Buying or selling? Look no further! (Amazon Marketplace)

Member Name: AbsintheFairy

Product:	Amazon Marketplace
Date:	07/11/09 (19 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use, sell books, DVDs and CDs with ease

Disadvantages: High fees for books

I used Amazon Marketplace first as a buyer, then as a seller once I'd got used to the way it worked. I'd previously sold stuff on eBay, and while I think eBay's unrivalled for clothes, jewellery etc., for books, CDs, DVDs and other electrical things Amazon seemed more straightforward.

As a buyer, you can check the condition of the item you're buying (New, Like New, Used - Good etc.) and the seller's rating. You get added protection from Amazon: if you don't receive the item you buy you can go through a procedure to claim your money back, although luckily I've never had to use this.

As a seller, listing items is much simpler than eBay. You can search for the exact item you want to sell (using the ISBN for books, for example). You can then ignore the listing for 90 days or until someone buys it. When they do, you know they've paid before you post the item.

The seller fees are pretty reasonable: "GBP 0.86 per item completion fee, plus a closing fee of 17.25% of the sales price (11.5% for Electronics & Photo items) for each item sold." (from the Amazon website)

Postage prices can be a bit of an issue. CDs and DVDs are very reasonable, but books cost £2.75 postage, which is annoying as a seller as you have to price the item lower to make it appealing, and as a buyer, as it makes something that seems bargainous at first much less so!

Overall though, Amazon Marketplace is very user-friendly and handy to pick up second-hand textbooks, grab cheap CDs, or get hold of that out-of-print book you've wanted for ages! Also for offloading all of the above!

Summary: First place to go to sell your stuff