affording free shipping for book sales

[pikespeak4317]

I notice many sellers offer free shipping for books at the five dollar retail level.  The post office tells me media mail is five to six bucks..  How do they do it?

[itscalledapostingid]

The mega book sellers use advanced logistics services like UPS Mail Innovations where mail is pre-sorted and distributed to post offices. They aren't paying anywhere close to what a regular seller pays shipping by Media Mail.

You won't be able to compete with those big sellers on price.

[itscalledapostingid]

What you can do is appeal to buyers who prefer to buy from small businesses.

Make it clear that you have the book in hand, personally inspected it's condition, package your items well and ship quickly etc.

[onefootflippers]

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@pikespeak4317 wrote:

I notice many sellers offer free shipping for books at the five dollar retail level.  The post office tells me media mail is five to six bucks..  How do they do it?

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How do you make any money selling postcard for 1.69 shipped? That only leaves you 42 cents after ebay fees, standard envelope shipping and the cost of an envelope and thermal label.

How many of those could you possibly list and ship per hour?

[slippinjimmy]

The 5-digit presort rate for Media Mail is $3.26

[chapeau-noir]

I'm not sure who these 'many sellers' are, but I do know that the huge booksellers work on volume, not combining shipping and extremely cheap acquisition costs (like almost free). I have a feeling these 'many sellers' may be actually 'many listings' from the same group of sellers. They have contracts with USPS for pre-sort.

I don't even bother selling most books online anymore - just donate.