I am a newbie and have a question about deals (I am thinking of having one).

I noticed a lot of people are offering 3/1 deals on paperbacks. Does it cost the same to mail out 3 books as 1 book if they are all roughly the same weight ?

I understand that it costs about 2.50 to mail out one book and a credit can be bought for about the same price. If the cost of mailing out 3 books is more than the price of one credit, then I don't understand why people would do it ?

Remember - I am a newbie - no flames please

Media mail is the same price up to the pound.

Up to one pound is one price - one to two pounds is another and so on.

Sooo - if three books weigh less than a pound, it's cheaper to send them.  Actually one to two pounds is only a few cents more.

As you can see, if your three books weighed one pound 10 ounces, it would only cost you $2.77 to mail.  Sent seperately all three books would cost $2.38 each for a total of $6.99.

Up to one pound is $2.38, up to two is $2.77 - obviously it depends on the weight of the books. But if you have a lot of "popular," i.e., heavily posted books on your shelf, it is a way to get orders/credits rather than waiting for FIFO (first in first out) which may take a long time on some books. If you posted the 1234th copy of x book today, your turn for an order on that book will probably be a long time coming. Really popular books such as that are also prevalent and usually easily obtained at thrifts, garage sales, etc., very inexpensively as well, so many times people are less willing to spend a full credit on it, but more likely to order it as part of a deal.   

Hi Alan.  The cost of mailing out a package of several books is less than the cost of mailing each of these books separately, so you save postage shipping costs right away by offering a deal.  Anything up to a pound costs $2.38 and anything up to 2 pounds is only $2.77.  Up to 3 lbs for $3.16, and so on.

Deals also can encourage people that wouldn't otherwise have a reason to look at your shelf to stop by and peruse and maybe place an order with you.  So you'd have credit(s) for a deal that otherwise may not have happened (at least one credit you otherwise would never have seen).  Deals offer publicity for your bookshelf.

People also offer deals to try to help clear out many books off their shelf at one time.  Maybe they are tired of having the books sitting around their house, or maybe they have a bunch more to list, and it is too difficult for them to manage too many books listed at one time.

There are many, many reasons folks offer deals and benefit from them.  I've only scratched the surface here!

Happy swapping, Alan!

Thanks for all your answers. A little bit clearer now.

I love doing deals. However I always start with deals for 2 credits, like 7 for 2 credits due to the cost of shipping and the low amt. credits are going for.

I think alot of people are very generous here and would rather their books go to loving homes than buy a credit for less than it costs to ship.  I would love to ship

more but finances won't allow it at this point.

Hope you enjoy PBS as much as I do.

Nancy.

I was going to suggest what Nancy said-doing a 5 or 6 for 2 credits.  Still a good deal and you get a little extra towards postage. 

You can also exclude some heaviler books.  If you say have some really chunky paperbacks or hardcovers just put in your deal Hardcovers Not Included, or X, X and Y books not included because of weight or something to that effect.  I see people do that a lot.

Also do it on a day when you can keep up with your shelf.  And list in your deal if you smoke or have pets to cut down on problems related to RCS.  If decline for RCS on someone who orders for your deal-it'll pass the request on to someone else who is most likely not running a deal. 

Yes, what Mary said, if someone orders from you but you have to turn them down (the books they want are already gone, RC issues, etc), THEY must cancel.  Before you post your deal you should read the How to use this forum - please read before posting here! red sticky post in the Bazaar.  It'll inform you of these common pitfalls and other useful tidbits.  Welcome to PBS!

Hey Alan,

Welcome to PBS :)