Over the past few months I’ve been adding a lot to my wishlist at Amazon. Everytime I read an article where someone writes about how a certain book really impressed them, I end up researching other views on those books, and if from those views the book seems worth the money, I add it to my wishlist. The problem is that my wishlist just grows and grows and uhm, well nothing else.
Tonight I decided to change all that and ordered 5 books. At first I went with used books, but because they all shipped from different stores, I had to cough up around $12 for each book. I calculated that the difference, on average, between the new and used prices are around $15. If I buy everything new from Amazon, I’ll pay shipping only once:
| used | new |
|---|---|
| book1 price + $12 | book1 price + $10 diff to get new |
| book2 price + $12 | book2 price + $10 diff |
| book3 price + $12 | book3 price + $10 diff |
| book4 price + $12 | book4 price + $10 diff |
| book5 price + $12 | book5 price + $10 diff |
| 5books total + $60 shipping = x | 5book total +$50 diffs + $12 shipping |
= only slighly more expensive to get them new.
I was thinking of second hand at first because I’ve heard of other people’s great savings and the quality of the second hand books, but looking at the whole deal like this, proves that second hand isnt always that much cheaper.
What is very clear however, is how much less I pay compared to buying locally Even though I buy from the US and ship international. If I had to buy the same 5 books in South-Africa, I would need to fork out 40% more. I’m pretty sure import duty on new books are around 14% or 15%, which leaves quite a bit of margin.
What impressed me the most was that more or less 10 minutes after I concluded that transaction, I got a call from card fraud telling me that they picked up a transaction that falls outside my usual pattern and that I should confirm that it was me that made it. I’ve heard many stories about this, but to actually experience it work, well done VISA!
