Is there any point in listing penny books?

[cambsmills]

Books that are listed on Amazon with a value of 1p?

We have so many books, many of which have been read only once and are therefore in as new condition, but it seems such a waste to have them on shelves gathering dust when we won't be reading them again. We no longer buy books but use the library instead.

Is it really worth the effort to list them on here or should I just donate to charity?

[bykimbo]

Charity. Honestly - if they're so plentiful that they are readily available at a penny, nobody's going to pay the postage. Let a charity benefit from selling them to people who can pay a pound and carry them home.

[moonwitch]

Charity. Honestly - if they're so plentiful that they are readily available at a penny, nobody's going to pay the postage. Let a charity benefit from selling them to people who can pay a pound and carry them home.

Yep....that's what I do with all my books once in a while.

My personal view is the only books worth listing on-line are either rare books or specialist titles. Any other books get taken into town to any of 10+ charity shops we have here.

[cambsmills]

Thanks, that's just what I thought.

[raindropsies]

I think that if a book is on the river for a penny, with the P&P set at £2.75 (I think it's that) then if you can list on here for under £2.76 then it could be worth it.

I always check on book finder and am sometimes surprised by the results

[Pink_Panther]

Books that are listed on Amazon with a value of 1p?

It's a marketing stratagy! Making on the postage (deal woth the PO) But I can't for the life of me see how it works cos the river still has a huge fee that will wipe out the profit?

[cambsmills]

I can't see how it works either. I've got a lot of books that weigh over 1kg, reference books mostly, but they're still listed at 1p with £2.75 P&P. With Amazon's fees you're losing heavily on the transaction so what's the point?

Same applies to the new goods that I carry for my business. When I first started listing on A, these sold well. Now the prices are so low because others have started to list that in most cases you'll be making pence on the transaction. Great for a buyer, but not for a seller.

[bykimbo]

I can't see how it works either. I've got a lot of books that weigh over 1kg, reference books mostly, but they're still listed at 1p with £2.75 P&P. With Amazon's fees you're losing heavily on the transaction so what's the point?

Same applies to the new goods that I carry for my business. When I first started listing on A, these sold well. Now the prices are so low because others have started to list that in most cases you'll be making pence on the transaction. Great for a buyer, but not for a seller.

The heavy books at 1p have always seemed weird to me. Some will be people stealing the postage from their employer, but that can't account for all of them. Some will be newbies who haven't done their sums. I suppose some might be loss-leaders from big sellers - but multiple item buying from the same seller is so obscure there it hardly seems likely. Some may be people using automatic pricing software that drops the price down when others do... but even all those added together don't seem to add up to the number of books I see listed at a loss once shipping's included. Weird.

[madelaine]

Another possibility is to join bookmooch or readitswapit - you get books you want for the cost of the postage for the ones you don't want!

[Maxinesbookshop]

The heavy books at 1p have always seemed weird to me. Some will be people stealing the postage from their employer, but that can't account for all of them. Some will be newbies who haven't done their sums. I suppose some might be loss-leaders from big sellers - but multiple item buying from the same seller is so obscure there it hardly seems likely. Some may be people using automatic pricing software that drops the price down when others do... but even all those added together don't seem to add up to the number of books I see listed at a loss once shipping's included. Weird.

Large sellers have a PPI account with Royal Mail. Not only does it give them preferential rates but it works by calculating the total weight of the day's posting divided by the number of items sent, and paying for the average.