LOL - no I don't need you here to help me load the truck!

I'm just wondering if anyone has ideas...

I have shelves of books that I want to list but it's costing me an arm and a leg posting them because I'm paying all the shipping right now!

I'm a single mom who just lost a job (which is why the move)...I don't have the money for this but I really don't want to forfeit my credits just to get rid of the books by loading them up on 2 or 3 for 1 deals.  Also, box of books is for TRADE...I don't want more books...just need these out so I have less to move.

Any ideas? (probably not but it's worth asking)

Dee

You would get better results by posting this in Book Bazaar....good luck.

How long til you move? If it's soon, it's not likely that they will all get selected unless they are wishlisted. If they are popular books, you may be waiting months for someone to want them. You can always list them and trade off what you can and then put your account on vacation hold while you are moving...that means you will have to move the books but at least they will be in the system so will get chosen sooner thani if you wait until afterwards.

I would type the ISBN of the books you have and add them to the reminder list to see how many existing copies there are--if it's more than a few, you may want to reconsider.

Cheryl

If you have a lot of books that you think will get ordered quickly-you could sell credits to cover the postage.

When I had to make a cross country move last summer-I traded in some of my heavily posted books to the UBS so I would at least be moving books I hadn't read yet.  I put my shelf on hold so I wouldn't get WL offers.  I would unhold it to post WL books.  I accumulated a lot of credits during that time.  So I sold some here and there to cover postage money. I also made an effort to find people to post more than 1 WL book to so I could save on postage.  I would wait to post WL books until I had 4 or 5.  There are threads on the Mystery/thriller board and in the Love/Romance board called Is This On Your WL.  Since those are my main genres I would offer what I had there and find someone who had more than one on their WL.  Or I would post 1 WL book and then check that person's WL and more often than not I had another WL book I could post to them. 

I had a lot of books in my TBR that were heavily posted to PBS.  So I posted some of those so they could move their way up FIFO. THen I brought them with me on my move and read them while we were basically homeless for 2 months. 

If you were me, this is what I would do.

I would start by listing a box of books on my TBR list.  Anything that wasn't wishlisted, I would remove to cart of to the local UBS.  Then I would add the next box of books.  This process would help me "give up" about half my books. 

What I do next would depend on the type of move I'm making.  If I was moving across town, I would just pack the wishlisted books into my car and move them.  Wait until I have a job and money is coming in, then I would just post the books a little at a time.  If the move is a couple towns over, I would probably do the same thing.  If the move was more than 2 hours away, I would sell any credits that I currently have and use the money for postage and just get rid of as many books as I can before the move.  When moving day arrives, I would just pack the remaining wishlist books and take them with me.  Once I get to my new place and get my new job and life under control, I would start listing the remaining books a little at a time until they are gone.

What ever you do with the books, good luck with your move.

Kerry

Is using Media Mail cheaper than the moving costs?  It takes a while for Media Mail to get anywhere (usually) so you could mail some of them in boxes to yourself.

Ruth

Lots of good ideas!!!

I must sheepishly admit that some of it went over my head though.  Guess I'm not familiar with all of PBS' intricacies!  I have no idea what a UBS or FIFO is and Mary had me totally lost! LOL (I'm sure to figure it out but it will require reading a couple of times)

Whatever I do I want you all to know how much I appreciate your help and good wishes!

Dee

Why don't you sell credits to cover the postage and move the books along with you so you can continue to give them to others.  If you don't want anymore books as you said, sell credits and keep posting! 

UBS = Used Book Store

FIFO = First In First Out, referring to the PBS main system that sorts books and requests by which is first in line.

Good luck on your move and book reduction efforts!

Actually, Ruth's idea wasn't half bad :)  I'd never thought of it, but the price per pound of media mail actually goes down as the weight goes up.

ex: anything up to one pound costs 2.23 per pound to send,  if you are sending 70 pounds (the max for media mail) it's about 2.07 per pound (26.38 total) to mail.

Hi Heather,

My math needs help, or your math needs help. :)

70 pounds of books x $2.07 per pound =  $144.90.  Right? Not $26.38

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

You might also want to consider trying Box O Books, where people will be much more likely to order multiples from your shelves.

I know I can on box of books but you need to trade on that and I don't want more books in trade.

dee

If I were to Media Mail the books to myself I'd be mailing only the really "good" ones.  How many books are you trying to get out?  I sent out 20 books once and the cost was unbeliveably low.  I'm not sure about the $2.07 per pound cost.  That seems a bit high to me for Media Mail.  I think it's a sliding scale that the more it weighs the lower the price per ounce.

Ruth