SELL YOUR SECOND-HAND BOOKS HERE!! (listbooks.co.uk)

Member Name: Skyedame

Product:	listbooks.co.uk
Date:	06/12/05 (5907 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: No fees, whatsoever, to pay

Disadvantages: The site is new so it can be slow to sell your books

Review
I love books. I read all the time and when I've finished I like to try and sell them so I can recoup some of my outlay and buy some more! I use both Amazon Marketplace or Ebay when buying or selling books. Both are excellent 'markets' for buying and selling - but using them can knock a big percentage off your final sale price.

When selling on either of these giant marketplaces, the big drawback is that one way or another you will find what little profit you make on a sale is whittled down by insertion fees and/or final selling fees plus VAT.

When buying with ebay or Amazon, after you've added the postage & packing charges , what you thought was cheap, turns out to be more expensive than you'd 'bargained' for.

WHAT'S DIFFERENT ABOUT LIST BOOKS?

SELLING:

Here is a site where you can list your books for sale at a price you think is reasonable and with postage costs you think are fair - and best of all, it is completely free. You want to sell a book for £3.00 and charge £1.20 for p & p? No problem, someone buys your book and you get £4.20 in your bank account.

BUYING:

Before you press the button to 'Buy this book' you will see, very clearly, how much the TOTAL cost of your purchase will be before you commit to 'buy'.

WHO OWNS THIS SITE?

The site was designed and is owned and operated by Lee Penney. Quote: "The site is funded from my own pockets. You can help with the burden by either using my affiliate link when buying through Amazon or by donating. I currently carry no advertising but if you have a product or service you want to advertise on this site, drop me a line and I'll think about it."


THE SITE:

Because the site currently carries no advertising, it's wonderfully uncluttered. The text is black, dark brown and mid-green. Very calm and professional looking. No overload of information diverting your attention away from the main reason you went into the site in the first place: to buy or sell a particular book with no hassles or hard-sell.

List Books only sells books. No DVDs, toys, electrical goods, sexy lingerie or other miscellany.

If you only wish to buy books, it is not necessary to open an account with List Books.

The Welcome page is concise. It tells you a little about the site and then lists questions you may have about how to buy or sell books on the site. Each question is supplied with a clear answer. If you do not find the answer to a question you may have, you can contact Lee Penney direct and he will contact you within 24 hours.

NAVIGATION AND SEARCH:

I have found navigating the site simple and quick, both for listing books for sale and for buying. The front page lists Popular Genres where you can click and browse the listings in General, Fantasy, Thriller, Crime or Romance.

Also on the front page, you will see the Account Options. This is for those who wish to use the site for selling as well as buying.

In order to sell, you will need to register. This couldn't be simpler. From the site's front page, click on the Registration link. Once your relevant details have been completed and sent, you will receive a validation link by email (only takes seconds). I must point out here that this site does not require your bank details. This is because List Books act as an advertising medium only; it plays no part in any transactions that take place.

Under Account Options, you have 'User Options' which is your profile. Here, along with your name and email address, you fill out your preferred method of payment from buyers. Your preferred method will appear along with your listings. Having said that, most of my first-time customers ask me which method of payment I prefer. As you have to respond to their email anyway to let them know whether the book is still available or not, then it doesn't take a moment to indicate your payment preferences.

Next up is, 'Add Item' - and this is where you list a book for sale:

HOW TO LIST A BOOK FOR SALE:

CLICK ON 'ADD ITEM': This will take you to a simply laid out page where you will list the details of the book you are selling.

You will need the following:

THE ISBN NUMBER: The site has a huge search engine and will, 99.9 per cent of the time, find the title and author from the ISBN number. If on the odd occasion it doesn't, you can type in the title and author yourself. This has only happened to me a couple of times, and it's really no problem.

THE DESCRIPTION: this is to describe the condition of the book. Not compulsory, but if you say up front that your book has some creasing to the spine or whatever, a buyer should be aware of this and have no cause to complain on receipt of the book and say they were expecting something a little less scruffy!

A 'NOTE': This box is actually for letting potential buyers know your despatch details (e.g. next day, quick as a flash), but it can also be used to give a brief synopsis of the book. I use it for both.

SUBJECT: From a drop-down list, you can select whether the book is fiction or non-fiction and whether it is romance, crime or thriller etc.

HOW MANY PAGES: Some people do like to know how many pages are in the book.

BOOK TYPE: You indicate whether the book is paperback or hardback. Large Format paperback, Audio Tape or CD.

PRICE: You can then name your price. It's wise not to too greedy! Although, obviously if you have a book for sale that is still fairly new on the shelves in the book shops, then I would say as long as you keep the final selling price (which includes the p & p) just under what potential customers could buy it for elsewhere, you are very likely to sell it quickly.

CONDITION: Indicate the condition of the book: From a drop down list, you select the condition of the book: Excellent/ Good/Normal or Poor.

POSTAGE: The tool for inserting the postage costs is excellent. From a drop-down list you will see the up-to-date cost for second-class postage for the weight of your item (it doesn't state the first-class postage). So, assuming you have a normal paperback book which, in its packaging weighs 200g, the calculator already tells you that this will cost you 0.58p to post. You are advised to add on a little extra to cover your packaging costs. This is the bit where it pays not to be too greedy! Charge too much and potential customers will go elsewhere. The thing with List Books is that there's no need to hike up your p & p charges to offset fees for listing your book - because there aren't any!

ADD LISTING: Click and away it goes! Your listing will appear on site almost instantaneously. There is generally a picture of the book cover. Unfortunately, there is no facility to upload your own picture if the site doesn't have a picture of the cover.

Once your book is listed, you can also give your books a rating and write a review if you so wish.

At the moment, there is no limit on how long you can have your books listed. Of course, this may change once the site becomes bigger,

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SOMEONE WANTS TO ORDER A BOOK FROM YOUR LIST?

When someone sees a book they'd like to buy from your list, they will click on a button that says: "Buy this Book". You will then receive an automated email asking if this book is still available. If so, you will contact the buyer direct via the email link given to confirm your book is still available.

You will then receive another email direct from your buyer, giving you their address details. I generally find at this point that customers will ask what my preferred method of payment is. Even though these details are mentioned on the listing, I think the buyers like to confirm with the seller which method would be acceptable. Unlike Amazon or Ebay, there is no facility on List Books to make a payment at the same time you 'buy' the item, because you have to ascertain from the seller that the book is still actually available.. This part of the 'deal' is done totally between seller and buyer. List Books is purely the place you list your books for sale and then buyer and seller are brought together. Whether you live happily ever after is up to the individuals!

Selling books is straight forward and, in my experience, can be done so at little risk. Offline payments will be made by cheque or postal order and 'on-line' payment by Paypal or Nochex, depending on the sellers preference.

Once you have sent off the book to your customer, then you should mark the item as 'Sent' on your account managing. Only after you do that does the page allow your customer to leave feedback.

WHAT GUARANTEES DO YOU HAVE?:

This is a question a lot of people have but it relates mostly to those who are buying books.

The answer?

Unfortunately, none! The site is merely an advertising medium, it plays no part in any transactions that take place and cannot help except to provide information from their transaction history where appropriate. They ask that everyone uses commonsense in any transaction arising from a listing on the site. Generally people are honest, but it pays to be cautious.

If your transaction was made via one of the recommended online payment services, you are advised to raise any disputes with them directly.

DELIVERY:

This depends purely on the seller. No different to Amazon Marketplace or Ebay.

If you do not receive an item, you start by contacting the seller. If they don't respond, you can contact the site manager again. He is quite upfront about the role he plays here. He says "If I have the time, I may look into it. If you get no response from the seller I would advise contacting your payment service (your bank for cheques) and see about cancelling or withdrawing payment."

COMPLAINTS:

I have never had to make a complaint, but according to the
site information, if you have a complaint about a specific user (and you have already tried contacting them directly) then you should send the site owner an email with specific details and he will decide whether to suspend their account or not (after hearing their side of events). For other complaints, he asks that you contact him and he will address them as soon as he can.

PRIVACY:

The site owner promises to keep your details private and never sell or knowingly disclose them to anyone else. As for emails from the site, there is an optional monthly newsletter you can subscribe to, but if you do not wish to register for that you will only receive email concerning system problems/updates, your account (sales notifications, reminders about unsold items, etc) and possibly offers that the site believes members will find useful (they promise a maximum of one a month).

MY EXPERIENCE:

I have been using this site since mid-Summer. At present, the site is very small, with just over 2000 books for sale.

Strangely enough, when I am on the hunt for a new book, I find browsing this site easier than either Amazon or Ebay because it's easier looking through a few hundred books rather than trawling through thousands. I have found some new (to me) and interesting writers who I'd never have discovered otherwise. I have sold about 10 books so far, and each transaction has gone smoothly. There was a minor hiccough in that I once got an email from someone wanting to know if a certain book was still for sale. The title of the book meant nothing to me and on checking, I discovered two books had been added to my listing in error.

A quick email to the site owner soon rectified the problem (though we have no idea how it happened!). I assume the books were married up with the correct sellers. It's never happened again. As a point of interest, there have been similar glitches with Amazon, so I wouldn't disparage List Books for making a similar blunder!

I would also mention that the site owner is very quick to respond to emails should you not hear from a seller within a couple of days of pressing that 'Buy this Book' button. He will contact the seller to enquire if the original order has been received. This happened to me, as a seller. Usually very vigilant to see if anybody has bought a book, unfortunately an email from a buyer from listbooks went unnoticed by me. I polite email from Lee Penney soon had me hotfooting it down to my post office next day!

The front page of the site is changed daily so that popular books in each of the genres get a turn at front page stardom. Also, newest listings are added to the front page.

ADVANTAGES:

Registration is free and listing books will cost you nothing at all. The books you have to sell won't be competing with hundreds of others at a price of 1p.

For the past couple of months there has been a prize draw at the end of the month for subscribers to the listbooks newsletter. It's worth taking a look just for that, at the moment!

DISADVANTAGES:

It would be a little harsh to use the term 'disadvantages' considering the site is very new and therefore still finding its feet. But because the site is small and not very well known as yet, until more people get to hear about it, book sales are bound to be slow. Having said that, my sales on Amazon have hardly been earth shattering! Unlike Amazon or Ebay, the buyer on List Books does not enter into any 'contract' to buy immediately. This is good for the buyer, I suppose.

With the right exposure, I think this could be a good site with a promising future. I believe Amazon grew from an enterprise such as this, so I have decided to tell as many people as I can about it.

Do check it out for a browse. The selection of books is not vast but you will probably pick up a book or two for a decent price and you will certainly find it extremely easy to upload and list your own books for sale.

Thanks for reading!

More details

Summary: Upload books in moments using ISBN number. No listing fee and no final sale fee.