<<< Continued from previous page

Refining Our Template

Much of the data we entered for that first listing will be the same for all our listings. In the future, we can save time by pre-filling our template with default values, such as:

Product-id-type. Always number 2 for ISBNs.

Item-condition. For example, most books I list are "Very Good." So I pre-fill this field with 2. For exceptions, I just plug in the correct number.

Quantity. It's always 1, unless you've got more than one book in identical condition.

Add-delete. If you're adding new listings, it's always A for add.

Will-ship-internationally. If you usually offer it, pre-fill this field with "Y." For your heavy books, you can make an exception and enter "N."

Expedited-shipping. Same as above.

Item-is-marketplace. Always Y for Marketplace listings.

Now, here's a nifty technique for copying all these default values into descending rows. That way, we'll have a big spreadsheet ready to go, and we'll need only to enter our ISBNs, prices, and comments. Here's the way our Product-id-type column looks now:

Product-id-type
2

Select the rectangle containing the numeral 2. A "fill handle" will appear on the bottom right corner of the rectangle; it's a black dot. Position your cursor over the dot, and click and hold your left mouse button. Drag your cursor down the column, and it pre-fills your column with 2s. Use the same technique for pre-filling all your default values.

A Word about SKUs

If you're not familiar with the term SKU, it's a retailing acronym for Stock Keeping Unit. For us booksellers, it's a symbol we can use to identify each unique item in our inventory.

You'll need to use SKUs to work with the Inventory Loader. On your spreadsheet, you can also pre-fill a column with SKUs using a variation on the fill-handle technique described above. For example, let's imagine your first two SKUs are:

SKU
A1
A2

Select the rectangle containing A1. With your mouse button depressed, drag the cursor down until both A1 and A2 are selected. Release the mouse button, and you'll see a fill handle on the bottom right corner of A2. Drag the fill handle downward, and your spreadsheet will continue your series of SKUs automatically, A3, A4, A5 and so on.

A Word about SKUs

As mentioned previously, you must have an Amazon Pro-Merchant account ($39.99 monthly) to use the Inventory Loader. If you're listing this many books, the subscription is probably well worth it, since it eliminates the 99-cent transaction fee on each Marketplace sale. As long as you sell 40 or more books per month, the subscription pays for itself.

Switching over from a regular seller account to Pro-Merchant status is pretty easy. Once you've started your Pro-Merchant subscription, you can download your Amazon inventory from your seller account page.

Scroll down toward the bottom to the section in the middle column labeled "Reports," and click "Get Listing and Fulfillment Reports." Then click "Generate Reports Now" then ask for the "Open Listings Report." After a few minutes, you'll have your Amazon inventory in a text file, which you can open in a spreadsheet.

If you want more details on the Inventory Loader and using SKUs to manage your inventory, consult this section of Amazon's site.

Want to read more articles by
BookThink's Contributing Editor Steve Weber?
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