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Can someone explain how/why Goodwill is selling books w/free shipping for less than the cost of ship

I don't understand how they can be doing anything but operating at a big loss.  And destroying the market for other sellers. I'm stumped.

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Can someone explain how/why Goodwill is selling books w/free shipping for less than the cost of ship

They get their items for free, they list for free, they ship for free or almost free, and get tax breaks and incentives, and possibly get promoted by ebay for free. Did I mention the word "Free"?

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Can someone explain how/why Goodwill is selling books w/free shipping for less than the cost of ship


@patterns2sew wrote:

I don't understand how they can be doing anything but operating at a big loss.  And destroying the market for other sellers. I'm stumped.


Charity booksellers destroyed the book market over a decade ago.  They pay nothing for their inventory, they pay 2 percent ebay fees instead of 15 percent on books, they often pay nothing for their employees (volunteers or salary covered by various other programs). I don't know if they can actually ship a book any cheaper, but they will price books down to the exact break even point and only make money if you buy more than 1 in a transaction, which is why so many have various buy X, get 1 free promotions.

I would not be ramping up in physical media at this point. It is a category in decline. Each year the average person purchases less physical media than the year before, and each year the amount of it floating around out there grows even more since so little of it is ever actually thrown away. That doesn't mean that some people don't buy tons of books or that books are going away anytime soon, but Books, CDs and DVDs are definitely in decline, they will never get better and will only get worse every single year.

Message 3 of 33
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Can someone explain how/why Goodwill is selling books w/free shipping for less than the cost of ship

"They get their items for free, they list for free, they ship for free or almost free. . .. "

Almost free:   While Goodwill does receive free donations, they pay a reduced rate on postage, as a qualified non-profit organization.

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Can someone explain how/why Goodwill is selling books w/free shipping for less than the cost of ship


@1786davycrockett wrote:

"They get their items for free, they list for free, they ship for free or almost free. . .. "

Almost free:   While Goodwill does receive free donations, they pay a reduced rate on postage, as a qualified non-profit organization.


Do you know what they actually pay on media mail? I have tried to determine this multiple times but I have never been able to figure it out.

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Can someone explain how/why Goodwill is selling books w/free shipping for less than the cost of ship

I don't really know, but the huge bookseller warehouses sell here with similar prices the ordinary seller cannot compete with. This is nothing new. The used book market on eBay was destroyed for the small seller years ago.

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Can someone explain how/why Goodwill is selling books w/free shipping for less than the cost of ship

They should not be allowed to sell online, those are community-based organizations to help the community they live in by providing jobs and selling goods at low prices to benefit their community

Capitalism is fair if you play by the same rules, but to get an advantage over others is not.

Someday there will be some laws around this madness

Their CEO should not be flying first class but should take the Greyhound if they really cared.

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Can someone explain how/why Goodwill is selling books w/free shipping for less than the cost of ship


@onefootflipper wrote:

@1786davycrockett wrote:

"They get their items for free, they list for free, they ship for free or almost free. . .. "

Almost free:   While Goodwill does receive free donations, they pay a reduced rate on postage, as a qualified non-profit organization.


Do you know what they actually pay on media mail? I have tried to determine this multiple times but I have never been able to figure it out.


They probably do presorting which gives them a commercial rate. Possibly get it even cheaper than that because of volume and being considered a charity, but who knows.

On top of that, they are probably hoping you buy more than one book which helps out shipping costs even more.

 

Commercial:

https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm#_c156

 

Peasant rate:

https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm#_c059

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Can someone explain how/why Goodwill is selling books w/free shipping for less than the cost of ship

Its disgraceful Goodwill calls itself a charity, they are not, never have been. They're a corporate monstrosity who abuses the disabled and working poor for a profit. For decades Goodwill has exploited the disabled, often paying them less than 50 cents an hour.

Meanwhile, Goodwill brings in billions a year in profits, all while its employees spent decades living out of their cars and literally starving and freezing to death in the street.

Disabled Americans who collect social security disability have a totally separate set of labor laws, all of which ensure they remain dirt poor and starving. Goodwill has lobbied endlessly to ensure the laws are in their favor and they can continue to pay nothing to those who're the most vulnerable in our society.

America has a whole needs to stop supporting these fake charity organizations like Goodwill, there is nothing good about it. Paying out billions annually to shareholders, while giving nothing back to society is Goodwill's motto.

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Can someone explain how/why Goodwill is selling books w/free shipping for less than the cost of ship

"Can someone explain how/why Goodwill is selling books w/free shipping for less than the cost of ship"

 

That's probably one way they can 'launder' their money.

 

 

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Can someone explain how/why Goodwill is selling books w/free shipping for less than the cost of ship

Being a media dealer myself, I've seen first hand the decline in physical media. I am trying to find alternate products to replace my product line with, not so easy to do.

I don't see physical media being completely dead for at least a few more years, but we're heading in that direction for sure. CD's are definitely a hard sell today.

My video game sales are definitely not what they were just a few years ago either. Not just because of digital downloads, but because of the enormous variety of games hitting the market, no one can possibly buy them all.

 

 

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Can someone explain how/why Goodwill is selling books w/free shipping for less than the cost of ship

I don't know how anybody does it. I came across some old books and figured I'd put them up on eBay, only to find similar listings selling for $4! It costs nearly $4 to ship the thing! I tried to set my prices competitively and I've even managed to make a few sales, but I will have to rethink selling my books on eBay, especially with the general price being $3-5 dollars with FREE SHIPPING. I don't know how anybody affords to do that, it just makes no sense. 

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Can someone explain how/why Goodwill is selling books w/free shipping for less than the cost of ship


@stickerberry wrote:

I don't know how anybody does it. I came across some old books and figured I'd put them up on eBay, only to find similar listings selling for $4! It costs nearly $4 to ship the thing! I tried to set my prices competitively and I've even managed to make a few sales, but I will have to rethink selling my books on eBay, especially with the general price being $3-5 dollars with FREE SHIPPING. I don't know how anybody affords to do that, it just makes no sense. 


When I am sourcing I only look at specialty books and large lots of same author / series / subject. Those are all still quite sellable. Random normal books are essentially all bad.

 

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Can someone explain how/why Goodwill is selling books w/free shipping for less than the cost of ship


@onefootflipper wrote:

I would not be ramping up in physical media at this point. It is a category in decline. 


There are still plenty of books, and even CDs, that have never been, nor will be digitized that can still sell.  But they are few and far between, and slow sellers also.  Sort of like Barbie dolls or Hot wheel cars, there are a few worth listing but you have to due your due diligence as most are indeed worthless.

 

As for Goodwill, it has always been a bit of a scam.

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Can someone explain how/why Goodwill is selling books w/free shipping for less than the cost of ship


@patterns2sew wrote:

I don't understand how they can be doing anything but operating at a big loss.  And destroying the market for other sellers. I'm stumped.


I can explain it.

They are setting a shipping cost that less than the cost to ship.

It's easy to do. 

Maybe they are operating at a loss. 

Or maybe if you looked at their entire operation, they were not losing money at all. 

Did you know that Goodwill's stated mission is to help people, not to sell merchandise? 

 

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