WHY DO YOU CHARGE SO MUCH FOR SHIPPING?

Because we're selling "used and rare" books.  Amazon, and Barnes & Noble can give shipping away first because they don't make a profit from their online sales and second because the materials they sell can easily be replaced.  We can't operate at a loss and most of our materials can't be easily replaced.

Media Mail Is Cheap

We try and avoid sending material via Media Mail where possible as postal regulations allow packages sent at that rate to be discarded if they are undeliverable for some reason. Insurance gets the money back, but most people would rather have the book (which is why they ordered it in the first place). Our normal shipping charges are between $4.50 and $6.50 (our individual book listings reflect this); we usually only specify a higher amount when the weight or size is going to push the charge up or the value of the item is such that the insurance will be higher. If you read the explanation under our shipping terms, most of the materials where we control the shipping costs specify that they are sent Priority, UPS, or "Best Method" (sometimes first class is the same or less than Priority).

Our Affiliate Relationships

The books we sell through several of the major online retailers, such as Amazon, are almost always sent Media Mail, as that's all the charge they are willing to either pass along or cover; even then it's frequently not adequate (they tell you to make it up in the price of the book).  Materials we sell through Barnes & Noble and a number of other outlets are consolidated by them and reshipped.  We have no control over how these materials are handled.

Other Costs

After we've dealt with shipping costs, the cost of the packaging is usually between $1.30 and $1.90 (depending on the size). We don't use the cheapest mailers we can find (to avoid tearing or other damage) and we almost always wrap the books in an extra layer of bubble wrap. More expensive books are wrapped in tissue, wrapped again in bubble wrap, and shipped in a "plastic peanut-filled" box.  It only takes a moment to compare how we package and ship to understand the difference between our methods and those of the booksellers who are charging much less for shipping and handling.

Other Sources

We work with a variety of "book scouts" who supply us with some materials that, for one reason or another, we don't have on hand. Occasionally we specify a higher shipping price because we have to collect the book from the source and then ship it to the customer (we advise people of this when it's necessary). We have to have the books sent to us first because we must verify the condition before the book is sent to the customer.

Timeliness

We ship the same day we receive the order (unless the book is coming from one of our suppliers)--which means that we're not batching books.  Not everyone does this (some ship once a week).

In summary, we're being unreasonable.

QUESTIONS & CONTACT INFORMATION

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