To sell a used book on Amazon, you need to undercut other sellers. So, basically, you can make $0.50 on the textbook that you paid $100 for. But Amazon calculates shipping and handling costs beforehand, and that means they barely give you enough for Media Mail rate postage. You still have to find a proper envelope/bag to ship the book in. I want the books that I list as “Nearly New” to arrive looking “Nearly New.” So I have to subtract $1.50 for a padded envelope from the amount I make. So, listing books for less than $1.50 means I lose money. Then, you can’t get Media Mail postage from the automated machines, so you have to go stand in line during normal business hours. And Amazon doesn’t really know what books weigh: the book I just sold was a pound heavier than they said.

OK, so I think this book burning idea is getting better and better.