posted on February 5, 2001 11:33:16 AM new
I tried a sample listing of ten books onto Half.Com three days ago. One came back as having too new an ISBN number. Of the other nine, four have sold in three days. This seems very promising. And ALL sold for higher/much higher than the prices i had pencilled in them for in-store sales. Has anyone tried loading a few thousand, and what were the results ? I also can't figure out, if i began to place my entire brick and mortar inventory onto Half, how in the world could I dump items off Half.com that sell in the store ? Their inventory list for a seller seems to just be a long list of the books in the order I placed them onto the site !!! (not alphabetical) Help Meeeee....
posted on February 5, 2001 01:47:46 PM new
bidbuster,
At one time I had 990 books on Half.com. Now I have about 80. On average I sold 12 books a day. The hassle with taking the books off that sold in the store is the reason I'm not selling there much anymore. It would'nt take much for them to alphabetize the book lists. For me, it was unmanagable in terms of time to find the books and take them off.
Early on, I made an index card for each book I listed. When that book would sell in the shop, I would pull the card, type in the name of the book on the main page and when I found mine I canceled from there. It was way too time consuming for me. Besides I don't think you can cancel that way anymore. My list is short enough now that I just search through all my listings. I don't make much there anymore but Half.com lost too.
posted on February 5, 2001 04:07:23 PM new
I have over 1,000 books on half.com. I still list as many on eBay as before. I also sell books from other sources, and the easiest way I've found to remove a book from half.com is to go to my inventory page and enter the ISBN in the search field at the bottom of the page. The search then calls up just that one book and I can delete it from inventory right there. The search field is still there, so I can repeat if I'm lucky enough to have multiple sales. I sell some books for more on half.com than on eBay and vice versa. No pattern I can tell yet. But I'm having a hard time competing even with low end hardcover books ($5-$8 range)with half.com sellers who list them for literally pennies. How do they make it even worth their while to list and ship -- even if they got the book free?
posted on February 5, 2001 04:15:39 PM new
I was looking at Half.Com this evening, have a lot of books that didn't go in tag sales. It says on their info page for sellers that they give you a small allowance towards your postage costs. I am confused, do they reimburse what the buyer pays - or only part of it? Does it pay when you only have 50-100 books to sell there? See a lot of posts from people here raving about Half.Com, but how do make any money? Is it really worth the time to sell a hardcover book for $0.50-$0.75? Would really appreciate any feedback you guys can give me, how does it really work? Obviously you have businesses which makes a difference but still... thanks
posted on February 5, 2001 04:45:52 PM new
carat01, half.com makes money off the shipping charge. In other words, part of what the buyer pays toward shipping is kept by half. Amazon Marketplace does the same thing. I find it infuriating, but for now have to live with it. I have very few books on half, having figured out that I make more sales at higher prices over at Amazon. I use half.com for my very cheapest items (like paperbacks) that I would only be able to get 25 cents for at a yard sale (and for which I think Amazon charges too much shipping, thus discouraging buyers of these books). So I'm happy to get $1.50 or something like that on half.
posted on February 5, 2001 05:10:45 PM new
I don't bother listing if the book I have is already on half.com for less than $3 and/or more than a few copies. I don't see the point. But there are tons of books that are still unique enough to list for several dollars, and get it.
I think the low-sellers are trying to make money selling a lot of books that are lightweight and therefore half.com pays them more to ship than their actual postage costs. Seems like a lot of work to me for the money.
posted on February 5, 2001 05:22:29 PM new
I just listed 20 books on Half.com last week as a test. Sold 4 in 3 orders. On one order the postage reimbursement met my cost; on the other two, it exceeded my costs.
posted on February 5, 2001 05:59:03 PM new
Thanks for all the input. Maybe I'll get them together this weekend and give it a try, nothing to lose - except boxes of books!!
posted on February 5, 2001 06:19:33 PM new
HEY
listen very carefully As I am only going to say this once. if half has a low priced book put it on amazon marketplace for much more. it works.I still use half , but only on books amazon does not have. One book I had was on half for 50 cents. I transfered it to amazon and sold it for $4 the next day. Half com is not the only selling venue in the world. all the low priced books that sell that way are half coms own creation. Amazon gets a different buyer that in many cases knows from nothing about the 25 cent books on half com. The same books that sell half com for 25 cents, sell on on amazon for $3 to $5 everyday.I have about 1300 books listed on both sites.I am also looking into ABE books for older stuff. Does anyone have any input on that? good luck...the force will be with us!
posted on February 5, 2001 07:50:00 PM new
I LOVE books - and have bought from Ebay, Half, ABE and Bibiliofind. I price shop alot and have found that a lot of booksellers have moved off Ebay, replaced with people trying to sell a spare book or two (and trying to get $3.50+ priority for shipping, even on pbs). ABE is great for older items - as is Bibliofind, and thier search is better than that of Half I think. It's often easier for me to find a fixed price item and know I'll get it than bid on Ebay.
posted on February 5, 2001 08:27:58 PM new
I moved off ABE quite a while ago. It was too high end for most of my stock, and they charge just to list books. The nice thing about half.com is that I can "park" a book there for a while and hope that after the cheaper ones sell, someone wants mine. But I also don't list books if there already are a bunch or really really cheap. half.com also takes 15% of the sale, but unlike ABE, which doesn't take a cut of sale or postage, there's no upfront cost. I still sell some books on ebay for $6-8 that I had listed or have seen listed on half.com for $2-3, so not all eBay/half.com users go back and forth. I haven't tried Amazon but it sounds intriguing. Will they still be in business? If not, is there a risk using them when they're as shaky as they are supposed to be?
posted on February 5, 2001 11:41:55 PM new
I have found that there is a certain eBay market for books. Others just sell for less or not at all. I am getting much more particular as I shop. Nothing worse than inventorying books or trying to find a seller amongst a pile of dead weight.
posted on February 6, 2001 04:55:45 AM new
Yes, mballai, that’s the direction to head in: PICKY. There was a time when I was (I think the term is) “scotch” about books I had in inventory. If I had something, for example, that was clearly a dog, I’d still look for a way to get it sold, either by placing it in another category, altering the presentation, moving it to a different auction site—or, worse yet, lowering the price. I just couldn’t bring myself to dump it on the doorstep of the local Goodwill.
On occasion, if I was inventive enough, things worked out okay. I remember once listing a tiny, ho-hum book of famous paintings, then relisting it, then dropping the price and relisting it a third time. No bids whatsoever. The thing was, there was nothing special about the book at all, and I knew it, but I wouldn’t give up on it. Finally, reminding myself that you have to give someone a reason to buy what you’re selling, an idea occurred to me to place it in a dollhouse category and change the listing title to MINIATURE MUSEUM FOR DOLLHOUSES, noting in the description that the paintings could be removed from the book, framed, and hung on a dollhouse wall. Suddenly there was interest. After multiple bids—a small war, in fact—it ended up at over $15, even though there wasn’t a single copy listed anywhere on any of the standard databases at over $5. I also remember listing another book once with the title WORST BOOK EVER. And it probably was. Nonetheless, the listing got over 200 hits, three interested bidders, and a final price over $10, not to mention an email from a guy who thought my description of the book was one of the funniest things he’d seen on eBay.
The point I’m trying to make is, there may be a way to sell just about anything if you try hard enough, but why try? Why make it hard? I suppose I may have learned some things about marketing by struggling to find a way to sell the things I did, but at some point there needs to be an end to that. Be picky. Buy things you know will sell and sell high, and (for the time being) stay at eBay. That’s where the collectors are, and some of them have deep pockets. If you can’t find good inventory, then stretch your arms, go far and wide for THAT, not for a different place to put your junk. Once you learn how to acquire good books, the entire process begins to feed on itself, and, almost like magic, you’ll see your average selling price and percentage of books sold go up and up and up. Also, don’t necessarily write off things that may be sitting right in your lap. I walked into a used bookstore a week and a half ago (a place I’ve been to dozens of times before), spent about an hour looking, purchased 8 titles for $39.03, listed them on eBay, and by yesterday all but one had sold for a grand total of $277.00. By the way, the one that didn’t sell is going to Goodwill for a tax write-off.
posted on February 6, 2001 04:56:52 AM new
Of all of these fixed price sites which one has the best database?
I have about a dozen books and evenmore CD's that arent in the DB and some I found through name search and I just clicked "have one to sell?" and listed it
but many I can't even find (mostly CD's) by artist name at half.com
The CD's I can't list or even find are quite popular artists.
http://www.lovepotions.net
posted on February 6, 2001 05:58:57 AM new
About half.com vs Amazon Marketplace: one thing to keep in mind is that the same buyers don't necessarily go to both places. I like to list predominantly on BOTH sites simultaneously, with small cadres on just Amazon or just half.com for various reasons. So I get sales from both. I think it's best to keep a presence in several places unless you have a wonderful inventory supply of surefire books.
posted on February 6, 2001 06:03:28 AM new
To Keziak
How are you able to list on both sites and keep track of them? I ws wondering about that myself as I list on both sites but different books.
posted on February 6, 2001 06:16:01 AM new
Keep in mind that eBay can also be a fixed price marketplace if you use BIN for more modern books. I've used it quite successfully myself, more than doubling my sales.
Lately, I've had older books up, and I don't use BIN on those.
posted on February 6, 2001 07:32:44 AM new
retrolink -
My inventory is currently hovering under 100, so it hasn't been a problem double-listing. As soon as I get the email from one site, I go to the other one and delete my listing. It's hard to say, but I think I have about 50 listed this way. When the book goes "off" Amazon I list on ebay...when I have time, anyway! [In which case I take it off half.com while it's on ebay]
I did this method in Nov/Dec, then listed basically my whole inventory on ebay for free listing, and ended up selling most of them, though in many cases for starting bids of $3 rather than the $8-$15 I might try to get on Amazon.
posted on February 6, 2001 07:56:47 AM new
retrolink, I've had the same experience. I had a book that had multiple copies on half., and the lowest asking price was $1.25. There were lots of copies for $1.99. I put it on Amazon for $4.99 and it sold within a few days. I think a lot of people, at this point anyway, feel comfortable shopping with Amazon, and the people who shop there aren't necessarily the bargain-hunters who shop at half.
posted on February 6, 2001 03:22:33 PM new
to birdwatcher. You hit the nail on the head. There are a few points here that are significant. [1.] that if amazon is getting us higher prices let's not screw it up. Like if you list a book and want to undercut someone thats fine. But if hes selling it for $5.39 you do not have to list it for $2. List it for 5.19 . everyone here is a seller. keep the prices up if possible. 2. The main reason Amazon eliminated or reduced all thier bs sales like books for 25 cents is because by either charging the $39.99 monthly fee or the 99 cent per sale charge they eliminated the riff raff by chasing them to off half com. and with amazon Originally I was worried about the $39.99 charge but I have sold about 80 books in 5 weeks and my profits[remember this word] are way up. I know a lot of you are just getting rid of stuff out of your house but think of it this way. You can sell 10 books a week for $20 and have a meal at the pizza place every couple of days on your profits. Or you could sell the same 20 books and make $100 and go take your wife, husband or friend to the fanciest dinner theatre in town on Saturday on your profits. So is it the pizza place or the dinner theatre? make your friends and family happy. So you do not have to do not give it away. Why should you want to give the consumer a break? It makes no difference whether you pay $3 for a book or 5 cents. get as much as you can . Do not feel, guilty. Give yourself a break sell for as much as you can get away with. We are all in business to make money!What do you think Amazon ,ebay, and yahoo are doing by figuring out ways to take more of our profits. Do you think the big web sites are really trying to help us? What they are doing is trying to make thier stockholders happy. So ride the wave and we have to do the same thing. As far as I am concerned I am jumping on thier bandwagon and I am going to charge the books up as high as I can . We want money too! My stockholder is my wife!
