I’m currently doing a clearout of my book collection and I am giving a few WW2 related books to a friend. On a whim I decided to check how much these books are selling for on Amazon and to my surprise at least one is selling for a minimum of $140 dollars, with one seller asking for over $500! Similar prices are quoted on the UK Amazon site as well.
While that’s nice to know how exactly could I go about possibly selling it for that sort of money?
I’ve always just given my books away when I’ve finished with them but now I’m reconsidering that policy. Needless to say this is one book I would be handing to my friend.
Since this thread is about books as objects of commerce, and not as vehicles for knowledge or aesthetic experience, I’m moving to IMHO (from Cafe Society).
A significant number of listings can be a good guide, but only a few can be misleading. I could buy a copy of one of my books from a couple of Amazon sellers and a couple of ABEbooks seller for a mere 5-12 times what a new copy (still) costs…
I sell a lot of stuff on eBay, but do not do books, however, from what I’ve seen of books they are a bit different from other merchandise in that you can often have a book or books that sold for “X” medium to low prices, and at the same time you will have identical (unsold) books listed for much, much more. There seems to be no logic to book asking prices.
Selling price is the standard in books, asking prices for books seems to be (IMO) a largely worthless indicator.
Some sellers use algorithms that check competitors’ prices and markup/undersell by a small amount. The interaction of two or more algorithms can quickly result in ridiculous prices.
Don’t know if that’s what’s happening in your case.
Thanks everyone, I wasn’t really expecting to be able to sell it for that sort of money and thought shenanigans must be going on, but I didn’t want to just give it away if was potentially worth something.
A while back I purchased an art book, basically an illustrated catalogue of an artist’s entire body of work. It cost me £75 or there about. Unfortunately it was not the book I had hoped I was buying so it remained on the shelf largely unread. Some years later I saw several copies on Amazon for > £400 as it had gone out of print. I sold mine through Amazon to a university library for £350 :). About 6 months later they reprinted the book to coincide with a major international exhibition. The asking price was £90
And…why not? My uncle gave me a signed first edition Gray Lensman by E.E. “Doc” Smith. Worth a fair amount. (No dust-jacket, so value is reduced.) Now, me, I hate Smith! Can’t read the bastard. Tried; consider him totally worthless.
But a pal o’ mine is a big Smith fan. So…WTF, I gave the book to him. It’s now one of his most prized possessions. (If he ever sells it, I’ll break his skull!)
Amazon is way overpriced for “rare” books compared to abebooks and similar sites. I wouldn’t go by a price on Amazon for such an item as its market price. I was caught by that before. I thought I was sitting on a goldmine here.
I’ve bought and sold books on ebay, but you need to know the terminology: is there any foxing? Is the binding tight? Is there a dust cover (very important)? Is it a first edition? Is it an ex-lib? Also, you need to take several photos showing any and all problems with the book, and be very thorough in your description.
I’ve usually gotten what I was asking, and sometimes more, if the bidding gets going. But if you don’t have solid feedback and a goodly number of sales, don’t even attempt it, as most people won’t bid on an unknown.
