Booksellers know how to manipulate the system, that is if they are good, they know the rules of each site that they deal with, and know how other booksellers probably will deal with them as well.
Now the thing that pissed me off. . .
I got an order through Half.com for a 5 pd book going Priority–from another book dealer.
For those that don’t know, Half does not have an option to only offer priority mail on certain items like Amazon–it’s all or nothing, and the way I figure it is that it evens out. This book dealer could’ve ordered it on Abe where I could request xtra shipping, or Alibris where I could just cancel it with a small dent to my fulfillment rate–but they chose Half, where they could leave me a negative if I canceled, which would also affect my Ebay rating.
But wait, that is not the whole story–I was fine with that, I put the book in a Flat Rate Priority Box, and still made a tidy profit.
The next day after I ship it, I get an e-mail from the same book seller, asking me to quote them Priority Shipping for an 8 oz Mass Market book AND dealer discount. Now that takes balls. Not to mention that they wanted to do transaction off site–which could get me suspended.
Bitch With Books 