selling pre owned books

[kokoek9]

got a question about selling books in lots. I can write the title and description to reflect a lot of books but the item specifications are all for one book not multiples what should I do about this thanks

[lakefor94]

@keziak I think does a lot of these type listings. Perhaps she might stop by at some point.

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hi, books are not my area but i looked at other current book sellers’ listings. Some who sell in lots just pick one book out of the many to include the specific info on. And some do not include titles or ISBNs but fill in the Item Specifics with more generic kind of descriptors. 

When reviewing other’s listings, select those with longevity as well as the most successful  sellers in your niche to examine how they handle things.

Wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.

[keziak]

If I understand what you are saying it sounds like you have selected one of the books in the lot, plugged that into the SYI form and got those item specifics, but then you have more books in the lot. Correct me if I am wrong. Anyway the only time I do that is when I have two books in a pair so much of the information in the IS is relevant to both.

Otherwise I just use the form by selecting "Continue Without Match".  I create the title to characterize what's in the lot and in the SYI enter "various" for title and author. I chose limited IS to reflect the subject matter such as "martial arts" for topic. 

Hope that makes sense.

[m60driver]

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@kokoek9 wrote:

got a question about selling books in lots. I can write the title and description to reflect a lot of books but the item specifications are all for one book not multiples what should I do about this thanks

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I often sell books in lots but the lots usually have a common author or a common genre.  When forced to enter an item specific like title I will often choose the best book in the lot for the title.  For a mixed lot the item specific for author just becomes "multiple".  The really important info is in the title.  The item specifics are mostly for Ebay and their database and you can just have some fun and mess with that.  For example, when I list a bible I put the author as "The Almighty".

[kokoek9]

Thanks for your suggestion

[fashunu4eeuh]

@kokoek9 

As you may be aware, both eBay’s Cassini, and external search engines, check listings for keywords that are relevant to the user's search terms, making the accuracy of Item Specifics pretty important (actually vital) along with the title and description. That is because all three work in tandem for Search Engine Optimization.

So IS is not just for eBay. Outside search engines, like Google and Bing et al, also use the data provided to pick up our listings for inclusion on their platforms.

It may seem redundant to repeat info in all three fields (Title, Item Specifics, Description) but it supports SEO, which most agree can greatly enhance one’s placement in Search results. It can bring more eyes to one’s listings and in turn, more sales. For those interested, see links below.

For the basics of SEO on eBay:

https://export.ebay.com/en/marketing/promote-listings/seo-promotion/

For more general information:

”Search engine optimization(SEO) is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web pagefrom search engines.[1][2] SEO targets unpaid traffic (known as "natural" or "organic" results) rather than direct traffic or paid traffic. Unpaid traffic may originate from different kinds of searches, including image search, video search, academic search,[3] news search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization

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[brightlightbookseller]

We do exactly that (used books in lots) quite often, and never have a problem.

Enter a title that includes as much about the contents of the lot as possible.

Enter N/A or DoesNotApply as the ISBN (the only time we make an exception is if we're listing, say, 10 copies of the same book with the same ISBN).

Enter details that cover as much as possible, or just leave nonrequired Item Specifics blank.  For Author, you can enter multiple names, and for the Title field, just enter some of the titles or put something like "Multiple Books".

Shouldn't be an issue!

[legalbeagle52]

Hi @kokoek9 

I've sold book lots for many years.   That's what I sell on several accounts.  As already mentioned, I will pick out one of the books for the item specifics, especially if it's a popular book that people will be searching for by itself and I use all that information.    I've been doing it this way for 20 + yrs. and it's never been a problem with the buyers.

If there isn't one special book in the lot, I may just bypass items specific & use continue without match.  But I usually try to pick out one specific book.  Although as others have said, this doesn't really matter much... either way will be fine ... it is the title that counts.   So again if one book is popular in the lot, that one goes in the title along with .. as an example ...Bestseller Book Lot or Oprah's Book Lot or a particular author's book lot, or whatever the case may be.

In the description, I list ALL the titles & any additional information, hardcovers, trade paper backs etc.

Book selling is a little tough right now, but I love books so that's what I stick with. 

 Good Luck!  🙂

[evry1nositswindy]

I sell groupings of books.  Under title, I write 'see description for list of titles' and for publishers I write 'see description for list of publishers'.  My description lists the specifics for every single book in the grouping.  I don't skimp on the details! 

[kokoek9]

Thanks for the help it makes a big difference, Now all I have to do is figure out what authors sell the best.          Mike