Comments on: Selling Textbooks – Amazon vs. Half.com vs. Ebay

By: Jay

Jay — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:17:20 +0000

Addendum: The beauty of half is the fees aren’t so bad, thats the general message of the above comment. This allows sellers to offer books at lower prices as they aren’t getting crushed by over the top selling fees.

By: Jay

Jay — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:16:07 +0000

The beauty of half compared to amazon is the stupid standard selling fees for non upgraded members. so, lets say I’m a regular seller with a regular account and I sell a book for 1.50$ and get 3.99 for shipping. Amazon takes out a selling fee of ($1.00), a closing fee of (1.35) and a commission of 15% on the total amount of the sale. SO out of 5.49$ total revenue, the seller sees only about 2.50$ yet the seller still has to ship the item at 2.38 plus packaging costs. At $1.50 price value (as determined by all those bastard price war mongers) the book will actually only make you about .20$ if your lucky

By: yoyoyo

yoyoyo — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 08:32:18 +0000

I know this article is ridiculously old, but the same old routine never changes for college kids. With that being said, I’ve been around the block once or twice and have pretty much tried every service out there when is comes to selling books at the end of a semester. Personally I agree with the guy who said Amazon has been really heading downward in their services. I have heard of multiple people who were never paid and couldn’t even contact anyone to work things out. My personal favorite is Half.com for the sole reason that I never have any issue, and the ranking system on the quality of the book is very effective. Only a couple times have I been disappointed with a “very good” ranked book being poor quality. I both buy and sell my books on half.com and always think the going market price is very fair. You can pay more for better quality if you want, or go for the shittiest, cheapest one you can get, which I love.

By: Shirley

Shirley — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 14:26:43 +0000

I would like that! I have only used Amazon.com a few times for other than used books and I would certainly welcome being able to browse through comparatively priced used books without all the rest of the bells and whistles.

By: Amazon Bites

Amazon Bites — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 00:59:37 +0000

Amazon is gaining a very bad reputation for closing seller accounts and freezing funds for 90 days. They seem to be eager to knock the little guy out of the picture and only feature mega sellers who auto price their listings. Amazon needs a competitor, maybe a company that is only used books and no mega sellers?

By: Luke

Luke — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 14:12:22 +0000

My biggest problem with selling on Amazon.com is no seller protection. You pay a commission to Amazon.com every time you sell something but they don’t have your back if something goes wrong. If you sell an item on Amazon.com, the buyer can file a chargeback to their credit card company even though they received the item. The buyer could be a typical scam artist but they have the credit card company backing them. Amazon.com will only forward the information you give them to the credit card company in your defense. In my case, tracking information and emails proving the buyer received the item were meaningless to Amazon.com and the buyer’s credit card company. Buyer got the item for free, the credit company got their money back, and amazon.com didn’t lose a cent from the transaction (seller loses the money for selling the item). EBay and PayPal have always refunded me money for a scamming buyer if I have proof the item was shipped. EBay and Amazon are a tossup on commission fees so the best choice is obvious. EBay!

By: Thomas

Thomas — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 02:55:49 +0000

Yes, but half.com reimburses me 1.35 less on hard back books and for soft cover books, they would reimburse me almost enough to make up for the 99 cent fee per book.

So while Half.com wins out on fees, they don’t win out by that much.

By: echidnina

echidnina — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:40:34 +0000

That’s true, the fact that Amazon sells the books themselves changes the game a bit. Most of the time I buy my books used from the marketplace sellers, but every once in a while the Amazon price will be cheaper, factoring in the free shipping and all.

By: echidnina

echidnina — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:38:50 +0000

I think it varies a lot, seeing as Half.com and Amazon marketplace are both just collections of independent sellers. I don’t think you can make a comparison because each experience will be different.

You can compare sellers, though. I mainly use Amazon for my textbooks and there’s a few main textbook resellers in my field – and I know which ones ship fast and which take a few weeks to arrive.

By: Ed

Ed — Sun, 16 May 2010 03:31:53 +0000

And – I posted BEFORE I read the comment above my first one – too funny – but proof Amazon is tricky. Also, if they sell the book themselves you are always competing directly with them where as Half.com isn’t in the business of selling products themselves – they are a true marketplace for buyer and sellers.

By: Ed

Ed — Sun, 16 May 2010 03:27:07 +0000

Amazon is a tricky place to sell – be careful with their a to Z claims – many buyers get product for free and I had my amazon account closed. I agree Amazon has better sales prices for the seller – but you take a risk and Amazon ALWAYS sides with the buyer and you are out your product and your money.

By: Momma

Momma — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:04:24 +0000

BEWARE OF AMAZON’S A-Z GUARANTEE POLICY FOR BUYERS. I’ve had some buyers get their books for free for some really stupid reasons (they don’t read the details with the listing) and Amazon supports them 100%. I have lost tons of money because of this, and a lot of the buyers are just dishonestly trying to get a free book. Amazon may be easier but you will make less money than with half.com and for the reason above I would definitely sell with them!!

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:34:39 +0000

Amazon takes forever to deliver books, I’ve had two horrible experiences. However, any time that I order from Half.com I get my order ASAP.

By: luis

luis — Thu, 21 May 2009 01:34:05 +0000

The price comparisons between amazon and half are wrong!. Amazon in addition to the 15% commission charges $.99 per book and keeps $1.35 of the shipping price of $3.99 for media mail, etc. There are more things. Wang go back to the drawing board and make the correct comparisons!!!

By: Cap

Cap — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 19:35:15 +0000

I suggest searching via http://www.campusi.com to look for books. it farms a list of lowest price from various book selling sites.

just be aware who you’re buying from at the end.

but yeah I participate in price war too. sometimes I dont go super low though, when its just ridiculous.

cant wait till the books are at $200 minimum. I’ve seen a few.