more about bookselling

Sorry to keep harping on about this, but it's been on my mind a bit lately. Last night I sold another book. I got a credit of $9 to my Amazon seller account. I went to mail it this morning - $9.36. Yes, that's right - I lost money on this sale. I could try selling on ebay, but if I charge people $9.50 for shipping and handling on a paperback book (I have to factor in the cost of the packaging supplies) am I really going to be very competitive? I think not. The problem is that if something is over 20 cm thick it goes by parcel post which is mucho expensive. It's pretty rare that I ship a book that is less than 20 cm thick on its own, never mind the thickness of the packaging materials on top of that.

Talking with a friend last night helped me to realize that this online book store idea was a really good idea when we lived in Ontario, but not such a good idea here in BC where we have very little space for inventory and I have the prospect of attending university ahead of me. I just can't invest a lot of time and energy in a project that won't be lucrative unless I have a huge inventory. It's sort of a circular problem.

So, what to do with all these books? I guess I'll go investigate what people are charging for shipping on ebay, then if the rates are as high as mine would need to be, I can sell off my current inventory there. If not at least I can get credit at a used bookstore for some of this stuff.