| QUESTION: I've got a bunch of books that are | | | | complain about -- but believe me, they find a way. |
| practically worthless on Amazon Marketplace. Should I | | | | These are the folks who will e-mail you daily when |
| give them away? Why do sellers even bother listing | | | | their book doesn't arrive after four days. These are |
| things worth less than $1? What am I missing? | | | | the folks who complain that shipping cost $3.49 but |
| ANSWER: You're right, it's not worth listing a book | | | | you only spent $2 on postage. And so on. Not all |
| for sale unless you can reasonably expect to make a | | | | penny-book buyers are a pain, but an unusually large |
| few dollars' profit. | | | | percentage of them are. On the other hand, the |
| It used to be possible to squeeze about 50 cents of | | | | folks who pay $75 and up for a book are usually the |
| profit from selling "penny books" on Amazon -- | | | | ones who have nothing but good things to say -- if |
| assuming the seller got the book free, it weighed less | | | | you hear from them at all. |
| than a pound, and could be mailed in a cheap bubble | | | | 2. Retaining e-mail addresses. |
| envelope. Several Marketplace penny sellers with | | | | Selling books only to mine Amazon e-mail addresses |
| access to cheap paperbacks built businesses around | | | | is not a great idea either. Amazon's participation |
| 1-cent books. | | | | agreement prohibits sellers from contacting buyers |
| But since the Postal Service raised rates (and | | | | except to fulfill orders. In other words, Amazon can |
| Amazon didn't raise shipping credits for sellers) the | | | | (and does) boot sellers from their site for |
| days of squeezing profits from shipping fees are | | | | unauthorized contact with buyers or disclosure of |
| over. | | | | customer information. |
| Yet some sellers still offer two rationales for selling | | | | And with all the recent trouble over e-mail viruses |
| cheap books: | | | | and phishing scams, it's only a matter of time before |
| 1. Building your feedback score. | | | | Amazon eliminates direct e-mail contact between |
| Sure, it would be great to build a track record as a | | | | buyers and sellers anyway. They've already rolled out |
| seller without spending much on stock, but it doesn't | | | | a Web-based contact form for buyers' questions. |
| work very well. Customers who buy cheap books | | | | The bottom line is, if you have some cheap books |
| are notoriously hard to please. You'd think someone | | | | on hand, save yourself some headaches and donate |
| buying a book for a penny wouldn't have much to | | | | them to your local library or charity. |