# 2 weeks after a book being published, why is there no price crash on Ebay? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 4, 2024, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444 "2024-10-04T10:53:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/21 "2024-10-04T12:47:16Z")
I had some nice, but bulky tiles left over from a construction project. (Specialty pieces i decided not to use.) I sold them on ebay for postage, because it seemed wasteful to throw them away. I didn’t sell them to an end user, i sold them to a guy who sold tiles and similar on eBay. Similarly, most books that are ever resold go through a used book dealer. So you need to factor in 2 shipping fees, and a fair amount of time. Fwiw, when i want to buy a book that’s hard to find, i look at ABE books, which (last i used it, which was a while ago) is a consortium of used book dealers. Better prices and better variety than Amazon for used stuff. I think used book dealers mostly get their stuff for free or very cheap, when people are downsizing, die, etc , and someone wants the books to go to a new home that isn’t a landfill. I started borrowing ebooks from the library over the pandemic, and haven’t looked back. The advantage is “free”, and that the ereader is back lit, so it’s easy to read in the dark. The downside is that i wait weeks to get really popular books after they are published, as there are usually queues. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/22 "2024-10-04T13:41:31Z")
FWIW, when I used to sell a lot online (books and otherwise), I wouldn’t want to ship each book as I sold them. Maybe once a year I’d take a big box of books to a local bookstore and sell them whatever they wanted. Whatever they didn’t want, I’d have sent to Amazon (where you can easily type in the titles and send them one big box and they take care of the rest). ebay is way way way too much hassle for something so low margin, unless you already have a used book operation at scale. Goodwill, for example, sells a lot of used books on ebay. But for the average individual, it’s a huge pain. Besides, some people actually LIKE keeping books. Many would rather loan/give it to a friend than spend an hour delaying with ebay and wrapping and post office lines only to make $3. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/23 "2024-10-04T13:44:08Z")
I love hard copy media, but in the current climate I would only buy physical books if I want to keep them (or they’ve already dropped in price and I can flip them when I’m done for close to what I paid). If I want a disposable read, I’m just going digital at this point. That’s just way more convenient for something I consider a read once and done thing. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/24 "2024-10-04T13:44:16Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Besides, some people actually LIKE keeping books. Many would rather loan/give it to a friend than spend an hour delaying with ebay and wrapping and post office lines only to make $3. My OP “I like chocolate ice-cream although I realise it’s not everybody’s favourite” You “Some people actually LIKE vanilla” ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/25 "2024-10-04T13:45:02Z")
> [@colinfred](#): > > For me once a fiction book is read it is just a lump of carbon taking up space in my house. I realise that opinion is not universal My fiction tastes run mostly to detective fiction. A really good novel will be read more than once.\* The bad/pedestrian stuff sits on the shelf until/unless I can unload it to Half-Price Books. \*I’ve read Sherlock Holmes mysteries a dozen times over the years. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/26 "2024-10-04T14:25:40Z")
> [@colinfred](#): > > Just because someone really wants to read a new book doesn’t mean that they are interested in having it around once the information transfer is complete. Do you have a perfect memory for everything you’ve read? Most people don’t. So no, the information transfer is not complete. – also, many people, probably most, aren’t continually watching for the exact publication date of everything they might ever want to read, so that they can buy it instantly. It’s quite common to not find out that something’s out that one wants to read until some time after it’s published. It’s also quite common to not find out that one wants to read something until some time after it’s published. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/27 "2024-10-04T14:28:30Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > publication date of everything they might ever want to read, so that they can buy it instantly But enough people do. It doesn’t matter whether “everyone” does or not. The query about why none of them sell it for say 65% value netting them effectively half price after postage remains. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/28 "2024-10-04T14:34:28Z")
Everything they might ever want to read? Seriously? How would one even know what everything is that they might ever want to read? Some people do that for a specific book or a handful of them, sure (though quite a lot of them will want to keep such books a lot longer than two weeks.). It is true there are a hell of a lot of people in the world and they vary considerably, but I’d be astonished if there’s more than a handful that try to do it for everything. And all the people who aren’t doing that are going to overwhelm that handful for quite some time, and keep the market up for a lot longer than two weeks. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/29 "2024-10-04T14:37:01Z")
You said not everybody buys a book straight away. I said enough of them do. That’s it. Whatever else you’re going on about I didn’t say. It doesn’t have to be the _same_ people every time. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/30 "2024-10-04T15:03:01Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > You’re envisioning a world full of colinfreds who have created a robust buyer’s market for used new release physical books. In this same world, you’re envisioning a robust community of sellers who make a habit of purchasing brand new books, reading them quickly, and immediately selling them online to recoup a few bucks. In the Great Before Times, we actually had used book stores, which did pretty much what he wants them to do. People sold the books they didn’t want any more, and other people bought them at a discount. But those stores were never really great money-makers. Just going into one, you knew they were operating on a shoestring. I did sell books to them on occasion, but it was boxes of books all at once, just to make room in the house, and it never made enough money to be worth doing on a regular basis. Selling them by the each, on Ebay, with a lot more hassle than just dropping off a box of books? No way I’d ever do that. These days, I’d just donate the books somewhere, if I wanted to clear space. In fact, I have plans to do just that in the next year or two, preparing for downsizing my housing around when I retire. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/31 "2024-10-04T15:14:05Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I don’t think the population of people who rush out to pay full price for a book are the same people who think books are not worth keeping after you’ve read them once. This would not surprise me at all. If you (the general you) have an author, or a series, that you like enough that you’re going to buy the book immediately when it’s released, you may well also want to hang onto the book, to re-read it again at a later date. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/32 "2024-10-04T15:35:03Z")
> [@colinfred](#): > > My town’s library never gets the books I want to read, not even sure if they’re getting any new books at all. Not exactly what you’re asking, but you are aware of Inter Library Loans, right? If you want to read something that is too niche for your local library to buy, speak to a librarian. They will hunt around their networks for a copy and borrow it for you. Personally I have never had them fail me. Sometimes it may take a few months – I got one that came from a small college collection over two thousand miles away! – but you get the book delivered right to your home town library and it’s totally free. You don’t even have postage to pay! I love libraries. IMO, they are the best service towns offer their residents, and mine is in my will for a substantial portion of whatever I leave behind. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/33 "2024-10-04T15:44:16Z")
It costs me £1.50 to have something reserved and transferred from another library in the same town, let alone from across the country. No ebook service. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/34 "2024-10-04T16:07:50Z")
It is extremely difficult for the little guy - or even the medium guy - to profit from selling used books on ebay. The mega-sellers get mega shipping discounts and are able to offer free shipping. And they sell so much product that the immense volume compensates for the thin margins. Even the cheapest shipping option, media mail, starts out close to $5. Then you get to factor in ebay fees. Then, additional fees if you promote. Then, pay taxes on your profit. Also, with their volumes, the big sellers most likely have (pay for) elite ebay status - “anchor” or “enterprise”, by which they get substantial discounts of ebay fees. mmm ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/35 "2024-10-04T16:15:09Z")
> [@colinfred](#): > > It costs me £1.50 to have something reserved and transferred from another library in the same town, let alone from across the country. No ebook service. I did the math, and that’s cheaper than buying a book for half price. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/36 "2024-10-04T16:24:31Z")
There aren’t any in my town, my local library catalogue never gets updated with the books I want. that was just the illustration of local cost. If it costs £1.50 in network, who knows how much it’d cost to scour the country. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/37 "2024-10-04T16:26:14Z")
> [@colinfred](#): > > If it costs £1.50 in network, who knows how much it’d cost to scour the country. This sounds like a good question to ask one of the librarians at your local library. “I want to read this book: how can you get it for me, and what will it cost?” Right now, you’re assuming. ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/38 "2024-10-04T16:45:42Z")
> [@colinfred](#): > > Just because someone really wants to read a new book doesn’t mean that they are interested in having it around once the information transfer is complete. It sounds like all you read are instruction manuals. Believe it or not, many books reveal more upon second readings. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/39 "2024-10-04T16:50:20Z")
> [@Jaycat.again](#): > > It sounds like all you read are instruction manuals. Believe it or not, many books reveal more upon second readings. So do movies and tv shows apparently but I never read or watch something twice. I get bored and have to stop. We all consume media differently. When I read physical books and finished one, it went straight into the box with the rest of the stuff for thrift store donations or to a friend who I knew would want it. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444/40 "2024-10-04T16:56:21Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > I have sold books on eBay, but only ones that had a high profit margin. I wouldn’t waste my time on recent fiction books, no margin to be had even if they are signed by the author. I’ve sold a bunch of books on amazon, but, like you, mostly high-margin out of print books. One rare book of photographs, I decided to sell after a number of years, and I made double my original cost. Same on several others. But, yeah, best sellers I only sell if the book is still popular, and I know I can make very close to my original purchase price back. Otherwise, it’s a pain in the butt. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-weeks-after-a-book-being-published-why-is-there-no-price-crash-on-ebay/1008444.md?page=3)