Amazon Top Seller Secrets: Insider Tips from Amazon's Most Successful Sellers [Paperback]

Brad Schepp (Author), Debra Schepp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2009

There is a new phenomenon hitting the world of the Internet marketplace. PowerSellers who have made a fortune on eBay are moving their merchandise over to Amazon. After all, the benefits of selling on Amazon are legion-sellers have found that they can charge more for their merchandise, avoid upfront fees, and deal with less-demanding customers. The opportunities for selling are endless-Amazon now sells products in more than 40 categories and is the web's number one retailer with more than 81 million customers. As the authors of the popular book eBay PowerSeller Secrets, Debra and Brad Schepp are experts at making big money selling products on the web. Now, in Amazon Top Seller Secrets, they show readers why Amazon is the marketplace that will bring them more cash and more customers. Sellers will discover everything they need to: • navigate the Amazon marketplace • set the right price for merchandise • drive more traffic to their product pages • achieve consistently high feedback ratings • become an Amazon Pro Merchant • open more than one Amazon WebStore • source the best products • and more

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

There is a new phenomenon hitting the world of the Internet marketplace. PowerSellers who have made a fortune on eBay are moving their merchandise over to Amazon. After all, the benefits of selling on Amazon are legion—sellers have found that they can charge more for their merchandise, avoid upfront fees, and deal with less-demanding customers. The opportunities for selling are endless—Amazon now sells products in more than 40 categories and is the web’s number one retailer with more than 81 million customers. As the authors of the popular book eBay PowerSeller Secrets, Debra and Brad Schepp are experts at making big money selling products on the web. Now, in Amazon Top Seller Secrets, they show readers why Amazon is the marketplace that will bring them more cash and more customers. Sellers will discover everything they need to:

• navigate the Amazon marketplace

• set the right price for merchandise

• drive more traffic to their product pages

• achieve consistently high feedback ratings

• become an Amazon Pro Merchant

• open more than one Amazon WebStore

• source the best products

• and more

With this priceless advice, readers can increase their profits and build their business without constraints and without all the hassles.

From the Back Cover

If you’re running an online business, you may have noticed that there is a new phenomenon hitting the world of the Internet marketplace. PowerSellers who have made a fortune on eBay are moving their merchandise over to Amazon in droves. After all, the benefits of selling on Amazon are legion—sellers have found that they can charge more for their merchandise, avoid up front fees, and deal with less demanding customers. The opportunities for selling are endless— Amazon now sells products in more than 40 categories and is the Web’s number-one retailer with more than 81 million customers. As the authors of the popular book eBay PowerSeller Secrets, Debra and Brad Schepp are experts at making big money selling products on the Web. Now, in Amazon Top Seller Secrets, they show you why Amazon is the marketplace that will bring you more cash and more customers. Sellers will discover everything they need to:

-navigate the Amazon Marketplace

- set the right price for merchandise

- drive more traffic to their product pages

- achieve consistently high feedback ratings

- become an Amazon Pro Merchant

- open more than one Amazon WebStore

- source the best products

- and more

With this priceless advice, you can increase your profits and build your business without constraints and without all the hassles.

Brad Schepp and Debra Schepp are the authors of 16 books, including the popular eBay PowerSeller Secrets. Their work has been featured in publications such as Newsweek, The Chicago Tribune, and U.S. News and World Report. They are also longtime eBay sellers and associate members of The Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (PeSA). They live in Middletown, MD.

Advance Praise for Amazon Top Seller Secrets

“There’s much to know about selling on Amazon, and Brad and Debra Schepp’s Amazon Top Seller Secrets is the guide to starting off on the right foot. This is the book current Amazon sellers will wish they had when they started!” — Ina Steiner, Editor of AuctionBytes.com and EveryPlaceISell.com

“The real-life stories are priceless! Learning directly from people who have successfully built their Amazon business is far better than learning the hard way on your own.” — Brandon Dupsky, Managing Director, eCommerce Merchants; owner, OnFair.com

“Amazon Top Seller Secrets is the best guide avail­able to making money on Amazon.com today. It is full of detailed, helpful advice for entrepreneurs from true Amazon.com experts.” — Scott Fox, author, Internet Riches and E-Riches 2.0; www.ScottFox.com

“...an excellent addition to anyone’s e-commerce library and an asset to my own.” — Mike Jansma, founder, www.GEMaffair.com

“This book takes you from the beginning stages of Amazon selling through advanced techniques to benefit longtime Amazon sellers. Easy to read and adapt the ideas to your business. Superb!” — Jody Rogers, President, ShopBeachcombers.com Inc.

“This book helped me understand the inner workings of selling on the Amazon website, and I took my Amazon sales to the next level. Utilizing the ideas in Amazon Top Seller Secrets, the sky is the limit!” — Tom King, owner, Sporting Goods USA, LLC, www.sportinggoodsusa.com

“...knowing all of the ways Amazon fits into your business model is now crucial for success. Once again, the Schepps lead the way by providing a combination of practical, educational, and inspirational information, backed by advice from some of the savviest men­tors in the industry. This book is a textbook, road map, and survival guide all in one.” — Andy Mowery, founder, debnroo, inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 17 and up
  
• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM (March 25, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814410340
• ISBN-13: 978-0814410349
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,862 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #41 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Retailing
  • #75 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > E-commerce > Internet Marketing

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars OK for beginner but doesn't tell the truth, November 15, 2009

By 

Newbie Yogi "Adada Baby" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amazon Top Seller Secrets: Insider Tips from Amazon's Most Successful Sellers (Paperback)

I am glad I borrowed this book from the library instead of paying $ to buy it. We have a merchant store on Amazon for 4 years. This book has not told me anything that I didn't know. I finished the book in 3 hours, granted I skimmed through a lot of it because I already knew the stuff. But it sounds more like an advertising for Amazon as it keeps talking about these sucessful Amazon sellers. Well, I wonder how many of them actually compete head on with Amazon. They talked about a seller saying that it is not a problem competing with Amazon and don't think Amazon will drive them out of business. But they don't tell you the truth!! If Amazon gets into a product, they get the buy box almost 95% of the time even if they are not the lowest price seller. Then of course the book didn't talk about how ruthless Amazon is in driving out competition, that they will match the lowest price of any seller (may be except for the book category) before shipping, instead of the overall price. We have in our experience seen Amazon sell an item cheaper than wholesale cost, and we called the supplier and verified that the price they sell to Amazon is indeed higher than what Amazon is selling at. In other words, Amazon is the 10,000 lb gorilla that will squash the competition even by losing money on the sale because Amazon can afford to. Therefore, if you are a new seller and want to get into selling on Amazon as a business, don't let this book fool you thinking that it is easy as long as you have great customer services. It also don't tell you that A-Z guarantee is always on the side of buyer no matter what form of confirmation you have. All in all, this book is for someone with no experience selling on Amazon at all. The only thing I found useful was just some tips on marketing.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Manual For Improving Your Amazon Sales, September 30, 2009

By 

James R. Holland "Author of Boston's Notable ... (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Amazon Top Seller Secrets: Insider Tips from Amazon's Most Successful Sellers (Paperback)

As an Advantage Member on Amazon I was very eager to read this book in hopes of improving my own sales on Amazon and perhaps finding a way to sell other items on the site as well. I wasn't expecting to pick up a bandoleer of magic bullets that would transform my own marketing through Amazon, but I was pleased with what I did glean from this guide for better marketing. I'm easy to please in some ways because I was not expecting major revelations and in addition to specific techniques that I could immediately put to work, I was aiming to pick up a lot of additional background information about Amazon. Everyone reading this book will quickly understand that Amazon is growing at a geometric rate and expanding into most fields of product sales.

Much of the book dealt with businesses and web stores that are intended to be much larger than anything the reviewer is interesting in setting up. I was only interested in selling books and some art on Amazon. My goals are modest but I was pleased to find several nuggets that seemed intended just for me. Surprisingly, I found several helpful gems near the end of the book. One of the biggest surprises of the book was the advice by many of the top sellers on Amazon to use other venues to sell their products as well as Amazon. There were several lists of other venues for various products. There was also a plug for starting and learning the ropes to Internet sales through buying and selling on E-Bay. There was even a list of reasons to stay focused on E-Bay and whether it was the right time to add Amazon to the reader's selling venues.

There were many specific recommendations for high quality, inexpensive suppliers for helping web setters. One example was ULINE for most shipping and packing materials. I mention this particular example because I already knew what a great supplier that company is. It's not only one of the least expensive suppliers of shipping supplies, but it's also fast. I've never waited more than two days after placing an on-line order before the supplies arrived by UPS. They are one of those companies that epitomize good supply chain management and delivery.

As a person who is really only barely able to use the Internet and the various Social Sites, blogs, You Tube, etc., I'm always trying to expand my knowledge of what is a whole new universe for a Stone Age Man like myself. This book is written in an easy-to-understand manner with lots of helpful illustrations (most of which seemed to be reproduced too small in my opinion--the books only flaw as far as I am concerned). I solved that problem with a magnifying glass and continued to glean lots of the very helpful advice included in the tome. The book is a motivational as well as a self-help book with lots of individual success stories included throughout it.

By the time I'd finished the 306-page instruction manual, I'd dogged-eared half the pages and marked up almost every page with either my black or red ballpoint pen. This wasn't a book that I was planning to keep in perfect condition. It was the kind of reference book that the reader wants to dog-ear, highlight and mark up wherever the reader felt there was material that he or she wanted to refer to in the future. It's a workman's book. It's the best book of this kind I've read since I learned so much from "Aiming At Amazon" by Aaron Shepard, which is also an excellent volume about writing books designed primarily for sale on Amazon.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most up-to-the-minute book about Amazon, how it works now and how you can profit by it., July 2, 2009

By 

R. Scott Lorenz "(Book Publicist)" (Plymouth, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Amazon Top Seller Secrets: Insider Tips from Amazon's Most Successful Sellers (Paperback)

The most up-to-the-minute book about Amazon, how it works now and how you can profit by it.

Somehow, Brad and Debra Schepp got top Amazon sellers to reveal their secrets and inside tips on how to they succeed on Amazon and have shared those tips in this knowledge packed book.

Amazon, the internet's mall of America.....more like Mall of the World, is the pre-eminent internet sales vehicle on the planet. 65 million people shopped Amazon last year alone. If you are not selling on Amazon you are missing a huge market which is, for many people, the preferred way to buy things online.

Whether you want to learn how to clear out a bookshelf and sell unneeded books or open an Amazon store selling new merchandise, it's all explained in this book.

The Schepps pull back the curtain on Amazon and outline the steps in becoming a coveted "featured merchant." They further explain the importance of getting good customer feedback in the ever-important need to be highly-rated by Amazon customers.

They offer serious insider tips about how to find out what products sell by researching and monitoring Amazon's "movers and shakers" which are the top 100 most popular items in each category on Amazon. Want to see what's hot now? Visit Amazon.com/gp/movers-and-shakers/

The book covers mundane topics such as shipping, best practices, even where to get good deals on supplies. The book compares and contrasts other sales sites where one can sell things, including Craigslist, uBID, Ebay, and Google Products Search.

The Schepps even cover the top ten ezine sites in which to help drive traffic to your Amazon site. The top three are: ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com and webpronews.com.

The bottom line: If you want to do business on Amazon, with Amazon, or are even remotely interested in how Amazon works, then this book is for you. This book would be extremely helpful for authors, publishers inventors and others who want to sell products because it unlocks the full power of Amazon. One should read the book first straight through, highlighting the best tactics, re-read those and then implement the top tactics discussed in the book... that's what I am doing right now. I highly recommend it.