I was thinking about selling a book on half.com. I was looking over their policies, and saw that when you sell an item, you ship it directly to the buyer. Half.com then gives you a credit. If the item costs you more to ship then they give you, then you eat the price.
Here is the dirty part. According to their price lists, this is what half.com charges buyers for shipping:
Media Mail
CDs, DVDs, & Games 1st Item - $2.49 Additional Items - $1.49 ea
Paperbacks, Audio Books, VHS Movies 1st Item - $2.79 Additional Items - $1.49 ea
HOWEVER, this is what they give sellers to reimburse them for shipping:
Hardcover Book 2.33 for first item $.90 for each additional item
Paperback Book $1.94 for the first item $0.69 for each additional item
Music $1.89 for the first item $0.65 for each additional item
DVD Movies $1.89 for the first item $0.65 for each additional item and so forth.
Sure, I understand that they need to make money off the listings. Otherwise, they wouldn't have the service. However, they should do it in an honest way. When you sell things on ebay, they are upfront about where their fees are. But on half.com, they charge buyers one thing for shipping...but only turn over part of it to the seller...when the seller is the one who is actually doing the shipping. This just seems dirty to me. Call it a listing fee, but don't claim that you are charging for shipping when you are not the one paying for the shipping, and only a portion of what you are charging goes to the shipper.
Personally, I think this is fraudulent (in my very non expert/non legal opinion)...but I guess their lawyers must have told them that it wasn't, or they wouldn't be doing it.
[ May 02, 2005, 12:38 AM: Message edited by: Lupus ]
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
*as a long time half.com shopper*
I didn't know that. That has to be wrong. But I've stopped visiting half.com recently, as they've decided that anything ordered from a foreign country (to a shipping address in the US!!!) is untrustworthy, even when payed with an American visa. So we can't order anymore, because it won't let us. Even though we order off either my laptop or my father's, BOTH AMERICAN.
*sigh* I will never understand business franchises.
Posted by Shmuel (Member # 7586) on :
As a long time buyer and seller on Half.com, I don't see any problem here. What buyers are charged is billed as "the shipping and Half.com handling costs"; that is, it includes some overhead for Half.Com. Much more to the point, selling ordinary books, I've found that what they pass along for shipping is more than what it actually costs me to mail stuff out.
I mean, c'mon, mailing a CD is 83 cents. They provide $1.89. Even if you're splurging on a padded envelope, this is easily enough.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
I've been buying from Half.com for years. Gave up on listing stuff a while back. And I've always assumed two things:
that Half.com was taking a percentage, either of the item price or the S&H or both
that the amount they paid for shipping was more than the actual cost of shipping
The latter both because I have some idea of what shipping costs, and because there are listings for some of the more competitive paperbacks for $.01. Obviously, there had to be money made on shipping. Still seems like a good deal to all involved, and far from fraudulent. If you don't like it, buy from Amazon or Alibris -- although I'll bet their policies are very similar.
![[Embarrassed]](redface.gif)
*as a long time half.com shopper*