posted on June 11, 2001 02:39:53 PM
Now that it is imminent that Half.com will be merging with Ebay, do you think selling contemporary books at auction will still be feasible? Of course there will still be an auction market for older books, particularly those that predate ISBN numbers, but I'm wondering if it will even be worth having book auctions for newer books. Might it be better just to list on the fixed sites? I'd love to hear some opinions and predictions.
posted on June 11, 2001 03:12:26 PM
Half.com has already affected the way I sell books, and it may affect me more, but I already try to buy specifically what will sell at auction, as opposed to what is more suited to sell on Half.com (or another fixed-price site). The only time I buy specifically for Half.com is when I find a newer book in pristine condition, and I don't think Half.com will be saturated with it.
When I research any book I've bought, if it appears it will bring as much (or almost as much) at Half.com as it would on eBay, then I put it on Half.
I do believe there will be more of a "leveling off" of bookselling between the fixed-price sites and selling at auction. It will be increasingly harder to make money selling books at auction unless you are very good at buying the right ones - meaning the rare or collectible ones that are seldom found on Half.com.
I think some of the rarer books that ARE listed on Half.com could be sold for the (half.com) asking price or more on eBay - there are a lot of advantages to the auction format as opposed to the current Half.com format. I know of a few books listed on Half. that are rare and expensive, but I suspect that buyers are reluctant to buy books like that there because of the measley description and lack of pictures.
Booksellers who learn to make the fixed-price sites work for them, but know what to buy for auction, will do fine.
