Where is the best place to sell books?

[dsanner106]

Hello everyone!

I have been selling books on Amazon. The fees are getting stupid and I think I am probably giving the books away once i count my time, driving and standing in line at the PO. I don't mind paying a fee but not when it adds up to nearly 50%.

Here is my fees on one book with Amazon:
Dimension Value
Item price $4.00
Shipping $3.99
Customer pays $7.99
Summary of charges
Referral fee -$1.20
Other fees -$2.79
Fee discounts $0.00
Taxes ( click to load )
Estimated net proceeds $4.001

So they think my net proceeds are a proceed? I am still paying $3.00 to ship a book like this by media mail. Amazon is really getting ridiculous. I am taking all my books off right now. My kids just have a lot of books from homeschooling all these years and college books now (when the semester is over).

So does anyone have a better place?

I believe the other fees you quote is a generated shipping label. They bill the customer 3.99, charge you actual shipping to generate the label so you are not paying 3.00 on top of this and are profiting the 4.00. I have been selling books on amazon since the company began allowing outside sellers and essentially you are paying them 18% of the total revenue and keeping the rest. Shipping varies, so I may lose a bit on heavy books and gain a bit on lightweights and that fee is recorded as other fees

 

[platamama]

I’ve been searching for a place to donate them that’s tax deductible instead of trying to sell them.

Seems like you can make more money by giving them away to charity and writing it off as a charitable donation on your taxes.

So what is leftover I donate and take the write off.

With the GOP tax law passed last November, itemized deductions which include charitable donations took a big hit. Whatever you've done in the past will need to be looked at again in 2018 with the new tax laws in mind.

 

[MillauFr]

With the GOP tax law passed last November, itemized deductions which include charitable donations took a big hit. Whatever you've done in the past will need to be looked at again in 2018 with the new tax laws in mind.

I thought since I am giving away $25-30k per year I am not taking any hit? Don't I still get to write off all of my donations?

 

[platamama]

I thought since I am giving away $25-30k per year I am not taking any hit? Don't I still get to write off all of my donations?

In your case, your number exceeds all the standard deductions ($12K single, $18K HH, $24K MFJ) so I doubt you would take a hit, you're right. It will affect people's tax situations differently depending on a lot of factors.

 

[Carrie Ellis]

I believe the other fees you quote is a generated shipping label. They bill the customer 3.99, charge you actual shipping to generate the label so you are not paying 3.00 on top of this and are profiting the 4.00. I have been selling books on amazon since the company began allowing outside sellers and essentially you are paying them 18% of the total revenue and keeping the rest. Shipping varies, so I may lose a bit on heavy books and gain a bit on lightweights and that fee is recorded as other fees

I clicked on the 3.99 to ship when I created the posting for the book. I do that on all. Some I pay more and some I pay less. So, I am posting that book for $4.00 and charging $3.99 to ship. After their fees and shipping (it was $3 to ship media), I am making $1 on that book. I did the drop down on other books that I have posted on Amazon and the fees were just as bad. I just removed all of them and quit selling. It is not worth it. I had not done that for a while. I know it used to not be that bad!

 

[DreamIsaWish]

With the GOP tax law passed last November, itemized deductions which include charitable donations took a big hit. Whatever you've done in the past will need to be looked at again in 2018 with the new tax laws in mind.

I was thinking the same thing. I know that the change in tax law has changed my donation habits, and I have to assume it will change those of other folks as well. I used to donate items to the school auction and take the tax deduction. This year I think I'll be looking to buy something at the auction instead of donating things to be auctioned. (And then prices at the auction will probably go too high for my frugal taste and I'll end up doing nothing at all, so not really a good outcome.)