On November 28,2023, our co-founder, my best friend and housemate Richard Briggs passed away after a brief illness. He was the driving force behind this operation. As a result, I have decided to suspend all sales operations indefinately.
I want to give a great big thanks to our regular customers. You were the biggest reason to keep going. The stories and kindness you shared with us will always be remembered.
I may at some point begin limited selling operations again, but on a scaled-back basis. There is too much other stuff to do right now.
Hello. As some sharp-eyed customers may have noticed, we have shifted our eBay Charity settings. We are now sending our donations to
World Central Kitchen, a charity started by celebrity chef Jose Andres to use food to assist in times of crisis. They have provided over 25 million meals to Ukranians, both inside the country and refugees. They also provide culinary training and support for food suppliers in need.
There are so many organizations helping in this crisis, we thought it would be a good idea to periodically shift the charities we are supporting, to "spread the wealth". We have a handful of top-rated charities we have selected, but if you have any suggestions about organizations we can give to, feel free to reply to this message.
Hello everyone. A couple of weeks ago, the Russian armed forces invaded the soverign country of Ukraine. At this point, about two million people (mostly women and children) have been forced to flee. Many others have been killed or injured.
We normally try to remain neutral with regards to political issues. However, after some serious discussion, Bookwyrm's Backshelf have decided to take a stand in this case, supporting the people of Ukraine against this barbaric action by Russia.
To that end, on our
eBay Store we are donating 10% of our sales to
Mercy Corps, a well-established, highly rated charity helping people in Ukraine and refugees in neighboring countries. This applies to ALL OF OUR ITEMS.
Further, on certain items we will donate ALL (100%) of our proceeds. This includes all of the (very few) Russian-language books we have, as well as selected items pertaining to Russia or Ukraine.
It's a small step, a drop in the bucket compared to the needs of the Ukrainian people. We hope we can inspire others to take a stand and do something (small or large). Enough drops in the bucket will fill it up.
You may have heard about various companies having problems filling orders because of supply chain issues. They can't get the merchandise or parts because of foul-ups in Chinese factories, or ships not being able to dock in American ports. Or they can get the part or merchandise, but it's delayed for weeks or months, so are delaying or cancelling orders. No-one stores any significant amount of merchandise anymore, so any disruption in the supply chain quickly fouls things up. Because of these problems, many vendors are raising prices, or limiting order amounts.
I am happy to announce that NONE of that is happening with us. In fact, every single one of our items listed for sale is safely tucked away in our storage facility, located in the United States (in other words, all of our listed items are located on the property). All we need to do when we recieve an order is have the Shipping and Recieving Department (i.e., me) go and retrieve the item from the Storage Facility (the garage), package it, and send it on it's way. No waiting for third-party vendors, no issues with parts or merchandise waiting on ships at sea, and no customs problems for items shipped to the US.
That's not to say we're perfect, of course. On rare occasion something goes wrong and we can't find an item. In that case, we will, of course, refund you or offer other merchandise (worth more than the original) as compensation, along with our deepest apologies.
So please feel free to browse our virtual shelves (on
eBay or
Bonanza) with the knowledge that the supply chain problems you have heard about in the news don't exist here.
We know people are concerned about the economy lately, especially with COVID-19 still around. That's why we have decided to do an across-the-board price reduction. That's right, everything we have listed is now cheaper! This isn't a limited promotion, either. These are the prices.
If that's not enough, we have also started distributing coupons in our shipped packages, and for watchers on eBay. Look for the coupons either on the back of the packing slip, or in your email. Now the coupons ARE for a limited time, so if you like anything you see on the site, get it while you can.
A couple of limitations on the coupons:
1) They are, as stated, for a limited time only (about two weeks).
2) They are for your next purchase of the same type of item you ordered, or on the specific item you are watching.
3) We are not giving coupons for certain types of items (for example, cards). Our margins on these items are just too small to afford it.
We hope you enjoy these methods of saving you money.
As usual, if you have any questions or comments about this, please feel free to contact us.
Bookwyrm
Hi, folks!
Because of eBay's recent decision to restrict items with sexual content, we are selling off all our remaining adult items. For the next month or so, all Adult Only items we have are 20% off!
Get them fast, because after June 15, all Adult Only items will be removed, permanently.
NOTE: Adult item on eBay are not allowed to have sales promotions, so we are simply lowering the regular prices by 20%.
As usual, if you have any questions about this, contact us and we will do our best to answer.
Hi folks!
The United States Postal Service is having a great many problems lately. Covid-19, funding disputes, and other challenges have hampered its ability to deliver packages in a timely manner. We have had several of our packages take upwards of a month to get to their destinations.
Those of you who are anxiously awaiting their items, right now the only advice we have is this:
Be Patient.
So far, the vast majority of packages are getting to their destinations, if slowly. So, please wait.
We are working on some ways to expedite deliveries, but there is only so much we can do.
As always, if you have a problem with a package, PLEASE CONTACT US AND GIVE US A CHANCE TO HELP YOU!
Stay safe out there!
Bookwyrm
Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the US Postal Service is delivering packages slower than they used to. This is not only because of an increase in volume, but USPS has staffing shortages because more people are sick.
What does this have to do with us? Simple:
Expect packages we ship to take longer to get to you. We try our best to get orders packaged and shipped as soon as possible. Once we place the package in the hands of the Postal Service, it's up to them to deliver it. Although we have had packages delayed (sometimes for an extended period of time), we have yet to have a package permanently disappear in the mail system.
So have patience with us as we are trying our best to deal with the situation. As always, if you have questions or problems with a package,
contact us first!
For more information on USPS's Covid-19 response, see here:
USPS Coronavirus Updates: Expected Delivery Changes
Hi everyone!
While our main selling venue is eBay, we are on several other sites. Among them is Bonanza. We normally don't sell a lot there, but recently our Bonanza customers have really come through for us. We have never sold more on Bonanza as quickly as we have in the last couple of weeks.
Thanks!
To thank our Bonanza customers, for one week we have discounted EVERYTHING we have listed on Bonanza. In addition, we have sent out coupons to our Bonanza customers.
Finally, to reward those who read this blog, here is another Bonanza coupon code:BLOGREADER0520
Enter that code at checkout, and enjoy another discount!
Our Bonanza sales booth:
Bookwyrm's Backshelf Bonanza Booth
Thanks again everybody!
Bookwyrm
Hi everyone! Just wanted to give you a quick update on how we're doing during the Coronavirus crisis.
As of this writing, we are all OK. No symptoms. Our area has been locked down for several days now. Other than a shortage of paper products, we are holding out well. Fortunately, we work from home, so our operations are mostly unaffected. If you have any specific questions or concerns about items you've ordered, or other topics, feel free to contact us.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who are ill, or those whose lives have been disrupted by this horrible outbreak. We wish you the best of luck, and hope you recover soon.
There is a ton of bad information and misinformation out there. Be careful! Here are a few links to reputable sites, for informational purposes only:
Mayo Clinic Coronavirus page
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Coronavirus page
World Health Organization Coronavirus page
Hi folks!
You may have noticed some items marked with the words "Last Chance". There are other items on sale that seem somewhat random. You may have wondered what's going on there.
Well, we have been doing this for a little while, and have aquired many things to sell. Some of them have been hanging around for a while. We'd like to see them sold. So, we are implementing a rolling Clearance Sale!
These items have their prices slashed to the bone!
However, once they are marked "Last Chance", once they come off, the are NOT relisted. That's it, they are gone!
So, if you see something you are interested in, or have been watching for a while, on Clearance Sale or Last Chance, don't wait. It's not going to be there much longer.
Hi, everybody.
It seems people have reacted pretty strongly to the recent shipping price increases we made. OK, we hear you. It sucks when things get more expensive. Unfortunately, some of this we have no control over. The Post Office raised its prices on us, so we had no choice but to raise ours. Now, it's not just the price that the Post Office charges. We have to pay for our envelopes, tape, and other shipping supplies, as well as the fees the listing and payment websites charge us.
That said, we are trying some methods to make shipping easier and cheaper. First, we have started to implement free shipping on certain items. It looks like a standard practice for certain categories of items, so we're going with the crowd here.
Second, we are looking to rejigger our shipping prices, to make it cheaper. We will analyze our sales, and see what we can do to shave some off of our fees. We don't know specifics, because we haven't done that analysis yet. Just know that we are trying our best to make things easier for you, our customers.
If you have any suggestions on how we can do this, please let us know.
Hi folks.
While the winter rages outside, what would be better than to get together and play some games? Well, we've got you covered. From now until February 16th, all of our game items are on sale! So come on in and get some fun things to play to avoid cabin fever.
Thanks for listening.
Hi, everybody!
This should be the place where we give you more information about who we are and what we are doing (and why you should care). Maybe we'll do that next time. Now, however, we need to talk about shipping on eBay.
First, let me say this: Yes, we combine shipping, on eBay and on all other sites we sell on. We do this so we can pass on the cost savings to you. In fact, if you spend more than $40 on an order, then standard shipping is FREE!
Now, the US Postal Service is raising its rates, so, unfortunately, we have to raise ours. We take care to charge as little as possible for shipping, while still covering our costs. So that's one thing we have been doing: changing our flat shipping rates to conform to the new USPS rates.
We have also been exploring ways to save on shipping. We briefly flirted with the idea of offering free shipping, but realized pretty quickly that would remove our ability to combine shipments to save money. Then we tried to figure out how much more it would cost us to ship a (bigger) package with two or more items in it, and came up with a number. Originally that was $0.50, then realized it was closer to $0.60. However, that doesn't cover many of the possible combinations. Therefore, we are dropping that.
If you want to combine shipping on two or more items you are buying from us on eBay, here's how:
1) Use the "Add to Cart" button (DO NOT use "Buy Now"!)
2) Do that with every item, then use the "Request Total" option.
3) We will then send you an invoice with a (reduced) shipping cost.
4) Pay the invoice, then we ship the item.
Now, for various technical reasons, the procedure described above doesn't work for some people. If that's the case for you, and you still want to combine shipping, please SEND US A MESSAGE, _BEFORE_ YOU BUY ANYTHING! Tell us what items you want to buy and combine. We'll then make arrangements for you to buy the combined items in a single lot, for the (lower) combined shipping.
One more note on combining shipping: We usually use Media Mail to ship our books, since it is significantly cheaper. However, the USPS has strict rules on what can and cannot be shipped that way. In particular, magazines CANNOT be shipped via Media Mail. Unfortunately, that means if your combined lot contains a magazine, Media Mail is NOT available as a shipping option.
In the course of trying to change the prices, we tried to use a "shortcut" method that eBay provided. Boy, was that a mistake! Instead of making things go faster, it fouled up many of our listing, specifically the shipping prices. We are in the process of fixing those, but that will take a couple more weeks. In the meantime, if you have a question on shipping (or on anything else), please contact us. We'd love to hear from you.
Hello, World!
This is the first post on Bookwyrm's Backshelf Official Blog! Welcome, everyone.
This will become the place for information on what's happening at Bookwyrm's Backshelf. So please stay tuned, bookmark this site, and look forward to more.
Happy buying, everyone!