Explain Shipping to Your Customers
One of the most infuriating thing for consumers purchasing books from 3rd party marketplaces is the inconsistency and speed of Media Mail. Much of this frustration is directed toward the independent seller from whom the book was purchased. A few people pointed out to me a while back that they devised a strategy that had dramatically decreased post-delivery complaints from customers and had improved their general feedback quality. These sellers began telling the “story” of how shipping works for independent sellers on sites like Amazon and Alibris in the footer or bottom of their custom packing lists. Understandably, not everyone uses custom packing lists, but nevertheless, this method proved extremely powerful in explaining how nearly 35% of the shipping fee they are charged goes toward neither shipping nor handling. One bookseller even explained how much packaging costs to ship the book.
What the sellers found out was that, along with the trends mentioned above, customers were actually quite sympathetic to the continued squeeze put on them by the corporate sites mentioned above. Many earned loyal customers to their own independent websites.
The point here is not to start a mass movement in this trajectory, but rather to give booksellers and listings services some perspective on a small cadre of booksellers who took an entrepreneurial approach to addressing a recurring problem.
