posted on July 27, 2010 01:48:42 PM new
I thought it might be a good way to dispose of Amazon-unsellable books, so I signed up and listed four non-fiction books last night.
People have already claimed two of them. This seems weird.
posted on July 29, 2010 02:02:32 AM new
There used to be threads on AMZN on how can some sellers make money selling paperback at one penny?
It turns out these are misfits from the printing house,picked up from dumpsters and the sellers make money on shipping.
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There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
posted on July 29, 2010 01:49:33 PM new
Oh, there's a bunch of different ways to make money selling books at a penny, but it only really works if you're already doing so much volume you qualify for reduced shipping rates. Like selling 200 or so books a day.
It works because the Amazon shipping allowance is a flat $3.99, which you get whether the book is a 20 page pamphlet or a huge coffee table pictorial.
I have no aspirations to be a 200 book per day seller on Amazon. I just do it because it's fun.
Pretty much everything I list on PaperBackSwap gets claimed right away, so I guess there are a lot of credits floating around.
posted on July 29, 2010 03:29:34 PM new
amzn shipping allowance 3.99?
when was that?
one seller offered an interesting reason why he sells books for one penny-
he buys boatloads of books and pays storage for these books.
Some are good books which he makes good money on,some are okay and some he just want to rid them to make room for new arrivals.
By getting rid of these books at one penny,he is saving money on storage.
[ edited by hwahwa on Jul 29, 2010 05:40 PM ]
posted on July 31, 2010 05:16:32 AM newwhen was that?
Now. I don't know when it changed to $3.99, I only know that's what they charge the customer and I get it as a shipping credit.
But getting back to PBS...
As of yesterday every non-fiction book I posted had been claimed, most usually within minutes of me posting it, so it feels a little like being in a shark tank.
I browsed the site to try to find the kinds of books I like (unabridged audiobooks on CD). There aren't any, just old audiobooks on cassette, which nobody wants, and a few abridged books on CD.
The site seems heavily tilted towards light fiction of the sort where the heaving-bosomed heroine is pictured on the cover in the manly bare-chested hero's arms.
My guess is that other people got there before me to play the trade-up game, accumulated lots and lots of credits they then found they couldn't use and now are looking for something meaty to spend them on. I don't want that to happen, so I closed the account.
posted on July 31, 2010 06:14:19 AM new
how does PBS work?
Do they get your books and pay you shipping?
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There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
posted on July 31, 2010 11:43:56 PM new
No, you post books for swapping. When you've posted 10, you get two credits. You get one credit every time you ship a book to a requestor. You pay for the shipment.
So I was looking at having 20-some credits and nothing to spend them on.
It seems to me that people are probably listing the lowest quality material they can, since under the PBS system a ragged paperback copy of Gone with the Wind would be worth equally as much as a first edition of The Hunt for Red October: one credit. They're obviously hoping other people will list better material so they can trade up.
posted on August 1, 2010 02:23:53 AM new
Thanks for the information,now I will go back to bed.
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There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
