rj314
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posted on September 5, 2000 04:41:38 PM new
My brother and I just started selling used books mostly. I notice that most of our buyers are other dealers. So my question is: what is going on? Are they just gambling that they can re-list maybe with better ad copy to get a better price? Or do they maybe have a known buyer for this type of stuff? Curious what other people think of this - especially people that are buyers as well as sellers.
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njrazd
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posted on September 5, 2000 04:48:27 PM new
rj134...some dealers will buy and then turn around and resell on eBay, but I buy on eBay for inventory for my local selling.
*****************
That's Flunky Gerbiltush to you!
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jt-2007
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posted on September 5, 2000 04:53:13 PM new
No. We need Levis and shower curtians and school books too. We also collect stuff. We are just too lazy to leave the house anymore.
You don't sell groceries do you?
T
We can also read.
[ edited by jt on Sep 5, 2000 04:55 PM ]
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mballai
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posted on September 5, 2000 04:54:26 PM new
I am also a bookseller, and yes, I also have booksellers buying from me. It doesn't bother me in the least if I make a profit. My largest(and maybe most profitable) sale to date was to a bookseller. I am certain he hoped to get at least double or more what he paid me. You often have no idea what market they might resell something.
I have purchased stuff on eBay and resold it on eBay at a profit. However, I do not make a habit of it. More often I'll buy a lot of some items and sell those I have no interest in keeping.
The idea is to make a profit. If someone can make a further profit elsewhere that's fine.
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sg52
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posted on September 5, 2000 04:56:54 PM new
Generally, there's nothing to worry about, but there might be.
Ask yourself if your listing is effective. Many dealers focus on ineffective listings, buy things, and resell them with an effective listing.
Ineffective listing qualities:
Number 1,2, and 3: imprecise identification. It might be this, or it might be that, but lister isn't sure. A real way to keep people from bidding.
#4: badly described, misspelled words, rare variant not identified
Also, August was the slow month. Slowness yields pricing abnormalities. Dealers by their nature exploit pricing abnormalities.
There's a few more, but they're way behind just getting a good description and title.
sg52
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jt-2007
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posted on September 5, 2000 05:02:03 PM new
#5: It's a rare one of a kind antique sterling punch bowl listed in "sports:hiking".
T
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sg52
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posted on September 5, 2000 05:05:00 PM new
I'll add to my imprecise issue: "and the picture doesn't help".
A good picture can make up for a lot of problems in the description.
sg52
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Shoshanah
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posted on September 5, 2000 05:12:59 PM new
If this were wrong, there would be no Wholesellers....
When I was doing Antique shows and had my shop, my best clients were other Antiques dealers. I got what I wanted, they hopefully would turn a profit...I was a "picker" for an RS Prussia and Royal Bayreuth Dealer. She paid me top money, because she already had her clientele lined up.
Nothing wrong with that..
********************
Shosh
http://www.oldandsold.com/cgi-bin/auction.cgi?justdisp&Rifkah
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/rifkah/
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cdnbooks
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posted on September 5, 2000 05:21:55 PM new
There are lots of places to sell/buy used books. Ebay is about the middle of the price range.
Garage sales, classified ads, flea markets, used book stores, ebay, specialized used book stores, (better) Internet sites, is more or less the pecking order.
I recently sold a book to an American bricks and mortar book dealer who wanted fast delivery to satify an item on her customer's want list. I made a lot of money on that book. I expect she did too.
Bill
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macandjan
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posted on September 5, 2000 06:02:02 PM new
They may have other markets but if I were you I would do a search for my items - not for the other person's ID. They may buy under one ID and sell with another. If they are reselling
and getting more than you did note if they are listing in a different category and how the title differs. Is their pic better? Is the description as honest? As detailed? Does it use humor? You may learn some very good
ways to improve your own listings. Of course that is something you should do with other sellers who are NOT buying your items also.
They also might be buying items over the summer to relist when the holiday sales pick up. Not everyone can afford to do that but I have items right now I am waiting to sell because they will get more in Oct. than July.
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feistyone
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posted on September 5, 2000 11:27:25 PM new
>>"some dealers will buy and then turn around and resell on eBay"<<
Sounds like quite a risk to me. If they buy the item on Ebay, what makes people think that they can turn a profit on it?
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bunnicula
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posted on September 5, 2000 11:34:26 PM new
feistyone: It is easy to turn a profit if you can pick up the book for its minimum bid, providing that minimum is low enough. Once the item is yours, the trick is to take a better image or images, write a more complete and/or punchier description, provide a better deal on shipping costs, and more flexible TOS. I have done this many times with items purchased at the three major online auction sites.
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pharlap
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posted on September 5, 2000 11:38:52 PM new
Hi Feisty,
I've resold a couple of things that I've bought on Ebay. I didn't buy them with the thought of reselling (just for my personal collection) but after I got tired of them I relisted them.
One I only got about 50% profit but the other one returned about 10x!
In both cases they were badly listed with the keyword I was looking for in the description and not the title. Also both didn't have pictures.
When I resold I made sure to hype it up a bit and played on the keywords and it worked!
It's not a practice I normally follow though... Maybe I should.
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jamesoblivion
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posted on September 6, 2000 12:39:03 AM new
Sure, I buy many things for resale on ebay.
James.
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stockticker
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posted on September 6, 2000 05:38:30 AM new
Everything I buy on eBay I resell on eBay (or on other auction sites). I buy dealer lots though.
Irene
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pickersangel
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posted on September 6, 2000 05:49:38 AM new
I'm tickled pink when another dealer buys my items, especially when it's one of the treasures that I found--DH's track record as a picker is already well proven. I do shake my head at the prices they pay sometimes. Obviously certain types of items sell much better elsewhere (i.e. at higher prices!!) than they do in antique/collectible stores here! I've yet to see anything relisted on Ebay by the buyer, but if they made a profit due to my ignorance about what I had, I'd be glad for the education. That makes me better at what I do. 
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