posted on May 14, 2001 03:20:07 PM
Hello everyone,
I recently purchased about 200 hardcover science fiction books from the sixties and seventies. They are all Book Club Editions, some seem to be First Editions, some have multiple copyright dates. All the books are in very good condition with the dustjackets intact.
Some authors/titles are familiar to me, some are not. I have done a search of completed sales and it seems that Book Club Editions are valued less.
I have a couple of questions. First, is it smarter to list the whole collection for sale as a single lot. Or should I break down the collection into smaller lots by author. Or should I sell each book individually.
If anyone has had experience/expertise in this field I would truly appreciate any advice on these questions as well as any other suggestions.
posted on May 14, 2001 03:44:41 PM
The yuckky answer is that to get the best money, you probably need to check each book out - try looking on bookfinder.com or abebooks.com, also searches on ebay to see what the going prices are. Some books/authors do well even if they are book club editions. It is rare that you find a true first edition that is also a book club edition. I would research each title before I listed, then groups others that you don't think will do well individually.
posted on May 14, 2001 05:40:25 PM
What Jane suggests is exactly what I do. If you are not familiar with a title, there is just no other way. If you absolutely don't want to do that, then you could just list them individually, with whatever low starting bid you are comfortable with, and see what happens; or you could put them up in lots by author.
As you probably know, you need to be sure and state they are Book Club Editions.
edited to add: the dustjackets are a big plus - be sure and show clear pics of those.
posted on May 14, 2001 06:51:39 PM
On the other hand, researching and listing [not to mention following up] on 200 books of questionable interest sounds like a boat-load of work.
If someone were to buy the whole lot, how much would you want? Would you be willing to pay a high listing fee just to see if anyone bites?
I recently sold a couple of BCE SF books of that vintage on Amazon Marketplace, BTW. Even though they go for pennies on half.com. You just never know.
posted on May 14, 2001 06:52:32 PM
You may want to look them up if you have the inclination. Some BCE's are actually true Firsts. Especially in Science Fiction.
And (to make it even more confusing), just because the BCE says "first edition" on the title does not mean it is a true first. Some BCE's are printed with the plates from the original publisher and don't bother to change or delete this information. It's like BCE's have no rules (makes me crazy!).
If you don't want to go through all that hassle, I would just list them in sets by author - series - trilogy - whatever. Sets are good. Sets are easy. Buyers like sets.
posted on May 14, 2001 07:29:55 PM
Thanks everybody. All that information is trully helpful. A couple of follow up questions.
Should I try to roughly figure out an estimate for the whole set (on the conservative side) and have that number as my reserve. Then feature list the whole set as a lot with a low price (to get around a high listing fee) to encourage bidding and to see if there are any takers. I would rather sell the whole thing at once for less money then spend hours listing and following up.
Nancam-In your experience are people intersted in sets of this size in this genre (close to 200 books.) If not what would be a more palatable number for listing them as sets.
Kudzurose-Its funny you mention the dustjackets. They are trully little works of graphic design/art in themselves. Is there a seperate interest in these books just for the artwork?
posted on May 14, 2001 08:00:16 PM
Hi lzinder - when I say "sets" I mean a series type set. For instance, I have an incomplete Foundation set right now, BCE's, The Trilogy, Foundations Edge and Prelude to Foundation. I am holding them trying to get a BCE of Foundation And Earth (do you have that one by chance?). I don't have any experience in a set of 200. At the most, I would maybe break it down by author. You may sell to a "reader" instead of a "collector", but that's just my opinion. Others may differ.
posted on May 14, 2001 08:00:46 PM
I'm not sure about selling all 200 - I wouldn't want to hazard a guess as to what the shipping weight would be.
Are there lots of specific authors? McCaffrey, Bradley-Zimmer, etc? Their books from that era generally do well. I'd pull the big names out first and group those, then sell the remainder as a lot.
I'm not sure of the covers - there is a market for PBO art - can be collectible just based on the artist - I'm not sure about more modern covers, though.
posted on May 15, 2001 08:23:46 AM
While we're on the subject of books, I have a question... I need some suggestions.
I'm new at buying books for reselling on eBay. Last weekend I bought lots of books at garages sales. Usually I just offer a couple dollars for all their books, usually they go for it. I don't really even look at the books before I make an offer. This usually means that I'll get the books for about 10c each. Well, last weekend I ended up getting 82 books for $12.30. I found only about 15 that were even worth bothering with. Most sell for only $2-$5, but some sell for $15 or $20. My question is, what should I do with the rest of the books that aren't worth selling individually? After reading this thread I thought I may be able to sell them as a group. They are not related to each other, some are paperbacks and some are hardcovers with dustjackets, etc. Do eBay shoppers really buy groups of misc. books? If I could even get a few dollars out of the rest, it would be better than ZERO. Any advice? I've seen a few lots of books go for $5 - $15 on eBay.
posted on May 15, 2001 08:35:53 AM
Find a local used book store that carries a lot of ScFi and get credit for buting from them-----I pulled a $50.00 paperback off the shelf of a used bookstore last week that they were selling for $3.00, so your credit at the store can generate money
