Had an usual situation today. For the most part my books are not what you'd call antique, vintage, scarce, or anything like that. Just good solid books I hope someone will like.
I got this ex-library book on an historical topic and after writing the description, tried to price it. There was no history of it on ebay, and the original price isn't much help. So I checked the bookseller sites like Bibliofind. WHOA there! One site had a single copy, Bibliofind had, I think, 6. They ranged in price from a low of $160 to a high of the $400s.
Now, I know to take those prices with a grain of salt. But it made me wonder if someone would "snap it up" in order to market it better somewhere else, or even back on ebay. My listings are pretty bread & butter, not a ton of flair.
Finally I decided to list for $9 and put a really high BIN on it. Guess I'll see what happens. It's not like I paid much for the book, it's more that I wonder how it will go...
posted on January 20, 2001 02:36:07 PM
I' don't think I'd have put the BIN. Of course if that's what your happy with, then that's great. Maybe could have had a bidding war. Then big $$$. Keep me posted on the sale.
posted on January 20, 2001 02:46:01 PM
Book prices on eBay are hard for me to predict even after three years. I just got about $75 for a set of books that list on the book seller pages you mentioned for over $400. Was I disappointed? Nah. I've listed them four times over the last year (they got tucked in a box and forgotten between listings 2 and 3). So, regardless of the "real value" of this set, the eBay market value was apparently much lower. Besides, I paid less than $10, so I'm still a happy camper. On the other hand, I bought some vintage booklets on a particular subject (obscure, but not spectacular in my mind) that I expected to sell for less than $20 and made $290! You never can tell on eBay. For me, that is part of the thrill. I would have sold those pamphlets for $20 in my retail space. What a loss that could have been! Good luck with your book, Keziak! I'm hoping you get a bidding war.
posted on January 20, 2001 03:09:15 PM
HI guys - thanks! The reason I put a high, but not nose-bleed high, BIN is because it's ex-library and has a defect I note in the auction. It's not flawless. I guess I could have foregone the BIN...but it would be a kick to get it, too!
posted on January 20, 2001 06:05:28 PM
time is money too...sometimes it's better to just have the BIN price & get the money in hand ASAP. But I'm saying this because I have a case of the "sour grapes" after filing 15 NPBR's a minute ago. I HATE relisting stuff!!!!!!!!
I am wondering what kind of turnover the booksellers that list through bibliofind have on their stuff...do you think it takes 6 months or so to sell each book? just wondering.
posted on January 20, 2001 06:12:19 PM
Does anyone here use Bibliofind and those sites? I had a long chat with the owner of the used bookstore I frequent. He says he's been off ebay for over a year, but until recently sold well on the bookstore sites. He also made a comment in passing about needing to adjust prices of books he listed 2 years ago. There's no way I would want to have inventory sitting around that long, paying $20 and up per MONTH for the privilege.
posted on January 20, 2001 07:00:37 PM
One I was checking on recently showed
fair to good copies on Bookfinder starting at $40. ebay showed a near fine copy, inscribed by author, closed with no bids at $20 open. Perhaps the divide for moderately scarce books is widening to a chasm.
The sellers on the book search engines represent a very wide range of pricing practices from low to extremely high, naturally the lower priced for given quality sell much quicker, leaving the high and very high end almost always available, and often all that shows.
I think such a BIN is a good choice as if you catch only one very interested party you may get it instead of $9. I think that the more specialized the item the more likely this is to occur.
Often no "real value" can reasonably be given to a book as most used book selling is a "junk" business where 900% + markup is normal.
posted on January 20, 2001 07:24:44 PM
I have purchased maybe a half dozen things through bibliofind. As you can imagine, I've bought WAY more on Ebay.
I have occasionally noticed higher winning-bid prices on Ebay than asking prices on bibliofind & addall/used. That was actually how I came by one of my first purchases on bibliofind- I got outbid on something on Ebay & there was only one copy listed, so I started hunting around for it, and found it at a lower price on bibliofind!
I guess it is more likely to happen the other way around though. My guess is that a lot of that inventory doesn't move too quickly. For one thing, there's no real reason for impulse buyers to linger there. No photos, no reviews, and only the barest hint of info about the books. It is set up so that you pretty much have to arrive at the site knowing what you want. Versus a site like Ebay, where you can enter without thinking you really want anything, but when you leave you have 20 things watchlisted, half a dozen bids on different things, and plans to come back and snipe the rest later.
posted on January 21, 2001 04:29:04 AM
Someone with "book" in their name immediately bid the minimum, so now I get to wait and see if ebay does it thing for me! : - )
A little relieved, since it was hard to come up with a descriptive title for this one.
posted on January 21, 2001 07:12:46 AM
I test out a few off-the-wall books with every batch of listings. Some of my books aren't listed anywhere, not Amazon or bibliofind. I am occasionally surprised when one generates real interest in more than 1 bidder.
I have one right now that I purchased intending to put it on half.com , it's brand new. But when I went to list it, it doesn't exist on half.com, or, Amazon or anywhere else. I couldn't even get a feel on what it cost to purchase the darn thing at list price.
I went ahead and put it up last night, and I've already had several bids.
posted on January 21, 2001 07:25:26 AM
I have found ABE books and Alibris to be excellent sites for used and rare books.
I have to admit though, that the range of prices for identical books on all three sites is quite astounding. This obviously makes it difficult to establish a "market value".
www.abebooks.com
www.alibris.com
