posted on March 23, 2001 08:41:40 AM new
Snakebait...I think just about every book qualifies as being "niche market". A gardening book sells to the niche market of gardeners, science fiction sells to the niche market of science fiction lovers, etc.
Some niche markets are bigger than others is the only difference I see..oh, and the fact that some books will fit into several niche markets.
I don't get freebies, wish I did. And yes I will spend more than a dollar on a book. I do try to buy in larger lots and then average out the price of the individual books. But I am also a firm believer in the saying "you have to spend money to make money".
I don't limit myself to how much I will pay for a book....what I try to limit myself to is to those books I think I can make a profit on (don't always succeed, but I do most times). I sell about 75% of the books I list. I will list a book twice but rarely three times. 50% of the books will sell the first time listed and 50% of the relists will sell (on average). (100 books listed, sell 50; relist 50, sell 25...75% sales from that lot. Total listings for month 150, sold 75, monthly percent of sales to listing, 50%)
None of the books I listed in the other post were new books. I also would not classify any of them as rare. The oldest was a 1872 book on pottery and porcelain (a collectors guide/reference book). There were about 30 of them listed on bibliofind. To me that isn't a rare book...but is one that would be rare on ebay. The next oldest was a 1912 edition of the encyclopedia of freemasonry (the $156 book)...again, there were a good number listed on bibliofind, but it was rare on ebay. Many of the others were reference books on 18th-19th century British pottery and porcelain that were printed in the 1970s.
You may call these niche market, but the niche is quite broad. There are thousands of Masons who would be interested in a book on freemasonry. The reference books also had a very broad market...they were of interest to collectors, art students, and antique dealers.
I look for books that will appeal to people. I once bought a book on repairing airplanes for $25. The book was ratty...the back cover was detached but present and the book was dirty. But the book was on repairing WWI airplanes...the body and engine. It also had a chapter on maintaining and repairing the machine gun on those planes. I didn't mind spending $25 because I figured I would get at least $50 for it. It sold for $125 (give or take a few dollars). It too had a broad market...military buffs, airplane buffs, transportation buffs, people interested in guns, people interested in engines.
Books are a fascinating item to sell. There is such a variety. And I love to hear things like this comment from a recent buyer..."Got the book today! I haven't seen this book since I was 6 years old, 36 years ago. Looking at it brought back so may pleasant memories"
posted on March 23, 2001 08:51:20 AM new
Another idiot turning on e-mail for educational purposes. Could any of you kind hearted people either explain or point me to a reference on deciphering all those ISBN, printing codes and numbers. And when did they start using ISBN's. I guess what I need is a good reference on the history of publishing?
posted on March 23, 2001 09:41:50 AM new
For book repair try www.brodart.com. They have a lot of stuff that may help.
For information relating to first editions and how to identify them, the ebay book board has a series of informative posts that they put up on a regular basis to help answer this sort of question. Good luck!
posted on March 23, 2001 10:07:47 AM new
Trussel's provides the following explanation of how the ISBN is arrived at:
QUOTE:
Consider an ISBN like 0-395-48308-5 {Houghlin Mifflin's 1988 edition of Howard Fast's "The Pledge"}.
The first digit, 0, is the group identifier: national, geographic, language, or other convenient group; in this case, English-speaking countries. (Sometimes 1 appears on US books.)
The next three (in this case three, but not necessarily -- 2 or 3 for major publishers, longer for minor publishers with just a few books), 395, are the publisher's id number, in this case, Houghlin Mifflin. (When a publisher runs out of "room" for new book numbers, they receive a new publisher number.)
The next 5 (or however many are left to make up the first 9, depending on the length of the publisher number) are the "book number" for that publisher, which apparently come out sequentially as books are issued, and may indicate different editions, paperbacks, reprints, bindings, etc., though there may be gaps. (So it's unlikely that "The Pledge" was actually Houghlin Mifflin's 48,308th book since the introduction of the ISBN system.)
The last number is a check digit, used to validate whether the ISBN is correctly formed. (An x or X in that position = 10.) Take each digit, starting from the left, and multiply it by it's position from the right. Add those together, and if the result divides evenly by 11, it checks.
posted on March 23, 2001 10:34:06 AM new
I'm getting a lot out of this thread. In particular I find the question of minimum bids of interest. On one hand, I agree with bibliophile that a higher minimum might signal value to certain bidders. But on the other hand, what about bargain hunters? Is it better to make a few bucks and let the item go [multiplied many times] or pay the listing fee, not sell, and keep the book, an sometimes get the higher bids?
I guess that gets back to the original point, how much is it worth to sell anything for a few dollars profit?
Amy, I am curious if you shop used book stores? The reason I ask is because, let's say you are in the store and find a neat book for $25. How do you guess whether the bookseller has already calculated the maximum "value" of the book, or whether there is a chance it would sell for $50 on ebay? Do you just go with your gut? What about investing $25 and ending up not selling, or losing money?
Maybe you can tell that my gut is rarely up to that challenge! ; - )
posted on March 23, 2001 11:20:13 AM new
I find this thread very interesting. I've sold only a few books in the past but am definitely interested in learning more about selling books. Where I live there are TONS of books and at real cheap prices, but I don't really know enough about them to really get into selling books.
I was just looking up some books and in a nut shell, I think someone here is no longer anonymous.
posted on March 23, 2001 12:09:22 PM new
SNAKEBAIT:
You really know your stuff; your "15 Points of Wisdom" contained excellent advice and should be required reading for everyone thinking about selling books, especially on eBay.
You're right: most books will not sell on eBay, or if they do, you usually won't get what you want for them. The market is severely glutted. (If I see one more copy of "From Beirut to Jerusalem" on eBay I will scream; none sell, and yet more and more of them are listed every day!)
My sister and I (we're the ones who sold my Nancy Drew books) have been very careful about deciding what books to sell and what books not to sell. We did well with the Nancy Drew books; we got almost $500.00 for my small collection. But I spent hours researching them and doing the write-ups, which were meticulous, right down to descriptions of the endpapers, chipping on the dust jackets, etc. (By the way, we started the bidding for the Nancy Drew books at $4.00.)
Research is the key. You've got to learn when it's more prudent to try to find a venue other than eBay through which to sell a book.
Prime example: I had had a book on my shelf for 30 years that was written by a then-unknown author, fresh out of college, who went on to become very well-regarded and popular (best sellers, and high quality theatrical movies based on them). My book was a vanity press publication with a limited press run of 1,000 copies; it had been given to me decades ago by a friend (now dead) who just didn't want it anymore.
I considered listing this book on eBay, but I'm not dumb, so before I did I looked it up on Bibliofind and nearly swallowed my tongue when I found it listed for between $2,100 (unsigned) and $5,000 (signed by author). I contacted several of the dealers about my copy. All of them expressed great interest - all wanted to buy it - and I finally sold my unsigned copy to one of them for $1,200. She was thrilled, and I was ecstatic.
A happy ending.
So, to everyone, I stress again: do your homework.
posted on March 23, 2001 12:24:18 PM new
I've been selling books on eBay for years, and it's my opinion that only an idiot would believe he could make money at it by following the instructions outlined in the first post of this thread.
But please, I encourage everyone to follow them to the letter, LOL.
posted on March 23, 2001 12:57:36 PM new
KEZIAK: You don't get to guess in a used bookstore--or you shouldn't. Your first trip is a reconnaissance mission; your second (after you've done your homework) is for blood.
SPAZMODEUS: It wouldn't be a complete thread without a wet blanket. Thanks!
posted on March 23, 2001 01:12:53 PM new
Executivegirl....I bow to your superior detective abilities! I was only able to find items on sale when I played Miss Marple. But I did get to meet Val Erie, so it was worth it. Meeting such an illustrious person made me rejoice 47 times
(but I think a quick check of previous posts by me will reveal that that I gave my book id on a thread I started a short while back asking a questions about the Rolling Stones )
[ edited by amy on Mar 24, 2001 04:14 AM ]
posted on March 23, 2001 01:12:54 PM new
Well, I for one, appreciate your remarks, Biblio, and most of the other contributions on this thread (as opposed to detractions <g>. I've learned a lot and in fact am printing the whole thread right now as we speak. VERY helpful.
EG I'm so relieved you're thinking about selling books. I've thought for a long time you needed a better class of buyers (LOL) and ya probably can't go wrong with books! Good luck!
posted on March 23, 2001 02:16:48 PM new
Keziak..no, I don't go to used book stores to buy for ebay..I would end up letting my heart get in the way of my "gut" LOL! I love books, always have, and when I go into a book store I end up buying books because the book spoke to me for some reason...hardly a good way to buy for resale.
I buy all of my books at auction. The airplane book was at an auction. I went to the preview the day before. There were two large lots (200-300 books per lot). One lot looked really good to me...about 12 books by the Smithsonian on American ethnology (Indian studies) published in the early 1900s, a number of other books my "gut" said were good, and the airplane book. Knowing I was going to have strong competition on the books I asked the auctioeer if I could buy the airplane book before hand and offered $25. since he owned the books he sold it to me.
When I preview like that I write down the info on any books I think are very sellable, go home and check them out on bibliofind. That gives me an idea fo the price range and the availability. I then figure out what I feel I can get for the whole lot. I then can judge what I can pay for the lot.
Sometimes though I go to auctions where there is only an hour preview before the auction. Tose time I have to go by "gut" feeling. Do I think there is a market for the books? Are any of them on unusual or interesting subjects? What type of bindings? Age? Etc.
So far my gut has worked LOL. I remember one time I bought a lot of dog books..it included a first edition of 101 Dalmations (the book Disney based the movie on) plus a number of books on the care of different breeds of dogs. Also included were 2 boxes of "Afghan Review" magazines. My gut said "buy, buy..people who like dogs would LOVE these books". I figured I would throw the magazines away (my gut didn't think there would be much of a market for them...to much work for to little return!).
Except for the 101 Dalmations book, the rest of the books died on ebay. "So much for my 'intuition'" I thought. A few months later my husband decided to list the magazines...I laughed at him (stupid me!). The magazines FLEW...many went for $10-$20. My gut had been right, dog lovers WERE fanatics...just not for the books.
I have to learn to listen a little more carefully to my gut!
posted on March 23, 2001 02:46:09 PM new
Amy, thanks, I appreciate the candor. I was getting worried that there are folks here who can outsmart the "pros" in the used bookstores.
posted on March 23, 2001 03:08:14 PM new
Keziak...remember this, even the pros can't know everything! And the larger their inventory the more likely they are to miss something.
Plus...they have a smaller market to sell to than we do. We have the world. We may have an advantage in finding the right buyer for a book, making that book more valuable.
[ edited by amy on Mar 23, 2001 03:10 PM ]
posted on March 23, 2001 04:22:08 PM new
Amy - I agree, but my only real point is that the used bookseller is most likely to be pretty close to the "value" of the book even on ebay or whereever. Same seems to be true for the vast bulk of "remainder"-type books you can order at a discount. Sure, you pay less than cover value, but due to age, availability, or whatever, probably that discount is about what you'd get for it on ebay, half.com, or whatever.
It's such fun to occasionally find the real winner that brings a higher price, but so far the only road to success I've found for myself is the steady stream of books I've bought for $0-1 and sold for $3-$25 [roughly]. But I do ask myself if the low-risk/modest-return approach is the way I want to keep doing business indefinitely.
posted on April 21, 2001 11:36:00 AM new
I am headed to the nearest bookstore to turn in books and get credit! By the way, what if that book store stamps every single book with their "ownership" stamp? Should I try to find a different bookstore to turn these into?
