why sell a book for 1p?

axisus

I just went to look for a music book on Amazon. I was tempted to buy it yesterday in central London but it was £28 and I didn't bother. I found a bookstore selling a damaged copy for 1p (!) (plus £2.80 postage I hasten to add). I can't quite see why it would be worth storing, then packaging and sending a book out when you are only asking 1p for it!

I know what the issue is likely to be, I have borrowed a library copy before and the binding is poor, the pages tend to fall out. For 1p I thought I'd take a punt and hopefully most of it is there! I wouldn't sell a book for 1p, I'd toss it in the bin!

Danny1969

The book is 1p, they make £2 on the postage. If you have a RM PPI account which most sellers do the money is in the postage. Sell 500 items a week for £5 and make £1000 on the postage 

Bygone_Tones

Danny1969 said:

The book is 1p, they make £2 on the postage. If you have a RM PPI account which most sellers do the money is in the postage. Sell 500 items a week for £5 and make £1000 on the postage 

and then you can claim back that PPI with gladstone brookes and get an extra £10,000

Whitecat

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/14/selling-used-books-on-amazon-for-a-penny

axisus

So, the book didn't show up. I plugged in the tracking number that they gave and Royal mail doesn't recognise it. I told them and they just said "oh, it must have got lost in the post" - Eh?? with a tracking number???????? Maybe you can't make a profit from 1p books after all. Bastards.

boogieman

axisus said:

So, the book didn't show up. I plugged in the tracking number that they gave and Royal mail doesn't recognise it. I told them and they just said "oh, it must have got lost in the post" - Eh?? with a tracking number???????? Maybe you can't make a profit from 1p books after all. Bastards.

I’m guessing it won’t have been sent by a tracked service at that price, just 2nd class parcel post. I’ve had the same issue with stuff bought from Amazon but supplied from Chinese sellers. Sure they’ll give you a tracking number but it’s useless and when it does finally turn up the parcel is clearly marked “no tracking”. It’s up to the vendor to chase it up though, the contract for the postage is between them and the postal people.....keep on their case and ask for a refund. 

EricTheWeary

Whitecat said:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/14/selling-used-books-on-amazon-for-a-penny

I did read that after you posted it, very interesting.

jellyroll

In my endless search for "the knowledge" I must have acquired almost every guitar book ever written. So my entire collection must now be worth £2.89

gavin_axecaster

axisus said:

So, the book didn't show up. I plugged in the tracking number that they gave and Royal mail doesn't recognise it. I told them and they just said "oh, it must have got lost in the post" - Eh?? with a tracking number???????? Maybe you can't make a profit from 1p books after all. Bastards.

Depends on what service the seller is using.
All Click and Drop packet/parcel services now come with free "tracking", however it isn't end to end. It only gets scanned when delivered.
If you put the tracking number in and it hasn't been scanned/delivered you get an unrecognised message or "An update will only be provided when we attempt to deliver your item "
It isn't fool-proof though - I have had more lost and delayed parcels since switching over to C+D than the whole of the year prior.