I am an experienced ebay seller (1500 positives) and am thinking of buying these 3000 books. I have sold about a few books on ebay before and know a little about literature. I am willing to commit 4-6 hours per day to these books. These are mostly good and saleable books, meaning no remainders, cheap books, damaged or ex library. Mostly first editions, primarily fiction. About 25-40 signed by the author. About 25 publishers' pre-view books. She had put mylar covers on about 400. Mostly 1970 and newer with dust jackets. I see that a lot of books by Steven King, Patrisha Corwell, Grisham etc do not even sell for $3 on ebay, so I am nervous as I will mostly need to sell on ebay. She is asking $3000 and seems firm on that. Any thoughts about price or other aspects from someone who has bought big book lots before would be very, very much appreciated!! Thanks, Roger
posted on November 13, 2002 11:40:45 AM new
The Goodwill donation trailer near me will no longer accept books as donations. Books are almost impossible to sell on ebay now unless there are very rare. Research the heck the some of the books you were offered on ebay and you will see what I mean. Even the signed books are not worth very much money on ebay usually. The Half.com super low book prices are seeping into ebay auction itself as many books now start in the 30 cents to 49 cents range with no reserve. ( and many of these do not even sell )
posted on November 13, 2002 12:09:55 PM new
I have sold a lot of books and there is no way I would pay $1 a book for them. Offer 15 to 20 cents and then if she doesn't say ok then keep looking. Trust me, you will be so sorry to do it for such little profit, if any at $1 a piece. There are tons of other items to get out in the cities that books are a waste of time,unless they are very very old, 1st editions.
Good luck
posted on November 13, 2002 12:54:16 PM new
I wouldn't even offer 15 cents. I'd offer $300 for the lot. And only based on the possibility there might be some "jewels" in the lot. Most of them you'll probably end up trashing.
At $300 you have a good chance of breaking even if the collection is mediocre.
posted on November 13, 2002 01:21:54 PM new
Two year sago I used to make a substantial full time living selling books on Half.com and eBay. It seems after 9-11 the book business collapsed as well. It sad, because I was doing thousands of dollars a month selling books. I would have easily paid $1.00 a book from any source I could find of they were hard cover at the time and .25 cents tops for paperbacks.
Now I wouldn’t I would think about $300.00 sounds about right. Maybe even a little high in today's market. There is no way anyone who is a re-seller is going to offer any more so if she says no let it go ....
posted on November 13, 2002 01:24:23 PM new
The local library has a " fill a large brown sack for $3 " sale 3 times a year and I've skipped it the last 2 times because even at a dime a book it's not worth the hassle.
posted on November 13, 2002 01:50:56 PM new
I have been a book seller since 1999 and I have to agree that the market has dropped unless it is a rare item. I usually list older rare books but sometimes in a box lot I will get the type of books you described. I usually list them anywhere from $1 to $3 just to get rid of them and usually only sell 2 out of 10. You used to be able to get decent money for them and move your inventory fast but not anymore. I wouldnt advise it unless you have patience, you are not depending on a large amount of income from them, and you have the working space to keep them. I currently have an inventory of about 400 of the books you described and cannot give them away on ebay. They are beginning to crowd me out of my work space. My family makes jokes about opening the public library from my office.
posted on November 13, 2002 02:12:16 PM new
I go to a local auction where I can buy a whole box of books for $1 or so. (I have to take the box, can't pick and choose) I tend to keep a couple (usually better textbooks, or less common books that can sell well, one recently sold for $40) and then the rest go immediately to goodwill - and these are the books that you are talking about, nice hardback fiction like Stephen King - Books that cost $25 new, but you can't sell for 75˘ used. It's just not worth dealing in those. You will be really out some bucks if you spend $3000 for that lot. I think $300 is more reaslistic, and even that is a risk unless you want to spend the next 10 years selling 75˘ books on half.com. I would run, not walk away from this deal...
posted on November 13, 2002 02:36:13 PM new
I don't sell books on eBay but do sell them on Amazon's used book program. It is easy and I am continuallly amazed at what I can make there... And I don't have to create a listing (You do have to put in either the title or ISBN number and select condition -- takes 30 seconds max to list a book), collect money, etc. All I have to do is to send out the book (via media mail which is cheap) and Amazon gives me shipping credit (I actually make money there, I am not sure why they pay us sellers more when the shipping terms are set to media mail by Amazon and the buyer) and automatically deposits the payments into my bank acct a couple of times a month. Amazon does make a commission, but I figure it is well worth it when I don't have to do hardly any work except pack and mail the books out.
Hope this helps,
Kittie
posted on November 13, 2002 02:40:30 PM new
Thanks for all your responses. I sensed that ebay had gone bad for books from looking through the listings. However, these are not goodwill type books. All 3000 have been looked up on ABE and are valued there between $8- $25. All junk 50 cent goodwill type books have been culled out of this lot. Damn shame about ebay. I would have loved to have these books.......
posted on November 13, 2002 11:30:53 PM new
The books which are "going for" $8 to $25 on ABE are NOT SOLD! Get it? Here's something to do in your spare time--pick a few of those and follow them for a month - or two - or three - or . . . . People are only HOPING for that money.
Kittiecat: Which part of the Amazon program do you sell on, exactly? What are the fees? Is there a monthly charge?
About those books--I agree with the folks here who have said $300 may be too much. If that woman is smart, she'll donate the lot to a thrift shop and take the write-off she THINKS she should get.
I've seen 1st editions of Cornwell's books go begging, too. Recent hardback fiction, and even some non-fiction, don't sell!
posted on November 14, 2002 01:43:11 AM new
A Stephen King or Tom Clancy 1st Edition book used to be an easy $10+ sale, but not any more. Now I have to combine 2 or 3 at a time to get $10. I wonder what caused the market for books to collapse. I guess current events are more amazing than fiction.
posted on November 14, 2002 03:42:59 AM new
Although I rarely buy real books anymore (I read aLOT, but read ebooks with my eBookman, now & then I do buy a hardback, if I'm really desperate!
The last one I bought was "The Theif Lord" at Borders for $16.00 -- I read it & then sold it on AMAZON MARKETPLACE within 1 hour of listing for $11.00
I was happy! My experience with MARKETYPLACE has been very positive -- NO work + GOOD PRICES = moola for RALPHIE!!
posted on November 14, 2002 05:51:57 AM new
amzn marketplace can be a lot of work if you list 3000 titles without a merchant account (39.99 per month)-the books will be listed for weeks and then you have to relist them,are you willing to relist 3000 titles every 4-6 weeks??
amzn marketplace books sold have to pay amzn 15% commission and if you dont have a merchant account,an additional 99 cents transaction fee.
that shipping credit is profitable if you ship in an envelope thru media mail.
if you have nice hardcover big books,it is not enough.
i would not pay 3000 for 3000 books unless they are hardcover illustrated with full page color plates on interesting subjects.
in fact i will say thanks but no thanks.
posted on November 14, 2002 06:26:43 AM new
Hi,
I too have been selling books on ebay for over 3 years and must agree with the others....for this lot, DON'T BUY THEM AT ANY PRICE! If you do, regardless of cost, you'll discover that at the end of a hell of a lot of time and effort you've made 10 cents an hour.
Paul
posted on November 14, 2002 07:47:11 AM new
Just last week, I sold a lot of 2200 romance books, mostly paperbacks, on eBay for $450.00 (A hair over $0.20 each) and I was glad to get it.
Although I was usually able to sell one or two of these a day (At $1-$3 apiece), it just wasn't worth the amount of shelf space they were taking up anymore.
Rare old books are potentially still very valuable, but paperbacks for the most part are just shelf-fillers any more.
posted on November 14, 2002 08:42:00 AM new
It would be hard to believe that someone with 3000 books hasn't already cherry-picked them, or had a dealer cherry-pick them. I've gotten some book bunches, but always seem to be the "remains". The auction box-lot can be better. Also, if you have some time, searching antique-mall shelves can be profitable. I have a friend who always comes away from a mall or a flea with 5 or 10 books. They are historical or technical books and he has sold over 2000 on ebay with good profits. BUT, he knows what to look for!
[ edited by rgrem on Nov 14, 2002 02:41 PM ]
posted on November 14, 2002 10:58:49 AM new
Part of what has made the used modern hardcover market collapse is the internet market itself.
Clancy and King et al have their titles sell by the millions. Now all those buyers have an easy secondary world wide market to re-sell those books that didn't exist before.
Supply is driving down the prices for a lot of things on eBay.
posted on November 14, 2002 11:04:33 AM new
100% right Reamond, it is the internet that is doing this. Mass produced items from books to CD's just don't hold their value because there is so much supply. To succeed, you need to find material that there is some demand for, but the supply is small. Academic books are good for this, I'm getting good at buying the "right" books at garage sales for a quarter or 50 cents that I can list and sell for $10, $20, etc...That's the way to make money on books...
posted on November 14, 2002 11:16:35 AM new
Before you decide, check out this auction. Nice books, famous authors, 1st editions. With only 7 hours left bidding stands at $42 for 50.
I did what you are considering and over the years have bought several items in bulk planning to sell them on Ebay. But, each week similar items go for less and less so they will wind up at a flea market, yard sale (yes, you can now get more at yard sales for most items than you can on Ebay), or at a local auction house.
In the meantime, I am wasting money on storage as I can barely get my listing fees back when I list them on Ebay.
posted on November 14, 2002 12:39:58 PM new
I just have to put my two cents in here and say that I agree with everything everyone has said so far. The "famous" fiction authors' books have print runs in the millions, and are distributed and sold through the large book retailers. They are known commodities and the publishers assume that these authors' new titles will sell because they were successful in the past. There's no scarcity or demand for them because there are so many copies floating around. Now, if you can find that famous fiction author's first book, first edition, first printing - then you have something of value because they were an unknown at that time and the publishers didn't print a large number of copies of that particular book.
There's a saying, and I've forgotten who originally said it, but it goes something like this: "Booksellers don't sell books to get rich, they sell books because they love books." There is so much to know and learn about books that you really have to be "into" them to sell for any length of time. There are millions of titles and authors, hundreds of genres, etc. that it takes a lot of research to know what's going on in the book world. You have to love to read and understand what makes an author in demand to begin with. And that's just considering fiction authors! Non-fiction books are a different animal altogether. But again, it takes time to research and see what's selling and what's not.
Anyway, like everyone else has said, $3,000 would be too much to invest in this inventory of books unless you have a lot of space and time to waste on them (or you love to read and want them for your own library).
posted on November 14, 2002 01:23:23 PM new
There are a few books that do have value but it takes a lot of luck to find them. The other day a neighbor had a garage sale with a driveway full of books at 25 cents for paperbacks and 50 cents for hardbacks. I scanned the titles and saw 6 candidates worth the gamble. I research all books I buy -- first through ebay and then Half. If they can't be found there I go to www.abesbooks.com or bookfinder.com . One of the paperbacks wasn't on ebay or Half but was on abe's at $30-$40. I put it up on ebay for $18 and sold it at that price. After a while you get a sense of what is rare and what is common.
posted on November 14, 2002 02:40:10 PM new
Excellent book discussion. Tooltimes has surfaced another important point which applies to other stuff I sell also. If you can make a good buck by listing at 1/2 of others' asking prices you can move a lot of items. Many sellers see high asking prices, and see the $signs and fail to list reasonably.
posted on November 14, 2002 03:55:07 PM new
The other sellers in this case are the book sellers on the book sites like abesbooks or bookfinder. Those books are merely warehoused at high prices and they get very few sales. A good gauge of the value of any book not found on ebay or Half.com yet found on the book warehouse sites is to cut their average price in half and list it at that figure and include the phrase "hard-to-find book" in the auction description.
posted on November 14, 2002 04:50:47 PM new
Don't buy them! It doesn't matter how good they look, or what other sellers are asking for them... as a friend of ours who is a real life auctioneer says "they haven't sold them at that yet, or they wouldn't be for sale".
Last summer we bought a couple of pick-up truck loads of modern firsts - these were all 80's-early 90's, big name authors - at an auction for around $75 total. The auctioneer is our neighbor, and he begged us to take them (we ordinarily buy a lot of books, non-fiction and pre 30s mostly, to sell and to read). These were completely outside our experience, and really
nothing we would have been interested in for ourselves, but we'd gotten a lot good deals from him before, and owed him one!
Those books are probably the only thing we've lost money on, in five years of dealing. There's just no silver lining to them, and we've tried everything. Amazon, Yahoo & Warehouse, Half (we hate Half, and don't recommend it if you like to make money!) ebay (paying for listings, and the free listing day) and some smaller sites, too... we've taken them to the flea markets, and the table space is too valuable to give to these losers! We've been giving them away to anyone who would like them - we gave cartons full to the hospital, and I think they were the only ones happy to have them, though they would have preferred large print editions!
These were firsts, Cussler, King, Grafton, you name it... the kind of thing that used to pull down big money. Live and learn, I guess. But when I think of all the time we spent on them!
Not to mention listing fees. We sold about 10 total. And most of them are still taking up space in one of our barns, because we haven't yet got the courage to bite the bullet and toss them.
Hey, does anybody want to buy 3,000 books? Price is reasonable, something around $75.00, plus shipping!
Jennifer
posted on November 14, 2002 07:00:36 PM new
Do you like to read?? If you can buy them for $75.00 (25 cwnt per book) Then make a deal. You will have several years of reading ahead of you. Then you can contribute them to your favorite charity.
posted on November 15, 2002 05:37:23 AM new
if you have 3000 dollars to invest in inventory,go for good hardcover books with subject matters which appeal to dealers and private collectors.
books on tiffany lamps,pricey porcelain ,crystal and glass,military items such as bayonets,rifles etc,textile such as oriental rugs,orientalia ,catlog raissonne of famous artists,sculpturist,photographers.
these books would not be at 1.00 per copy.
but they are worth hoarding .
, now & then I do buy a hardback, if I'm really desperate!