Maths Minded People

[sophie_1003]

I have some books to sell and have looked at Amazon and Play as options for selling them but I can't work out which is the better option. Amazon has a fixed referral fee of 75p+VAT per item, a variable commission fee of 15% on total amount paid (inc VAT and shipping paid by buyer) and fixed closing fee of 43p. Play takes 10% comission and 50p on every sale, they also charge 5% for the payment to be transferred between the Play account and your normal bank account (as far as I can tell Amazon don't do this). Which is the better option?

[Buenchico]

As I see it, they're both charging 15%. (Play just does it as two separate transactions, at 10% and 5%). But Amazon want 75p + 15p (VAT) + 43p on top (= £1.33), whereas Play only wants 50p. So that's a saving of 83p by using Play. (It might actually be slightly greater, because I've not factored in Amazon charging commission on p&p).

However, if I was looking for secondhand books, the first place which I'd look would be here:
http://www.abebooks.co.uk/
(although that site is really only useful if you're selling large quantities of books), and then Amazon. It would never even occur to me to look at Play. So they might be cheaper but you're probably less likely to get a sale on their site.

Chris

[sophie_1003]

That's what I thought Chris; not got a large quantity; may put a couple on Amazon and a couple on Play to see which do better!

[jno]

abebooks is owned by Amazon, who have also now taken over Book Depository, one of their biggest rivals. They may well target Play.com next

[sophie_1003]

Oh I didn't know that jno! I prefer Play to Amazon sometimes, will be a shame for them to be merged into one!