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I’m pretty sure that everyone has a closet (or closets), under the bed spaces, crowded garages, or basements that are full of stuff we forget we even owned. Me? I’ve got an ever-growing pile of “garage sale” items that will probably never get sold because that would involve me having to prepare for, advertise for, and actually have a garage sale.
If you’ve got junk you’d like to sell but no motivation to do it yourself, Amazon has your back.
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The program is called Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), and it basically allows you to sell your things while Amazon handles the sale, shipping, and customer support.
It’s pretty simple, in theory: you put your stuff in a box, make a list of the items, print out a shipping level, and send it in.
When Amazon gets the box they’ll post your items for sale, and if people buy them, Amazon will package and ship your things, handling any questions or issues that come in post-sale. In exchange they’ll take a small storage fee as well as the commission you’d regularly pay for selling on Amazon.
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There are a few downsides, though, so let’s run through those:
- If your items aren’t going to sell for more than $4, you probably won’t make much money. If you’re on the fence, Amazon will tell you ahead of time what your item would sell for and what you would make so you don’t waste your time sending it in.
- Not everything is sellable through the service, so check ahead of time before sending a bunch of things they won’t be able to sell.
- There’s a learning curve, so the process could seem daunting at first. Make sure you’re in the right frame of mind to tackle something new before you dive in head first!
Here’s what you need to do before you can start selling through FBA:
Before you can start the selling process, you’re going to need to do the following:
- Sign up for an Amazon Seller Account – just click “Sell Your Stuff” and skip the professional option, which will cost you money up front.
- Add FBA to your seller account.
- Grab some boxes.
- Gather the stuff you’re wanting to sell and your computer, too.
You’ll manage your inventory based on what goes in each box, so you’ll have to create different boxes and keep track of what goes in which box.
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Once you’ve got your box and your list of what’s going inside of it, these are the next steps:
- Sign into Amazon Seller Central and put your cursor on the Inventory menu. From the drop-down menu, choose Add a Listing.
- Enter the name of the product you’re wanting to sell and click Search. You can also enter its UPC, EAN, ISBM, or ASIN.
- Select the correct product and click Sell Yours.
- On the next page, fill out the item condition, price, and quantity, and don’t forget to tell Amazon the item is for FBA by clicking next to “I want Amazon to ship and provide customer service for my items if they sell.” Save & Finish.
- You’ll have to agree that you’re not selling anything hazardous, prohibited by law, alive, is capable of killing someone, etc etc, but once you’ve done that, like Send Inventory to move on.
- Let Amazon know what address you’re shipping the items from, and that there will be multiple items in a single box (if there are). If you are packing more than one thing, you’ll have to change the selection from Individual Items to Case-Packed Items, then fill in Units per Case and Number of Cases. Then click Continue.
- Amazon will use your address to find the closest facility, then ask you to name your shipment. Do that (you can use the generated name if you’re not feeling creative), then click Save & Continue.
- For each additional box, click Add to an Existing Shipment and repeat these steps.
This can seem daunting at first, but it’s really not too hard, and once you’ve done it once, it will be old hat – like riding a bike.
Happy selling, people. May all of our houses be less cluttered and spark more joy in the near future!
