Why aren't my books selling anymore?
I have been selling books on Amazon for 18 years, and this has NEVER happened before. I haven't sold a book in over two weeks. I checked and am not on vacation and my performance score is good. What happened?
30 replies
Seller_kIukTwdhvntAp
Well, you don't appear to have been very active on the New NOT Improved Forum -- at least not commenting on anything.
There have been DOZENS of posts about the issues faced by book sellers on Amazon in the past year or so -- gating of publishers brands, whitelisting for BOTH new and used, IP complaints, HIGH PRICE errors, and more.
Amazon is no longer a good (it's barely viable) location for selling books and it is downright toxic for textbooks!
Sell elsewhere. You can scan the posts for all the suggestions, but eBay seems to be getting a lot of sellers from here!
Seller_MyXY4Myx9zVcR
You have probably already done this, but try searching for one of your books as an Amazon customer.
What shows up first is any Amazon Kindle edition.
Then the paperback, if available, and after that the hardcover, if Amazon sells them.
Buried 5-8 screens later, if the buyer has not already purchased, and is quite persistent, are the books of Amazon 3rd party sellers, many of whom have been selling books here for10+ years.
Good luck selling any used books on Amazon now.
This scheme has been in place for several months, and you are not the only suffering bookseller.
Seller_nRFmxiQg4EGrw
Are you Featured Offer Eligible?
It's possible that you lost FOE for no reason; it happened to me last year, and a lot of other sellers have reported similar experiences; opening a case does nothing other than get cut&paste replies regarding winning the BB, but nothing addressing the issue.
then after about a month, suddenly cleared up. But really hurt sales in the meantime.
Also, sales have been slow anyway.
Seller_bLpzUne3tRjkG
No idea. My sales recently picked up after an extended slow period.
Seller_roNdLQpqbVoOH
How many books do you have in your Amazon inventory?
That might give us some kind of a clue.
Also, as @Seller_nRFmxiQg4EGrw asked, are you Buy Box eligible?
Seller_5DrrKeHsDwIGT
There are two other ecommerce sites to go to. I have all three. I also have a worldclass shipping service that watches my back with the products. right to the buyers.
Seller_z1JDNz6de1lqc
Why is nothing selling and Amazon deleting listings and marking others High Pricing Errors trying to force prices lower? Look at Amazon stock market earnings shows you how bad this marketplace is Amazon has eliminated the good feeling by zero seller support, promoting fraudulent returns and customers and upping fees so high only manufactures can make profit.
Seller_sNpmfbRsQr05Y
Many reasons.
Summer doldrums. Many people on vacation and spending on that instead of general online goods. (Mid-to-late August and into early September is usually stronger w/ back-to-school, and university-related purchasing) ... before the pre-Holiday doldrums.
Overall economic malaise, including fear of recession, lowered consumer sentiment (see "index of consumer sentiment" from UM), and "perceived" inflation.
General decline in book sales the past year (using industry figures). Books likely to continue to decline in popularity/sales going forward -- hopefully slowly for those of us in the business. As I've said on the forums many times, we're transitioning slowly but steadily away into other products too.
Too many seller/listings for "mundane" books. "Interesting" books, such as signed books or books in certain "hot" genres (or even "summer-related" activities) continue to sell ok for us. Ephemera is holding on ok too.
Amazon-specific reasons as mentioned by others here. Again as I've noted on this forum, Amazon has gone from our #1 channel BY FAR to as low as #4 or even worse in some months. This will certainly not improve.
Anecdotally, My postman told me yesterday that his routes have been very, very slow of late, very little to deliver especially in terms of packages.
Seller_YBfUTeoG971hG
My sales were unusually slow right after Prime Day. First time I'd had a 0 sales day in ages and suddenly 4 in a row! But it's picked up a bit in the last couple of days. The number of books I have to list elsewhere because Amazon has removed original copies in favor of PODs, cheap reprints, and e-copies is now staggering. Lots of "Detail Page Removed" notices in my Inactive inventory, hundred of "potential [?] high prices," and the inability to list books not already in the Amazon catalogue has made life pretty miserable. I'm on several other sites, but Amazon has always outsold the others by a lot. Not so much any more. It's a shame, I've been selling here for over 20 years and I think, that I, along with lots of other "early adopters," helped Amazon become a really good place to sell books. But Amazon seems to have made a corporate decision that we aren't worth their time and attention.
Seller_awYU0oH8skccg
I've also had a two week draught of sales...Something is wrong...AZ has Various Algos & Bots that determine who sells what when called "The Sprinkler"...I'm Not Even looking for sales anymore...Nice to have Others suffering with Me...! LoL
You got to fiddle with inventory & add books that may not sell to "juice" your "sprinkler" algo...I know Sellers who are selling using this technique.
I suspect large gaps in sales are caused by server farms being off line for buyers...you can see listings but others can't
