posted on June 26, 2003 02:54:32 PM new
I sell books on Ebay, Amazon, Half.com. I've never understood why anyone would sell a book for $1.00 or less on Amazon since they charge 15% + 99 cents. Am I missing something?
posted on June 26, 2003 04:06:33 PM new
Because ProMerchants pay a flat $39.99 a month (regardless of how many books they sell) and do not pay the 99 cents/book fee.
posted on June 26, 2003 04:29:51 PM new
if you cant understand why they sell books for under 1.00 on amzn,then you will never understand why they sell books at one penny??
let greedy amzn which loses money selling its own book take 15% of 1 penny.
posted on June 27, 2003 02:31:08 PM new
You guys don't understand. Amazon keeps a percentage of the shipping they charge the buyer - I believe it's $1.26 or something like that.
So Amazon would rather sell two books at a penny each (they get the $1.26 each for a total of $2.52) rather than one book at $5.00 ($1.26 shipping plus 15% of $5.00 = $1.26 + $0.75 = $2.01).
Amazon's whole premise is based on volume. They have no incentive to keep prices at a reasonable level.
Obviously, buyers are also happy with the low price.
Half.com works the same way (except they don't charge the (ProMerchant/$0.99 per book) fee. But half also keeps a portion of the shipping which is really where they make their money
posted on June 27, 2003 02:41:22 PM new
this is true,sellers on marketplace must use one click payment which is amzn 's billpoint and amzn gets to keep part of the shipping fee.
but seller who sell books they pick up free at one penny make money on shipping as well,they just throw the book in an envelope and ship it media mail.
