My mother-in-law was the first person to suggest Amazon.com to me, she had a friend made a pretty good living on the site and she thought since I loved books, it might be a good place for me to try. Somehow, I opened an account with my hand-me-down 256mb computer and dial-up internet. I started off by selling books I had laying around the house and quickly moved on to full-scale book scouting.
I will have many blog posts about Amazon, but this one will mainly focus on some tips for getting started.
1. Read the site rules and regulations. They are very helpful, and positive feedback is extremely important. Be sure that you will be able to drive to the post office several times a week.
2. Find a steady stream of inventory. You may be able to buy out a bookstore, or you might become a book scouter who attends every friend of library book sale and garage sale. Please understand, this is a time-consuming business. You will have to be out looking at least one day a week if not more. If your children are younger, you will have to take them with you, hire a baby-sitter, or have your spouse take care of them.
3. Choose a good packaging system. Most books are fine shipped in a padded mailing envelope, you can buy these in bulk online for way cheaper then office supply stores.
4. You must be self-motivated. For any home business, you will have to be your own boss, be motivated to get out of bed early on Saturday mornings for sales, to dig through bins of books at the Salvation Army.
5. Read the forums. Amazon.com has wonderful forums with many pros that are ready to help you. Learn from them.
Amazon can be a very nice supplimental income, but don't expect to make a million dollars your first year. With time and patience, you might find a niche that you love; treasure hunting.
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