I just sold a book. Let's go through the process of how to ship and collect our money. It's pretty easy.
Here's the email I got from Amazon letting me know that my book had sold.
Now, let's log in to the Amazon account. Log in in the normal way. Make sure you log into your seller account, not your buying account.
Go to www.amazon.com, select "your account", then select "your seller account", login with your username and password, and you will see a page that looks something like this:
On the left side, under "Your Orders", we see that we have an order that hasn't been shipped. Great. Let's have a look at the order. Click on the "1" to the right of the order, or click on "View your orders". That will bring up this next screen, which shows a list of orders:
If you had a thriving book sales business, there might be a long list of orders, but we just have one. Click on the order and let's have a look.
Let's print the order packing slip. Click the button (upper right) and print the packing slip. Here's what it looks like:
I will take that page, and stick it inside the book when I ship it.
Next, let's print the postage. Go back to the "Manage Orders" screen. Refer to the image I showed earlier. On the right side you will see orange buttons to "Print packing slip", "Confirm shipment", and "Buy shipping". That last one, "Buy shipping", is the one we want.
This brings up the shipping page:
I weighed my book on my bathroom scale, very approximate, but it should be good enough. Hit "Continue". The next screen gives a number of shipping services, such as Priority Mail and Express Mail. I'm going to choose "USPS Media Mail", which is the discounted book rate, and hit "Continue". A screen comes up and confirms the postage we are purchasing:
Confirm this and the postage label, with postage included, will be ready to print:
So, print this, cut it out, glue or tape it to your package, and you are ready to send. Note that I didn't have to buy any stamps, it's all done online. And the shipping label is all typed up and professional looking. Very convenient.
When I ship this way, the book is automatically marked as shipped.
Then, I will take the book, wrap it up in an old Trader Joes' bag that I have cut up, and attach the postage label. Here's that book ready to mail:
I took this package out and handed it to the postman, and my book is on the way to its new owner, only about half an hour after they placed the order. Excellent.
Not too long after, I got this email from Amazon:
Dear jimp@brandx.net,
We initiated a transfer to your checking account (last three digits 435) of $58.99
on 12/22/2011.Funds usually arrive within 3 - 5 banking days, but times vary by bank.
To see more information about seller account payments:
1. Visit your Seller Account at www.amazon.com/seller-account
2. Click "View your payments account" under the Get Paid heading.
3. Use the drop-down menu on the left to see past disbursements.Thank you for choosing Amazon.com.
Marketplace Payments by Amazon
The payment will be forwarded directly to my bank, so I will soon see my money.
Selling and shipping books on Amazon is really easy. I've just turned an old book on my shelf into $68. Someone else has a great deal on a VW manual. Everyone is happy.
