Great advice - thank you!

by Anonymous
(Location Unknown)

October 18, 2012

Very illuminating - thank you. I'm a complete novice to selling on Amazon, and (as a buyer), had always wondered how come there were so many items priced at (in our case) £0.01.

Now I'm selling my own CD collection, and facing the challenge of setting a price (which is how I found your piece - it seems to me that what you say has equal application for CDs).

The immediate temptation is exactly as you describe, to pitch at a penny/cent below the current lowest price. But that really is self-defeating, and denies the value of the item being sold, and any value-add around it.

Great stuff - thanks again.

Response:


October 18, 2012

Hello Anonymous;

Yes, the same principle applies to CDs, DVDs, and VHS tapes. The dreaded "race to the bottom" impacts these three product categories, as well as books, particularly hard.

The reason is that there are so many novice sellers in these categories who don't know any better than to engage in price wars with each other rather than set a reasonable price and wait for the sale to come their way.

They think that they absolutely must capture the very next sale or they'll go broke. Frankly, if their business is in that bad a shape, they have other problems that are far more serious than not catching the next sale.

Don't be in too big of a hurry to sell your CDs. Research the market, pick a reasonable price point and move on to the next project or task. The sale will come, and if you're patient, you'll even make a decent profit.

If you can learn that kind of discipline then you'll have a significant competitive advantage over your competition that will serve you well as your business grows.

Joe Waynick
Bookseller, Author, Mentor

Click here to post comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Comment on this article!.

Enjoy this page? Please help spread the word! Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.

Would you like to comment on this article?

Has this article been helpful to you and/or your business? Would you like to add a point or two I may have missed?

Use the form below to create your own webpage on this site and share your thoughts about the article. You can even write an entire article of your own! In fact, comments consisting of 300 words or more receive priority consideration.

Blatant commercial messages will not be posted. In addition, SPAM or inappropriate comments or pictures (in my sole opinion) will be ignored.

Nevertheless, a SHORT promo for your business and a link back to your website at the end of your comments are permitted.

What Other Visitors Have Said . . .

Click below to see what other visitors have said about this article.

There Is More Than One Way To Skin a Cat! Not rated yet
Original Comment: November 28, 2014 Just to add to Joe's excellent rebuttal to Anonymous' overly simplified post, just because a thrift store …

Click here to write your own.

Sign-up For A
FREE Weekly
Bookselling Tips
Newsletter
Enter eMail Address
Enter First Name

We promise not to sell your information to anyone.

Click to learn more and sign-up with Endicia Dazzle for a FREE TRIAL!
Click for FREE trial!

Click this image to learn about the Dell PDA with barcode scanner attachment

Click to learn
why you need
this device!

Click this image to learn about the Socket Scan Card for your PDA

Click to learn
why the this
Socket Scan
Card is best!