Selling on Amazon.com Vs Half.com

Anyone in the market to make a profit on textbooks that are no longer needed, DVDs laying around that you’ll never watch again or starting a used goods business, may wonder where they should sell there used items.

The two biggest online venues for used book sales are Amazon.com and Half.com. How does one decide which place is the best place to sell? A few things to look at our listing fees, commissions, average selling prices and popularity.

Amazon.com has a $.99 fee for every item sold and takes a 6-15% commission, as well as a variable closing fee for each transaction. On Half.com they take a 5-15% commission on all items but have no other fees.
Another cost to consider is shipping. Half.com has a shipping reimbursement ranging from $2.14 to $3.07 depending on the item, for standard shipping. Where as Amazon.com shipping credits ranges from $2.98 to $3.99 for standard shipping.

How much money an item will get may vary. On Amazon.com there is no minimum price for any item. That means an item can sell for $.01. This may make an item easier to sell but with Amazon.com’s mandatory $.99 sale fee plus closing fees and commission, it’s a loss for sellers unless they belong to one of Amazon.com’s Pro Merchant subscriptions that wave the $.99 sale fee, but still include commission and closing fees, and cost a minimum of $39.99 a month.
On Half.com there is a minimum selling price of $.75, which helps small sellers from being undercut by larger sellers.

Buyers also may be more likely to go to Amazon.com to buy items for $.01 that they would have to pay $.75 for on Half.com, but a smart shopper will recognize that with Amazon.com’s higher shipping rates they may end up paying more.

In search of books online, Amazon.com usually comes up before Half.com. On the other hand Half.com is linked with eBay.com and searches for items on eBay.com will also show results found on Half.com.
Also Amazon.com features many types of items so consumers may go to their site looking for shoes and end up finding and buying another sellers used items. Half.com may not be as popular but less sellers means less competition. Each item’s page only shows a few of the sellers offering a certain book, DVD, CD or video game. The less people selling that item, the more likely a seller’s item will be on the main page, and the more likely their item will be purchased.

Half.com has less fees but may require the seller to pay out of their own profit to cover some shipping cost. While Amazon.com may give a larger credit to cover shipping cost, that extra money may be less than the money a seller loses on sale fees and closing cost. Amazon.com’s higher shipping rates can also eliminate any savings a customer would get on a $.01 item.

In the end it seems that Half.com may work better for the smaller seller and Amazon.com for larger sellers who can join the Pro Merchant subscription.
However, there’s no clear-cut way to decide which is the better place to sell used goods. It will depend on the individual sellers needs, what they are selling, how much they are selling and how much they are hoping to get for each item.

Reference:

• pages.half.ebay.com/help/seller/createacct_sell.html