Cheap Way to Ship Books? Booksellers and Media Mail

[usa_vintage_goods]

How are large booksellers making any money selling books for zero profit? I was getting ready to list a book I have, it's 3 pounds 2 oz (50oz). eBay calculates my cost for Media Mail to be $6.35. However, I see the same book being offered with free shipping, for $4.35 from the big players in the space. How?

[ebooksdiva]

Those sellers probably sell large volumes of books and may have discounted volume rates through USPS and must ship at least 300 pieces within a specific timeframe. 
USPS Business Shipping

[onefootflipper1]

Charity sellers pay 2 percent ebay fees not 13-15. Media specialists will have presort media accounts with the USPS so they can ship it cheaper and they almost universally stuff their packages with advertisements which is against the media mail rules. 

Thus charity media sellers can ship the item out about $2 cheaper than you can.

[ekmadonna]

Here is a tip, check Media Mail prices vs. Ground Advantage on all your book sales. depending on the weight and side of the package and the zone you are shipping to and from Ground Advantage CAN and SOMETIMES IS CHEAPER than Media Mail. 

[1786davycrockett]

@usa_vintage_goods 

Many of the huge, huge, huge booksellers that you see on eBay are actually sellers who have purchased enormous skid-loads of boxed-up, unsorted warehouse close-out books that had originally been "remaindered" at the major book retailers, such as Barnes & Noble. 

Once the "remainders" have reached the end of their shelf-lives at the retail stores, the retailers box them up, and ship them off to a cut-rate distributor, who creates tall skids of plastic-sealed boxes of unsorted titles, which are then auctioned off to the highest bidder, usually for pennies (or less!) on the dollar.

So those big booksellers which you see on eBay make their margins on volume, as well as reduced eBay FVFs and USPS discounted bulk shipping.

How to compete?  Don't try to sell any best-sellers published within the last 30 years -- the inventory on those titles is seemingly infinite, and most eBay booksellers just can't hope to compete.

So sell "around" those huge eBay booksellers:  list non-bestseller titles, or titles from earlier than 30 years ago, or more specialized titles which may show less competition.

In short -- be creative -- and dare to be different!

[mam98031]

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@usa_vintage_goods wrote:

How are large booksellers making any money selling books for zero profit? I was getting ready to list a book I have, it's 3 pounds 2 oz (50oz). eBay calculates my cost for Media Mail to be $6.35. However, I see the same book being offered with free shipping, for $4.35 from the big players in the space. How?

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The big sellers of books would ship via a different method that media mail.  They would negotiate rates with USPS for a much lower rate.  This is not something you would likely ever to be able to accomplish unless you had a warehouse full of books to sell.

[onefootflipper1]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@usa_vintage_goods wrote:

How are large booksellers making any money selling books for zero profit? I was getting ready to list a book I have, it's 3 pounds 2 oz (50oz). eBay calculates my cost for Media Mail to be $6.35. However, I see the same book being offered with free shipping, for $4.35 from the big players in the space. How?

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The big sellers of books would ship via a different method that media mail.  They would negotiate rates with USPS for a much lower rate.  This is not something you would likely ever to be able to accomplish unless you had a warehouse full of books to sell.

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They don't have to negotiate anything, as long as they have the volume they can apply for the presort rates which are way cheaper.

[luckythewinner]

How are large booksellers making any money selling books for zero profit?

You answered your own question. If they are selling for zero profit, then by definition they are not making any money.

That aside ....

You seem to be assuming that big players in books always make a profit on every single eBay sale. They might not.

Some businesses take a wider view of profitability, and measure their success by their overall business activity and not one specific listing. It could simply be that their average order is 4-5 books and not just one.

[mantle1951]

This is why I stopped selling books here around 6 years ago.

[toysaver]

"How are large booksellers making any money selling books for zero profit?"

You have no way of knowing what their profit is.  Books may have been bought years ago for a quarter or dime, or even given away free for carting them away.

[squinkercat59]

If you look at the feedback of most of those large booksellers, it's awful. They don't take the time to actually look over their books and people complain about damage, misrepresentation, water stains, highlighting, missing pages, ex-library, etc.  If you have good feedback you can still sell a book for more, to people that don't want to take a chance with those larger sellers. I personally wouldn't buy from someone that has over 2000 negatives in the last month.

[mam98031]

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@onefootflipper1 wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@usa_vintage_goods wrote:

How are large booksellers making any money selling books for zero profit? I was getting ready to list a book I have, it's 3 pounds 2 oz (50oz). eBay calculates my cost for Media Mail to be $6.35. However, I see the same book being offered with free shipping, for $4.35 from the big players in the space. How?

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The big sellers of books would ship via a different method that media mail.  They would negotiate rates with USPS for a much lower rate.  This is not something you would likely ever to be able to accomplish unless you had a warehouse full of books to sell.

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They don't have to negotiate anything, as long as they have the volume they can apply for the presort rates which are way cheaper.

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They have the ability to negotiate on certain rates just like Amazon does for items shipped out of their warehouse and other companies that have large shipments coming out of one location.  

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Selling books at a loss can be cheaper for a very large seller than paying to dispose of them. It can also build customer goodwill. It can also keep their employees occupied - it is depressing and morale sapping to not have enough for your employees to do. It can lead to high turnover and recruiting and training costs.

So long as they have the labor available to fulfill the orders that is a viable decision.

You do not have to be a big bookseller to have close to zero cost of goods sold.

It is also very possible that the large sellers you are looking at have not revised their listings to allow for postal rate increases. I have many listings which have not been updated for the past two postage increases. I use fixed price shipping to all of the US. I target breakeven between shipping charges to the buyer and shipping costs. I breakeven or make a small profit on shipping every month. BUT I do not list anything which does not offer a $5 net profit or more, when it sells.

I suspect that the books you are considering listing, where you see these numbers, belong in the pulper or the landfill.

[whiteparrot2003]

I just sold a book and made $.21   And after checking USPS there was no difference between the media mail retail price and Ebay's.  So I guess we don't get a discount here.  I had listed the book higher than others as mine was in great condition which is good otherwise I would have lost money (although earning $.21 is actually losing money since I had purchased the book new).

Geez, I didn't expect to make much but that was ridiculous.  Obviously I didn't estimate shipping when listing.  My bad.  But I got a good purchaser and have 1 less thing not being used in my house!  

[mam98031]

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@whiteparrot2003 wrote:

I just sold a book and made $.21   And after checking USPS there was no difference between the media mail retail price and Ebay's.  So I guess we don't get a discount here.  I had listed the book higher than others as mine was in great condition which is good otherwise I would have lost money (although earning $.21 is actually losing money since I had purchased the book new).

Geez, I didn't expect to make much but that was ridiculous.  Obviously I didn't estimate shipping when listing.  My bad.  But I got a good purchaser and have 1 less thing not being used in my house!  

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It isn't Ebay's fault.  USPS doesn't allow negotiations on Media Mail rates.  They never have.  All sites selling electronic postage also have these same rates.  You may have just noticed it, but it has been like this for years.

You clearly aren't pricing your books high enough.  

Also since USPS raised Media Rates on July 14th, there is something you need to watch closely when you are creating shipping labels.  From time to time, on media mail items, depending on weight and where it is going, it might be cheaper to use Ground Advantage because just sometimes it is cheaper,