A friend of mine brought to my attention that there are “used” copies of my books available on the web for sometimes hundreds of dollars. I was surprised. Let me give some warning to people so no-one takes advantage of you.
First, there is absolutely no reason to pay anything more than what the Amazon.com book charges are to anyone anywhere. The books are all still in print and you do not need to resort to buying them used. Buy them new from Amazon and you’ll get a newly printed copy at the lowest price, other than shipping which they add on to the cost.
Second, if you live in Utah, you can buy copies at the same reasonable prices from either Benchmark Books on about 3300 South Main Street, or from a place called Confetti Books in Spanish Fork (whose address I do not have at the moment). Neither of these stores mark the books up, and they don’t charge you shipping. But you have to drive there to buy them.
Third, I am not trying to make money from book sales. I work as an attorney for a living and writing is not a commercial endeavor. Whatever royalties I earn are donated to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. So you buying a book I’ve written does nothing financial for me.
I was wondering about those “used” books on Amazon. I was thinking *who* would want to pay a stupid price for a used book when the new ones are a fraction of the stupid price. That’s nice to hear for clarity’s sake what you’re doing w the proceeds Denver. Next time somebody suggests there’s profit motive in your endeavors, we can answer them accordingly.
By the way, you can get free shipping with Amazon, which is called “Free Super Saver Shipping” when you buy new books from them with an order total of $25 or more. So just buy at least 2 books at the same time and the shipping is free. Or get 1 book and something else you need.
You have to select Free Super Saver Shipping when offered the option. It isn’t automatic.
Used books are always through resellers, which is called “Amazon Marketplace”, and the shipping on books is standardized at $3.99 each.
Here’s an example: (I copied this from Amazon.)
Come, Let Us Adore Him by Denver C. Snuffer Jr. (Paperback – Nov. 19, 2009)
Buy new: $18.99 [THIS IS AMAZON]
4 new from $18.97, 4 used from $43.35
[THESE ARE RESELLERS AND YOU PAY $3.99 SHIPPING PER BOOK.]
Get it by Monday, May 24 if you order in the next 14 hours and choose one-day shipping.
Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping.
[NOTE THE FREE SUPER SAVER SHIPPING.]
Funny, I just bought a copy of Eighteen Verses this morning from Amazon. There was one on there listed at 2,499.00. ???