How to get free shipping from Amazon

I've been using Amazon for a long time, and I am an Amazon seller, so you know that I like Amazon. When I first started buying from Amazon, I justified the delivery charge by thinking that it saved me time, hassle, and gasoline, and was well worth it. And it is! But if you know how to do it, you can have Amazon deliver for free. In fact, they want you to! Here is how to do it.

When you are looking for an item, look for the words FREE with Super Saver Shipping. No, it's not on every item - some things you gotta pay shipping on. But before you click on an item, search a bit more to see if it is offered with free shipping. There are some catches, but I've made the mistakes and learned how to avoid them. You must spend at least $25 dollars to get this, but here is the good part, you can choose anything on the site that is marked FREE with Super Saver Shipping. When you have $25 or more worth of items, go and check out.

If you get carried away with your shopping and accidentally include an item that doesn't have the FREE with Super Saver Shipping, you lose it all and have to pay full shipping charges. A nasty little trick, but there it is. When you check out, be sure to check the box that says FREE Super Saver Shipping. It isn't automatically selected, you have to select it. Yeah, I know they make it kind of tricky, but hey, you get free shipping! Really.

How to place Amazon ads on your site or blog

To place ads for Amazon on your site or blog, you have to register to be an Amazon Associate. The process is similar to registering for Google AdSense, you register on their site, promise not to do anything bad, give them time to check you out, and then you are approved. Once you are approved you can add Amazon widgets to your Google blog, or create lots of different kinds of ads for your web pages. On your blog it's a "click and build" thing, with lots of options, or you copy the javascript and paste it into your HTML for your web pages.

Right now, I'm still in the process of learning about how all of this works, like a lot of people are, but I'm pretty sure Amazon is better than Google. Amazon isn't paying for some vague "page impressions" or "clicks", they are paying you if they make a sale, and you helped. That seems fair. I'm doing both.

If you would like to get personal on-site software training in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator or Dreamweaver in the greater Phoenix, Arizona area, please contact me.

How to make money on Amazon

Selling on Amazon is considerably easier than selling on ebay. But the principles are the same, find a product that people want, describe it accurately, and deliver on your promise.

Before you start selling on Amazon, be sure that you have purchased things there and are familiar with the process. One of the things to note is that not everything there is sold by Amazon. In many cases, Amazon just acts a facilitator, and you are actually ordering from another company, through the Amazon web site. The reason that companies sell through Amazon is that Amazon has an excellent reputation. And people, like me, who order through Amazon, like the convenience of not having to fill out an order form with my credit card number, etc. every time we want to buy something on line.

With that in mind, consider how valuable Amazon is. People trust it, because it is trustworthy. They have a stellar reputation, and justly deserved. So, selling a used item through Amazon is well worth looking into.

This is how you do it: Go to the Amazon page that has the item you want to sell. It has to be an existing item. It can be a book, or an iPod, or anything. Take a look at the button over on the right that says, "sell yours here". If you never saw that option before, don't feel bad, I never saw it until I looked into selling on Amazon. From there you go to a screen that lets you set the asking price and describe the condition of your item, from "acceptable" to "like new". It has to be that EXACT item - for books, check the ISBN number. You don't post a photo.

When someone buys the item, Amazon handles the sale, tells you to ship NOW, adds a small amount for shipping, deducts its share, and direct-deposits the money in your bank account. Of course, you have to set this all up as a seller.

Like ebay, you have to become familiar with shipping. And, here is another way that our very own United States Post Office absolutely blows away the competition - when sending books (or CDs or DVDs), choose "Media Mail" - no other shipping choice even comes close for price. But you have to play fair with the Post Office - only media, nothing else. And be sure to get a delivery confirmation receipt.

As you can tell, I am a big fan of technology. If you would like to learn Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, or Dreamweaver, please contact me. I do personal on-site training sessions in the Phoenix, Arizona area.