that recipe ebooks and lotto ebooks are selling on a regular basis anywhere from $0.99 to $4.99.

    Also, to have any success selling ebooks on ebay, you should sell several ebooks in one auction. Recently I bought over 1GB of ebooks for $9.99 if that tells you anything. Another tip that might be helpful is to offer some kind of free bonus with your ebooks (such as an app or something similar)

    Hope this helps!
     
    Kevin T Perry, Jan 19, 2008 IP
  6. momonari

    momonari Peon

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    #6
    World of Warcraft ebooks still seem to sell a lot, and they're expensive.
     
    momonari, Jan 19, 2008 IP
  7. Donmartini

    Donmartini Peon

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    #7
    I tried the whole e-book thing but It didn't seem to be worth the hassle.
     
    Donmartini, Jan 19, 2008 IP
  8. JohnG

    JohnG Peon

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    #8
    I agree. Anyone who says it's a waste of time is really missing out. Of course if you're going to the $.99 ebooks it is a waste of time.

    I unique ebook with a good sales letter can bring in several thousand per month.
     
    JohnG, Jan 23, 2008 IP
  9. ApeLive

    ApeLive Peon

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    #9
    I have sold a few on ebay before.
    People are interested in good or new released ebooks.
     
    ApeLive, Jan 23, 2008 IP
  10. JNRCORPS

    JNRCORPS Peon

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    #10
    what i did was i started off selling eBook on ebay am not saying that i many $1000s per week, sometime the sales were slow i want more out of selling eBooks so i made a website and every eBook that i sold on ebay i put my url to my own site on the email.... i started to see the same names poppin up at my website that a tip that you might want to try........... hope that helps you out.
     
    JNRCORPS, Jan 23, 2008 IP
  11. Perry Rose

    Perry Rose Peon

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    #11
    I'm sorry, but that didn't make sense. Maybe I'm tired. :)
     
    Perry Rose, Jan 23, 2008 IP
  12. 8everything

    8everything Peon

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    #12
    To add: some people sell these ebooks for pennies because they want to heighten their feedbacks quickly... it's a really saturated market depending on which niche you jump into.
     
    8everything, Jan 23, 2008 IP
  13. gregdavidson

    gregdavidson Well-Known Member

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    #13
    Make your own ebooks. Most people that buy and sell ebooks are looking for something "original".
     
    gregdavidson, Jan 23, 2008 IP
  14. eurumy

    eurumy Peon

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    #14
    You can try selling it om my auction site www.QxBid.com if you sell great if you don't sell still ok because it is free, so you dont lose anything. Please let me know how it goes!
     
    eurumy, Jan 24, 2008 IP
  15. gregdavidson

    gregdavidson Well-Known Member

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    #15
    Why is everyone trying to promote their auction when ebay has already proven it's almost impossible? Even if your auction wasn't a script it would be extremely difficult without a 100 million dollars in funding!!
     
    gregdavidson, Jan 24, 2008 IP
  16. guyco

    guyco Guest

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    #16
    Hi,

    I offer a new service for ebooks. This site is under construction at this time and we will promote it. I think it will be a good site for promoting ebooks.

    See at: www.bestebooklinks.com

    Here how it will work:

    1 - You put our logo (with link) on your site where you advertise your ebook.
    2 - You write a short description of your product to put on the categorie you want on my site and sent it to me so I can add it on my site.

    Note that this is a FREE service.

    PM me if interested.

    Regards,
     
    guyco, Jan 24, 2008 IP
  17. Hens00

    Hens00 Active Member

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    #17
    I have been selling ebooks on ebay for about a year now.

    The ebook market on ebay is very saturated with plenty of sellers competing and selling the exact same ebook for a few dollars. However, it is possible to dominate other sellers, by writing a really good auction sales page.

    If you look at a lot of other ebayers auctions, you will find that they are very short and poorly presented. As long as you can write good copy and present it in a decent manner, then you have much better chance of people bidding for your ebooks.

    Because the value of the ebooks are quite low, you need to have as many ebooks on sales as possible (say a minimum of 100 auctions per day). You can automate everything quite easily with www. e-junkie.com

    What I also do is create and sell books with my own affiliate links them. It doesnt matter then, if the ebook gets resold by someone else as you want the book to be read as many people as possible.

    Theres money to be made, but like anything else, it takes work to do it.



    Selling ebooks on ebay can also be a great way to build a customer list.
     
    Hens00, Jan 24, 2008 IP
  18. scottspfd82

    scottspfd82 Active Member

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    #18
    This may sound spammy, but take a look at the second link in my signature. If you want to know what's selling on Ebay, how much is selling, at what price point, and what the top sellers do that others don't do, the tool is invaluable.

    I can tell you from my own research that some sellers are doing $x,xxx a week with ebooks on Ebay.
     
    scottspfd82, Jan 24, 2008 IP
  19. myempire

    myempire Guest

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    #19
    The only value selling ebooks on ebay has is spreading affiliate links and getting traffic IMO... I actually created a calculator a while back that would tell you the profit margin on most ebooks after delivery and when taking ebays fees and paypals fees into consideration. Even when using an ebay store the average ebook may profit you 24 cents.
     
    myempire, Jan 24, 2008 IP
  20. allout

    allout Prominent Member

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    #20
    It is tough to make much on ebooks on eBay. It use to be quite lucrative but now it is so over saturated. There are so many people selling old out of date eBooks that most people avoid buying them. The other problem as stated above is that if it is any good, someone will steal it and start reselling for a lot less.

    It is so hard to protect a copyright of eBooks. You can take legal action but it will cost a fortune in legal fees. You can have them kicked off Ebay but this is a long drawn out process and they make a lot of sales before you stop them. By the time you do, they have sold what people think are resale rights and your book is just another over sold eBook.

    If you have huge packages and can sell them for under $10, you may make some sales but you have to do something special to make people think you are selling something unique.
     
    allout, Jan 24, 2008 IP