Forum - View topicPaperbackswap
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Crisha
Moderator
 Posts: 4290 |
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Hi guys,
I just recently joined Paperbackswap, and I'm hoping that it ends up being worthwhile. I just got quite a few requests for the books I posted up on the site, and I have a few questions. I should note that I've only ever shipped trade-ins to Amazon before. I've stayed away from selling my stuff online because it's a hassle and I've never been certain about the most cost-effective way to ship things. The place where I work will do it for me (boxing, packaging, shipping out), and then the money gets deducted from my next paycheck, but I'm not certain if that's the most cost-effective way to go. How do you guys normally mail your books to others? I'm on the PBS Wrapper Printer page and it's allowing me to select between wrapping the book with the paper wrapper or doing the single page print to tape to bubble mailers and boxes. Do you print out the paper and attach the stamps (I'd really rather not waste stamps if I don't have to, especially since I don't know how many stamps to attach) or do you ship in boxes? How many stamps do you tend to use for just one regular-sized (Tokyopop) volume? I'm also still kind of confused how the credits/swap works. So, for the books I put on my wish list that have the "Buy This New" option, I can choose to either wait for swaps to become available (and have someone mail it to me for free) or I can purchase it with the credits I have? Can I only use my credits for the books with the "Buy This New" option? When is it worthwhile to use the credits? "Auto Request On" / "Auto Request Off": Is it worthwhile to put all of the books I want "On"? I'm assuming that when it's "On" it automatically accepts the book for you. Why would someone want the option "Off"? If the items you want become available and are being shipped to you for free, wouldn't you just automatically want it confirmed and sent to you rather than coming across a situation where you don't check your e-mail in the 48-hour time slot to accept the offer? Sorry for all of the questions. I'd appreciate any help or guidance. |
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Polycell
 Posts: 4623 |
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If you send out a book, you get to request a book(or get a discount for buying new).
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ZepysGirl
 Posts: 470 Location: NY, NY |
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Oh, cheers, I love PBS. I've been using it for almost two years now.
I almost always just choose the PBS paid postage option. There are many reasons to do so: - You get your credit immediately. If I don't have any credits on hand, but someone lists a book on my list, I can still get credits quickly without having to buy them. (Never buy credits, if you can help it. It's much cheaper to mail out a book, any book.) - I can mail the books from home, I don't need to go to a post-office. - It includes tracking, so I know where my book is at all times. No getting lost in the mail and wasting money! - Even if the other person doesn't confirm that the book got there, you still get to keep your credit! (This is important! Most members are nice, honest people, but it's better safe than sorry.) Using printed postage, manga usually cost somewhere from $2.50-$3.25 to ship out (I have the paid Golden Key membership, so I get a $0.50 discount on that once a month). The PBS site calculates the postage you need based off of Amazon's listed weight, I think. It determines if it'd be cheaper going First Class or Media Mail, and it goes with the cheaper one. For the convenience alone, it's worth it to me to just use printed postage on everything. I always print out the paper wrapper and wrap the book in that. Of course, I duck-tape it to hell and back, and that's worked just fine for me so far. I've mailed close to 100 books and haven't received a complaint. I've noticed that some members like to wrap their books in plastic wrap underneath the paper wrapper-- this is to prevent possible water damage to the book during transit. However, I don't really consider that necessary for me since, as I said, it's a duck-tape mummy when I'm through with it. 
Ignore the "Buy This New" option. It's pretty much just PBS's lame attempt at offering you a "bargain" while making themselves money. Take Young Miss Holmes 1-2 as an example-- PBS wants me to buy this for "$8.89+1 credit or $12.79." The second price is around what Amazon is selling it for, so it's not exactly a bargain. The first price, though-- it's not taking into account how much 1 credit costs you! If you buy a credit from the PBS website (as I said, don't buy credits if you can help it), it will cost you $3.95. That brings your actual total to $12.84, slightly HIGHER than the no credit price! Even going off of my average cost for a credit (since I only get credits through shipping books, it's about a dollar cheaper), $11.89 isn't all that great of a discount on that book either (only about 30%). As Polycell said, you should pretty much only use credits when mailing out/requesting books. 1 credit = 1 book from another PBS member. You mail out a book, you get a credit from them. You then use that credit to request a book you want. Credits exist so we don't get people trying to trade in books for books in some sort of barter system ("I'll give you one Fullmetal Alchemist 3 for five Naruto 1's!"). Rare books are worth one credit, popular books are worth one credit, common books are worth one credit; it's all equal. The only exception to this would be the Book Bazaar deals, but I don't really want to get into that unless you want me to elaborate. (I am talking too much as it is. OTL)
I don't keep Auto Request On because I like to be aware and make a conscious decision when books are shipped to me. Sometimes I don't update my PBS wishlist as often as I should and someone ends up listing a book I'd already bought for myself (oh how I mentally kicked myself when that happened multiple times. >_>). That's a lot more aggravating than missing the 48 hour mark, in my opinion. Also, I ship the majority of my wishlist books to an address that's not my "home" address; I don't think auto-request gives you the option of inputting another address. You just have to weigh your options: are you more likely to keep your Wishlist up to date, or are you more likely to check your email once every 2 days? For me, it's definitely the later. Oh, but you know you can turn on auto-request for specific books and not the whole list, right? If there are certain books that you're absolutely sure about, feel free to put them on auto-request. However, auto-request only works if you have credits to request with. Books aren't free. I feel like you probably know that by this point, but it bares repeating. When you request a book, you pay a credit, a credit that you've already "paid" for by shipping out a book previously. Something that also bares mentioning is that the PBS site isn't really set up for collectors like us; it's set up for people who order a book, read it, then ship it out again. In that way, the book was essentially "free," and the member really only pays shipping. However, a collector like me uses PBS to take books out of circulation, meaning that when I want to get more credits, I need to find more and more books to mail out. I'm fortunate in that I have access to lots of free books looking for a good home because of where I work, but don't forget to calculate in the cost of the book in the final "price." For a while there, I took advantage of the fact that GoHastings.com had tons of manga for <$2 that people on PBS wanted, making my endgame "price" more like $5 per book, still cheap enough to be viable. ...OH MY GOD WHY HAVE I WRITTEN AN ESSAY.  I mean. *ahem* If you have any further questions, please ask. I am well-versed in this site and have been using it for ages, so I know all the ins and outs. Oh, and you should totally friend me! I'll see if I can throw any spare Kodansha books your way, if you want them. 
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Polycell
Posts: 4623 |
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I only ended up using PBS because I'd gotten myself two copies of Lucky Star 4 and 5(I figured they were OOP and thoughtlessly threw them into my order for the other volumes for free shipping; RightStuf actually managed to deliver); I haven't posted anything since(though I have some non-manga books I don't plan on finishing and others I could probably get as ebooks - might just have to list them).
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littlegreenwolf
 Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
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I've been with them for a good 3+ years now and have gotten loads of out of print manga, as well as new(ish) manga from them. They've helped me save tons of money in concern to my manga addiction.
Sure you can end up waiting 2-3 years for a title, but when you're trying to buy recent manga releases while at the same time trying to collect oh so many older series, it's worth it. As to shipping books out, I put them in a zip lock baggy if they fit, and wrap them in either left over brown bags from the grocery store, or use the print out paper lables, and tape it up. Bubble mailers cost too much. I ship Media mail, all the way because 8 times out of 10 it's always the cheapest to ship a book. Typical media mail price for me is around 2.35. I INSIST on my books being shipped to me with plastic wrap. I used to live in Florida with tons of rain, and now after living in Mass with tons of rain and snow, the elements can really destroy a book, and after being with paperbackswap for so many years there have been several books I've received that have been destroyed by the weather due to the person not wrapping it in some kind of plastic. Give me the mummy package any day. I don't ship out books as much as I used to, so lately I'm just buying the credits more often than not. Still since it includes shipping, the price is competitive with most other used book sites, and I can get a "refund" if the PBS member didn't pay attention to my requirement, aka no library discards or the ISBN not matching. I am a book collector and have found PBS is perfect for this. I've gotten plenty of first edition hard cover books, but every now and then I get someone trying to pass off a random paperback off as the hardcover so that's why I have that requester condition. For anyone interested in what my monthly take from paperback swap looks like, the latest books I've gotten for March-April: Godchild 6 Godchild 8 Fushigi Yuugi Gebu 4 Blood C Vol 1 Ouran 3 Tower of the Futture 3 Lone Wolf and Cub 1 Her Majesty's Dog 1 The Aromatic Bitters Angel Pretear 1 Pretear 2 X/1999 Vol 12 Uzumaki vol 2 And a first edition hardcover of a Neil Gaiman book I've waited years for, as well as a gorgeous Chinese comic called History of the West Wing All of my manga have luckily been in like new condition for these past two months. Series I have completed since becoming a member, getting mostly through it: Naruto, Mars, Magic Knight Rayearth, Tsubasa, all the minor clamp titles Tokyopop released, Planet Ladder, Death Note, Full Metal Alchemist, Happy Mania, All of my Yuu Watase (Genbu and Arata are the only series published this side of America I don't have complete), Vampire Priness Miyu, Shadow Star, Kodocha, Kare Kano, Utena, and Angel Sanctuary, and Chrono Crusade and tons more. I'm still getting a couple volumes a year of Berserk, Claymore, Hana Kimi (almost done), Inu Yasha, Nana, Please Save My Earth, Bokurano, Red River, Skip Beat, Blade of the Immortal, etc. And according to their counter, since becoming a member (it also reset once) I've saved over 3,000 dollars since becoming a member. |
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ZepysGirl
Posts: 470 Location: NY, NY |
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I would suggest you list at least 8 more books, since you get 2 free credits when you list your first 10 books. 
@littlegreenwolf: Wow, $3,000?!  How many books have you ordered?
To act as a counter reference: I'm no longer in the stage where I'm collecting older series along with the new. That means almost all of my wishlist is only for new releases. Over this past April/March, I've received Vampire Knight 15 From Far Away 1 Witch & Wizard 3 Demon Love Spell 1 Dawn of the Arcana 8 Psyren 8 Skip Beat! 30 Durarara!! Saika Arc 1 and Demonglass (a YA novel) So the average rate of movement is anywhere from 0-5 books per month. A lot of times manga reviewers will post their copies to the site, meaning that I can sometimes get copies up to a month prior to the release date! Makes it kinda fun. :3 But yes, PBS is definitely more useful if you're looking for older or more popular series. But I have gotten rare books-- last December, I got Even A Monkey Can Draw Manga! PBS probably shouldn't be the only way you collect manga, or even the main way, but it is very useful. |
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littlegreenwolf
Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
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I think the counter reset at some point, but it's saying I've recieved over 600 books from them. Not all of those are manga of course. I'm a major book worm, so I use it to collect out of print hard covers and the like, and when I was in college I'd also use it to get various reading assignments if I could too. It's good for book clubs too if the book was popular enough to have it sitting there, waiting for someone to order it.
I'd say the luckiest I've gotten on it were two volumes of Robot, the Range Murata headed doujinshi comic that's out of print now. I've also gotten Der Mond: The Art of Neon Genesis Evangelion through it as well. And then some volumes of Emma, before Amazon had the prices go crazy. Haven't seen new volumes of Emma now in over a year. Other than that in non-manga forms, I've gotten just about every US hardcover release Neil Gaiman has ever put out through it, with like new dust jackets. Same with first editions of all of Thomas Harris's books as well as hardcovers to a lot of Frank Miller's comics, and even some Alan Moore ones too. The US comics can take a lot longer than the manga, but sometimes you really luck out. |
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