How do they offer such cheap mag subs on ebay?

[HexiumVII]

I get a lot of snail spam to renew mags and such, most of them were free from hot deals But Wired has been one of my favs so i wanted to make sure my sub wouldn't lapse. I got a renewal letter for $10 a year, which isn't too bad considering how much they cost a newstands nowadays. But i looked on ebay and it is offered for as low as $4 for 2 years. The ratings of the sellers are usually immaculate with thousands of feedback at 99%+. How do these guys do it?

 

[jfall]

Magazines should be free anyways. Every second page is an ad in most magazines these days

 

[morkman100]

Magazines make tons of money in advertising. Higher subscription rates = more ad money. Selling via discounters can increase sub rates, while at the same time they can sell subs in their own magazine at a higher rate for the people who are too lazy or don't know any better.

FYI... I have about 10-12 magazine subs, of which 7 of them were free. The rest were bought on ebay.

 

[Jawo]

I've been doing that for quite some time!

 

[marvdmartian]

Yeah, it's really too bad that more publishers don't do the crazy free subs that were so prevalent a couple years ago. Man, I remember when it seemed every time you turned around, either Stuff or Maxim was offered for a year or two, free, and could be either a new or renewed subscription.

.......part of the reason why my Maxim subscription is good until 2025!!! LOL

What's really fun is when they call to try to get me to extend my subscription, "before the subscription rate goes up". When I tell them when my sub expires, there's usually just a pregnant pause at the other end of the phone, followed by a "thank you, have a nice day!!" hehehe