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Step 1
Determine the price that you wish to sell the book online for. You can do this based on the price that half.com recommends or come up with your own price
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Step 2
Determine what the book originally cost you, if anything.
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Step 3
Determine the cost of any of your packaging supplies (any boxes or padded envelopes you bought for example)
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Step 4
Understand that half.com will compensate you for shipping but it is only a fixed amount. For example, as of 9/28/09 the amount they compensate (reimburse) for a hardback is 3.07 for media mail and $5.24 for expedited shipping method (basically anything other than media mail). For paperback they reimburse 2.64 for media mail and 5.24 for expedited.
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Step 5
Next, understand that for items selling for $.75-$50.00 , half.com will charge you $15%. For items $50.01 - 100 they'll charge 12.5%. So, in other words, if you sell something for $100, half .com will take $12.50 out of your earnings. Simply put, this is how they make money.
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Step 6
Determine your actual shipping cost. Do this by taking the book, the box or envelope you are shipping it in, along any other packaging material (bubble wrap, newspaper etc) and weighing it all at once on the same scale. You don't have to actually package the book up to do this, just make sure all the materials are on the scale. Check the weight and then consult the US postal service website shipping calculator for media mail and other expedited mail pricing. Don't be surprised if YOUR cost to ship the book exceeds the half.com reimbursement amount. It happens. Try to pack as efficiently as possible.
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Step 7
Next, before even listing your book, plug these figures into a formula to determine if you'll make any profit at all. Use this formula: List Price of Book - Half.com Commission of 15% + Half.com shipping compensation reimbursement - amount it cost you to ship - what the book cost you - cost of packaging = profit (or loss)
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Step 8
For example, say you want bought a paperback book at a thrift store for .50 and you want to sell it for $2.00 online on half.com. You determine it will cost you $2.77 to ship media mail. You have old packaging supplies that you already had for free.
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Step 9
If your book sells, here is what your profit will look like:
$2.00 (List Price) - $.30 (15% Commission) + $2.64 (Half.com shipping compensation) - $2.77 (actual amount you paid to ship) - $.50 (what the book cost you) - $0 (cost of packaging) = $1.07 profit
