Hello! I am new to selling used books on Amazon. Almost every book I am trying to sell is requiring ‘Selling application for Brand’ approval and saying I need to upload supporting documents. Am I doing something wrong? Is there a way to get around this?
Also, has anyone had success selling used books on any other platforms?
Hello Tacree! Welcome to SAS! I’m glad to see you found us.
I think almost every bookseller here sells on other sites as well as Amazon. I believe there is a thread in the Bookseller Category about selling on Biblio.com. You might have to get a Moderator here to okay you to be in that locked category. And just quickly, some other sites are abebooks.com, alibris.com, ebay of course. I also sell on antiqbooks.com but don’t get many sales there.
If you have questions about any of them, just ask, the booksellers here are awesome at helping each other out with advice.
You are experiencing a common problem.
For many publishers, particularly text book publishers, you must be authorized to sell the books as NEW in order to sell the book as USED.
Follow the instructions in the email or rejection, this will mean opening an account with a major distributor like Ingram Books and purchasing the required number of NEW books.
The concern over counterfeit books is more important to Amazon than another bookseller and his used books.
There is always Ebay which is no harder to get an account on than Amazon. And a lot of books are sold there. Certainly more books than Biblio.
I have a variety of friends in the used book business with a lot of experience, who have dropped ABEbooks and when they sell online are selling on Ebay.
Ok thank you! It has been a frustrating couple of days trying to get my seller account set up. And then to find out 90% of my books I am unable to sell. Even all my fiction books because of the brand approval.
This is news to me…from the NSFE Canadian platform, where I’m pretty sure it’s as big a piece of fluff as on the USA platform. Another new seller attempting to list thrift store books.
You need approval to list in this brand.
Kris at Amazon posts
"According to Seller Central’s Used Book Condition Guidelines, you can provide:
- Documentation showing legal acquisition through estate sales, library sales, or bulk purchases"
and
"If you’re having trouble with a specific ASIN, I recommend: - Opening a case with Seller Support to clarify the exact documentation needed.
- Explaining that you’re selling used copies and request guidance on acceptable alternative documentation."
I wonder how long this seller will try.
Quite possibly for far longer than they should. Although they may not try at all and just list on eBay or elsewhere, which seems to be the optimum response.