Why is it so expensive to send one small book?  The direct cost to ship one small item separately is about 7 times what it would be if it were part of a large shipment.   Some, but not all, of that cost is charged to you.   The post office recently dramatically raised the price for small parcels 3 oz to 3 lbs.  There is no cheap way to mail them anymore.    So if you buy a How to Draw (Pokemon, Scooby-Doo, Clifford, etc) softcover book which weighs 5 oz, it will cost $2.41 postage plus 0.18 delivery confirmation.    The box costs 40-50 cents, purchased in bulk.   (I can never find enough small flat boxes to re-use).  The paid labor to pack/label the box costs 70 cents (and that's my best employee who is very fast, more if a not-so-good employee).   So we're already at $3.51 direct shipping expense per item, and I only charged $3.00.   My time to get the box and item out,  shred paper for packing material, print the packing slip/label, make a trip to the post office, answer emails, etc. and the $.30  paypal checkout fee (for each payment) are not included.   Inventory and listing/sale costs are never included in the shipping charge, of course.   Now, if I shipped 10 different how to draw books together the postage would be $3.93 + .18, the box $.50, the labor $1.00 (extra time to check the order), total $5.13, or  50 cents per item.  Compare 50 cents to $3.51.   Big difference!  With even larger shipments the difference is even more dramatic.  So if you don't like to pay too much for shipping, I encourage you to anticipate what your future book needs will be, and buy a few items at once to take advantage of my reduced or free shipping specials. 

How do I get the shipping special rates for multiple purchases?  Please note that the free shipping does not apply to 10 books in a single lot (unless already marked free shipping), but to 10 different ebay fixed price or auction listings (whether single or multiple books/items), and is only for media mail to US addresses, when paid on a single invoice.   For more than one item, you pay only the shipping for one (whichever is highest), the rest ship free.  For 10 or more auctions/fixed price listings to the same address shipping is absolutely free on the whole order.   I am afraid that it occasionally does not show on the invoice automatically generated by ebay at checkout.  But not to worry, you can change the shipping charge yourself on that invoice if you've already figured out what it should be.    You can also add a negative number at the bottom under seller discounts.   Or you can request that I send a combined invoice and I generally get to it pretty quickly, within a few hours during the daytime, and will have the special shipping rate on it.  Or if you pay the invoice anyway (as some customers do), I'll notice when I ship your items the next day, and will send a paypal refund of the overpaid shipping.   

Will you hold my books until I've finished shopping?   Sometimes you may not have enough time to complete your order in one sitting.  I realize this, and am glad to hold unpaid items for a few days.  It is easier for me to keep track and combine shipping if you do not pay until you are ready for me to mail, although I will send occasional invoices for your information.