Preparing Individual Textbooks For Shipping

How you prepare your individual textbooks for shipping will become an individual matter based on your own tastes. I know of one book seller who places each book in a padded envelope and ships the book off that way. Using a padded envelope is a very fast way to get books ready for shipping. But the price of an individual padded envelope can cut into your overall profit considerably. I personally have only used padded envelopes once. I had fallen far behind on getting my orders out during peak selling season and was attempting to catch up. The padded envelopes saved me lots of shipping preparation time and caught me up on my shipping obligations very quickly.

Another book seller that I have encountered wraps his books in heavy brown paper. The paper that he uses for his books comes from Home Depot. It is the same paper used by painters in lieu of drop cloth. The paper comes in roll form and is very thick. His books are wrapped in the paper and taped closed in the same manner that you might wrap and tape a Christmas package. I only use paper from a roll to wrap my books when the book is over-sized dimensionally, or is thick and heavy. Art and Biology books are examples which sometimes require paper from a roll to prepare.

Under normal circumstances I use 10’ X 13’ (25.4X33.0 cm) Heavy Duty, Brown Kraft, Gummed Seal envelopes for shipping. I buy my envelopes in boxes. 250 envelopes come in a single box. My technique is to I lay an envelope flat on my desk and pull apart the back and bottom glued seams of the envelope. I lay the book to be shipped in the center of the opened envelope and then wrap the book like a Christmas present. Finished examples of what my books look like can be seen in my You Tube video. If the method that I use to wrap textbooks for mailing appeals to your style and taste you can buy the 10’ X 13’ envelopes from: http://www.buyonlinenow.com/ 

A box of 250 envelopes costs about $30 plus $8.00 shipping.

Remember to secure your packaging well regardless of the method you choose for shipping. Books take a brutal beating as they move through the mail toward their destination. Make certain your packaging will be strong enough to survive the trip.

Things You Should Know About Media Mail Rate Shipping

Media Mail service is a cost efficient way to mail books, sound recordings, recorded video tapes, printed music, and recorded computer-readable media (such as CDs, DVDs, and diskettes). Media Mail can not contain advertising except for incidental announcements of books.

The maximum weight for Media Mail is 70 lbs. (this bit of information will be helpful whenever you have to ship a box or boxes of textbooks to fill an order)

There are presorted rates available for bulk quantities of Media Mail (minimum quantity is 300 pieces).

A barcode discount is available for Media Mail.

Rates are based on weight and size

Each piece of Media Mail must include complete delivery and return addresses with correct ZIP Code or ZIP+4 code.

Media Mail usually travels by train to its destination.

Items sent by Media Mail are allowed up to 14 days to reach their destination by the U.S. Postal Service. In my experience, in nearly all cases,

my textbook orders have arrived in approximately the same amount of time that it takes first class mail to travel the same distance. There have been some cases when it took a textbook a full 14 days to reach the customer. But those instances have been extremely rare.

Listing The Condition Of Your Books

After you acquire your textbooks and begin listing them on Amazon and Half.com you will have to select a condition category for the books. Your options will be New condition, Like New condition, Very Good condition, Good condition and Acceptable condition. List each book as appropriately as possible.

The price range of the book will be determined by the demand for and condition of the book. Do not try to place a book in a higher category in an attempt to get a better sales price for it. For instance, do not list a book that is in Acceptable Condition  in the Good or Very Good Condition categories. Your customers will complain. Too many customer complaints will unravel your business and ultimately drive you out of business. So be as honest and objective as possible when listing the condition of your inventory.  Your books will eventually sell regardless of their condition.

After you place the book titles in their condition categories report any flaws that the books may have. There will be a comment box where you can list any flaws associated with the books you are selling. Here is a quick example of what I mean. Lets say I list a used copy of a Coordinated Science book as being in Good condition. When I open the book I might see a barcode sticker adhering to the inside cover.

Additionally some ex-student’s nick name is written in pink highlighter on the inside cover sheet. These defects will be what I will make note of in the comments box when I list the book for sale. Reporting these flaws will allow the potential customer to know in advance what they will be getting. With this information the potential customer can make an informed decision about buying the book. The potential customer will be buying the book unseen over the internet. Your description of the book and its price is all they will have to base their buying decision on. They are depending on you, the seller, not to surprise them

Here is a list of some of the flaws I have come across and have listed with my inventory.with a less a less than expected product. You don’t want to be the reason for any buyers remorse.

1. Barcode sticker on inside cover of book
2. Barcode sticker on the spine of the book
3. Number written on inside cover of the book
4. Book number written on the bottom edge of the pages of the book
5.  Edges of cover slightly frayed 
6. Slightly frayed corners 
7. School stamp on inside cover 
8. Writing on inside coversheet of book 
9. Library card pocket glued to inside cover bookplate

There will be times when a single book will have two or three or even four of the imperfections mentioned above. Report all of the flaws no matter how many there may be.

Your Business Will Be Rated By Customer Feedback

Once your customers receive your product they will be afforded the opportunity to rate their buying experience with you. As with any business you want to establish and maintain a good reputation for being dependable, honest, efficient and professional. Below is a copied and pasted explanation from one of my accounts which explains how feedback percentage and ratings are calculated.
The positive Feedback percentage is calculated based on the total number of positive and negative Feedback ratings for transactions that ended in the last 12 months, excluding repeat Feedback from the same member in the same week.
Note: This could mean that the number of ratings used for this calculation is different from the  number shown in the Recent Monthly Statement.

Positives_____________________________ 4580

Positives + Negatives ____________________ 4534

This member's 12 Month Feedback ratings ______ 616

Positives: 4580 Negatives: 46

This member's Positive Feedback percentage ____ 98 %

4580 =  98 %

The 98 % figure above and to the right represents the overall rating of my online textbook business.

A potential customer will be able to see your rating before they make a textbook purchasing decision. With a 98 % rating like the one above a customer can tell that they will be dealing with an A rated seller. A rating between 80% to 90% will be a B rated seller. A rating between 70% to 80% will be a C rated seller and so on. There is a direct correlation between your rating and your potential income. It will work in your best interest if you do all you can to keep feedback rating high.

Why Not Sell Collage Textbooks?

Collage textbooks are updated every two years. Not only are collage textbooks more difficult to get but they have a short shelf life. A collage textbook which has value during one year may be absolutely worthless the next year. The collage textbook market is also saturated with sellers. High School and intermediate textbooks on the other hand will provide you with a much wider time window to sell the books at a profit. High School textbooks can still be in popular demand 8 or more years after their original printing.