If you sell used books/curriculum on Amazon, I have a question.

[Ginevra]

How or why do people list books for one cent? Is the understanding that they will get the 3.99 credit for postage and handling, but the book will not cost that much to ship, so they will make perhaps a couple of dollars on the book sale?

 

I opened my seller account mostly so I could sell my used college textbooks, but I also have a lot of smaller books I'd be happy to sell. These small books are always being offered by other sellers for .01, though. I don't understand that completely; i.e., how that would even be worth the trouble. :confused:

[unity]

How or why do people list books for one cent? Is the understanding that they will get the 3.99 credit for postage and handling, but the book will not cost that much to ship, so they will make perhaps a couple of dollars on the book sale?

 

Yes, that's it, I think. If you sell a lot of books and get envelopes really cheaply, you might net a profit of 25 cents to a dollar for a sale, depending on how heavy the book is. Also sometimes I've noticed sellers putting advertising in cheap books, so maybe they hope that the cheap sale will lead to another sale. More than once I've gotten a Bible/Christian tract in with a cheap book, so I suspect that the book sale may be doubling as a ministry.

[KS_]

I believe that those sellers are ones who pay a monthly fee and so don't have as much taken out by Amazon on each sale (I just looked it up and it's 99 cents plus a percentage for regular sellers - Pro Merchants have the 99 cent per book waived). So for 1 cent, they aren't paying the % fee and make a small amount on shipping.

[Guest]

Thank you. I think those must be the explanations.

[redsquirrel]

Well, I for one am so glad you asked that question. I have always wondered how that works.

[stripe]

Bookstores or businesses get a permit to ship bound printed matter, which is cheaper than media mail.

 

I would complain if a tract was included. I thought that was a violation of their terms of service. The closest I ever got was a Unitarian return address sticker on one, and that doesn't count.

 

I do notice a lot of homeschool sellers assume everyone is a Christian.

[Annabel Lee]

How or why do people list books for one cent? Is the understanding that they will get the 3.99 credit for postage and handling, but the book will not cost that much to ship, so they will make perhaps a couple of dollars on the book sale?

 

I opened my seller account mostly so I could sell my used college textbooks, but I also have a lot of smaller books I'd be happy to sell. These small books are always being offered by other sellers for .01, though. I don't understand that completely; i.e., how that would even be worth the trouble. :confused:

 

It wouldn't be worth it to list anything for 1 cent for regular homeschool moms just looking to make a few bucks. That's for businesses with warehouses full of goods using the deal with Amazon for businesses & BPM rate for shipping.

 

The difference you can offer that big warehouse sellers can't is personal service. They don't have time to type in detailed descriptions of the condition of every single book. Sometimes you'll see a generic description repeated over & over on all of their listings (may have markings, may have this or that...) and it leaves you wondering what you'll get). When I see a detailed description letting me know that the only markings are previous owner's name on the inside cover, or only one page is dog-eared, or it's a TM with hand-written notes in the margin that don't obstruct the text, etc., I'm more likely to buy because I know EXACTLY what to expect. This way I don't risk getting a nasty surprise in the mail.

[stripe]

This is why I like etsy (or ebay) -- the photos.

[Mallory]

I've also heard that big sellers are okay with not making a big profit on these little sales because they might also get positive feedback which is worth some $.

[Kathryn]

:iagree: I'd rather pay a bit more with a detailed description. I just got something yesterday from one of those big sellers that was listed as "good" and it reeks of cigarette smoke.

 

It wouldn't be worth it to list anything for 1 cent for regular homeschool moms just looking to make a few bucks. That's for businesses with warehouses full of goods using the deal with Amazon for businesses & BPM rate for shipping.

 

The difference you can offer that big warehouse sellers can't is personal service. They don't have time to type in detailed descriptions of the condition of every single book. Sometimes you'll see a generic description repeated over & over on all of their listings (may have markings, may have this or that...) and it leaves you wondering what you'll get). When I see a detailed description letting me know that the only markings are previous owner's name on the inside cover, or only one page is dog-eared, or it's a TM with hand-written notes in the margin that don't obstruct the text, etc., I'm more likely to buy because I know EXACTLY what to expect. This way I don't risk getting a nasty surprise in the mail.