I am an individual seller on Amazon.com. I have noticed over the years
that other sellers offer huge hardcover books for sale for one penny.
The Amazon shipping allowance per book is $2.26. Many of these huge
hardcovers cannot possibly be shipped at USPS (the amazon official
shipping venue)for less than 3 or 4 dollars. This is a common
occurance on Amazon, not an exception. My question to you is how can
these sellers possibly make any money selling a book for one penny,
and losing money on the shipping?
Are the sellers shipping from work and using business postage? Are
they actually losing money? I guess it is a multiple question. It
makes no sense to me. Asking other sellers directly would be of no
help because they will not divulge their "secrets".  Can you help put
an end to my frustration?

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Clarification of Question by rolandthegunslinger-ga on 29 Nov 2005 13:16 PST

As I had already said that I am a seller on Amazon, I am aware of the
media mail rates. The original question was, for large books that
weigh, say 5 - 10 pounds, with a shipping allowance of only $2.26
(Whichwould only cover a book weighing under 3 pounds), how can a
seller ship a book weighing more than that amount, lost money in the
shipping process, and still stay in business?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 29 Nov 2005 15:15 PST

I may just be displaying my ignorance here, but I always thought that
these one cent deals are much like the one cent offers at eBay, or the
really cheap (or even free) items offered on TV -- the income comes
from tacking on S&H costs.

I checked out a few one cent books on Amazon, and the shipping fees
were all in the $3-4 range.  I'm not sure what you mean by shipping
allowance, or how that may restrict certain sellers.  But I certainly
didn't see a restriction to just $2.26 per one-cent book.

Can you shed any more light on this?


Thanks,

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by rolandthegunslinger-ga on 29 Nov 2005 15:37 PST

On Amazon, a seller cannot set their own shipping rate. The shipping
allowance means that a seller receives only $2.26 per book for
shipping the book. That's all. So for a one penny sale, a seller will
receive $2.27, no more than that. When I say that sellers offer HUGE
books for one penny, I mean, literally 5 - 10 pound books. Even at
media mail (book-rate) shipping, the shipping for these huge books is
still $3.00 - $5.00 a book. This is why I cannot figure out how they
can afford to ship these huge books. I know that I can't list them for
one penny. I have to toss them to the donate pile. I'm trying to find
out how these other sellers can ship them at a loss and stay in
business. There is either something that I don't know, or something
illegal is going on. It's a complete mystery to me.

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Clarification of Question by rolandthegunslinger-ga on 29 Nov 2005 15:39 PST

One last clarification on my part, even though Amazon charges teh
customer $3.35 shipping fee, the seller gets only the $2.26 allowance.
Amazon keeps the other portion of the shipping fee.

Used book dealers who sell through places such as Amazon and Half
typically use the USPS "Media Mail" rates:

1 lb $1.42 
2 lb $1.84 
3 lb $2.26 
4 lb $2.68 
5 lb $3.10

One way that some unscrupulous persons may make money from the sale of
cheap books is to sell the name and address of the buyer to a mailing
list. They may take a loss on the book, but the name and contact info
of known book-buyers can be worth something.

I have received many items of junk mail that were addressed to me in
the precise manner that my name is listed at Half.com (I signed up
under an unusual variant of my name there). I doubt that anyone from
the site has violated my privacy, but it seems likely that one or more
of the people from whom I bought books has sold my info. I can't prove
anything, of course.

Another thing to consider is that large hardbacks may not weigh as
much as you think. Out of curiosity, I just weighed a hardback copy
(with dust jacket) of Stephen King's "Dreamcatcher." It looks like a
hefty thing, at 620 pages, but it only weighs 1 pound 13.4 ounces.

I remember reading an article about this -- was it in the NY Times? 
It was a piece by a mom who had zillions of books around and she
talked her two daughters into selling them on Amazon --or half.com? 
I'm struggling to remember.   And i think the deal about the .99 cent
books was a technique to lure customers, who would then hopefully go
on to buy other books from them, once they were there.
I may have the article in a file somewhere and will look for it.  I
remember it definitely set me straight about the fantasy of selling
used books online.  Too many people are doing it and very few are
making money at it.

They lose money on each book, but they make it up on volume.

Ancient wheezes aside, my guess is that they have negotiated shipping
cheaper than Media Mail.  Amazon.com does not require sellers to use
the USPS.

It's just a guess, though.

Or there is the outlandish idea that these people are not out to make
a buck.  Perhaps they are happy to distribute their old books to
willing buyers without gaining any cash in the deal.

There are a number of partial answers in the information below. 
Typically these 1 cent book sellers are mega sellers with large sales
volumes.  So they get:

1. a bulk postal rate which is much cheaper than the media mail rates
described in the first comment.

2. new customers who they can direct to their own sites where they
sell books for much more than a penny