Selling used book online- A Losing Proposition?!

wrote:

Buying such books at sales, or
flea markets, or funky bookstores is the way to go and there is nothing
wrong with that. In fact I love cheap books but there is no reason to bring
them to market on the internet in my opinion.

Except that on the internet you can reach all the people who might, in a vague
sort of way, have been looking out for a particular book for years, but might
never see it at a particular flea market. My whole bookbuying habits have
changed *drastically* since ABE and so on became available. For British books
in particular it makes an enormous difference to me -- their distribution in
the US is very unequal, and even though I live in a major US city that is
famous for its bookstores, I don't see a lot of the kind of books I'm looking
for. I order quite a few from the UK directly, but also there are many
scattered in little bookstores all over the country, where I could never reach.

I can accept that for particular dealers this penny-ante activity is not
worthwhile, and that is up to them and their own business plans. But I do see
many dealers continuing to list a wide variety of stock, including all their
cheap books, and it makes me very happy, that's all.

It is of course true that there is a backlog of stuff that really nobody wants
(every single US used bookstore I have ever been in has copies of _Bob, Son of
Battle_ and _The Cruel Sea_ -- which might be very good books for all I know,
but I would not try to sell them online either, given the number of copies I've
seen).

--Helen

M Hill wrote:

This is interesting. When I checked into half.com sometime ago it was
available only to US residents. That would include ABE and a great many
of ABE's member dealers. Has half.com's zenophobia been cured?

Half.com recently opened up its market to Canadian buyers. I'm not sure
about Canadian sellers.


--
Ht

|Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore
never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
--John Donne, "Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions"|

R. Totale wrote:

[Htn963 wrote:]

Aside from the reputation thang, many people
who lose bids on ebay items will jump over to Half.com to check if anyone
else
has listed they items they really really really wanted but lost out.

Wouldn't it be smarter to do that before bidding, rather than after
you've "lost out"?

Some people try Ebay first to get a better deal than they could elsewhere,
and if they don't get it, they'll use Half.com or Amazon as a backup.

I have no opinion on whether this is the "smart" way to behave; I just
observe it. And, of course, a seller's job is to give the buyers what they
want, not what they need.

--
Ht

|Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore
never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
--John Donne, "Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions"|

I never posted on this group before but I found this thread
fascinating and I have a simple question:
How can people that list books on Amazon for $0.01 make money? There
are quite a few books listed for that price that weight more then one
pound. Therefo
$0.01+$2.26(shipping allowance)-$1.84(media mail shipping)=$0.43
Then you must pay $0.99 listing fee: 0.43-0.99=-$0.56!?
In fact you will loose money even if your shippimg cost is $1.42. Is
there something wrong with my computations, or did I miss something?

The clever answer is that Amazon.com adds the 99 fee onto the price of
shipping that the customer pays, in other words the customer is paying more
than $2.26 plus a penny, so there is no deduction from what the seller gets.
The buyer pays the 99 cents fee and not the seller.

Randy

--

"OV" wrote in message
om...
How can people that list books on Amazon for $0.01 make money? There
are quite a few books listed for that price that weight more then one
pound. Therefo
$0.01+$2.26(shipping allowance)-$1.84(media mail shipping)=$0.43
Then you must pay $0.99 listing fee: 0.43-0.99=-$0.56!?

H Schinske wrote:
: wrote:

: Buying such books at sales, or
:flea markets, or funky bookstores is the way to go and there is nothing
:wrong with that. In fact I love cheap books but there is no reason to bring
:them to market on the internet in my opinion.

: Except that on the internet you can reach all the people who might, in a vague
: sort of way, have been looking out for a particular book for years, but might
: never see it at a particular flea market. My whole bookbuying habits have
: changed *drastically* since ABE and so on became available.

I'm a buyer who feels this way as well.

Yeah, a recent bestseller pb probaby sells for a nickel on half.com.

But out-of-print or otherwise hard to obtain "cheap" books
have an audience that's looking for them. I know, they keep
bidding against me

I'm paying more than I did/do trolling the used B&M bookstores.
But I'm finding more.

-troy

On 15 Aug 2003 13:47:46 GMT, Troy Cauble
declared:

H Schinske wrote:
: wrote:

: Buying such books at sales, or
:flea markets, or funky bookstores is the way to go and there is nothing
:wrong with that. In fact I love cheap books but there is no reason to bring
:them to market on the internet in my opinion.

: Except that on the internet you can reach all the people who might, in a vague
: sort of way, have been looking out for a particular book for years, but might
: never see it at a particular flea market. My whole bookbuying habits have
: changed *drastically* since ABE and so on became available.

I'm a buyer who feels this way as well.

Yeah, a recent bestseller pb probaby sells for a nickel on half.com.

But out-of-print or otherwise hard to obtain "cheap" books
have an audience that's looking for them. I know, they keep
bidding against me

I'm paying more than I did/do trolling the used B&M bookstores.
But I'm finding more.

if a book has an audience looking for it, it's worth more than a
dollar.


robert

"I've been long, a long way from here
Put on a poncho, played for mosquitos,
And drank til I was thirsty again
We went searching through thrift store jungles
Found Geronimo's rifle, Marilyn's shampoo
And Benny Goodman's corset and pen"

On 14 Aug 2003 18:03:55 GMT, (H Schinske) declared:

wrote:

Buying such books at sales, or
flea markets, or funky bookstores is the way to go and there is nothing
wrong with that. In fact I love cheap books but there is no reason to bring
them to market on the internet in my opinion.

Except that on the internet you can reach all the people who might, in a vague
sort of way, have been looking out for a particular book for years, but might
never see it at a particular flea market.

and how does this mean that i should sell a book online for under
$8-10? i'm not in business to spread the joy of reading, i'm in
business simply because one must pay the rent.

My whole bookbuying habits have
changed *drastically* since ABE and so on became available. For British books
in particular it makes an enormous difference to me -- their distribution in
the US is very unequal, and even though I live in a major US city that is
famous for its bookstores, I don't see a lot of the kind of books I'm looking
for. I order quite a few from the UK directly, but also there are many
scattered in little bookstores all over the country, where I could never reach.

if the get them online, they probably (if the dealer is smart) won't
be a dollar either.

I can accept that for particular dealers this penny-ante activity is not
worthwhile, and that is up to them and their own business plans. But I do see
many dealers continuing to list a wide variety of stock, including all their
cheap books, and it makes me very happy, that's all.

i see the days of dollar books coming to an end as people realize that
they are losing money and time.

It is of course true that there is a backlog of stuff that really nobody wants
(every single US used bookstore I have ever been in has copies of _Bob, Son of
Battle_ and _The Cruel Sea_ -- which might be very good books for all I know,
but I would not try to sell them online either, given the number of copies I've
seen).

funny, i've seen cruel sea, but the other two i've never even heard
of.


robert

"I've been long, a long way from here
Put on a poncho, played for mosquitos,
And drank til I was thirsty again
We went searching through thrift store jungles
Found Geronimo's rifle, Marilyn's shampoo
And Benny Goodman's corset and pen"

(Stacy Chung) wrote in message . com...
hi,

i did a little reseach on the sellers on half.com and found that on
average it takes an inventory of approximately 1700 books to sell just
one book a day. Considering an average profit of $3 per book, one
would have to sell 45 books a day to make a living ($4000/month)
selling books on half.com. That would mean an inventory of 76,500
books, enough to fill a decent-sized warehouse. Has anyone here tried
to make a living selling used books online, and if so, what do you
think of my calculations?


I have around five hundred books on amazon.co.uk and have sold between
one and two a day on average (for the last 8 months). Your $3 is
pessimistic. I bought a textbook from a wholesaler for around £3
(including shipping) and sold it for £24 yesterday. I have picked up
textbooks from thrift shops even cheaper and have made an even larger
profit. As new novels are a dime a dozen at thrift shops (almost
literally :-) you will easily make at least $3 profit on amazon with
them. So the $3 should be a minimum, not an average. I reckon my
average is closer to $10. This takes very little effort and I use it,
basically, to fund my computing expenses, personal book purchases and
other small extravagances. I only spend an hour or two a day on
bookselling activities. I reckon someone could easily make online
bookselling a full time job paying the kind of wages you aspire to.
It's also a good way for collectors to 'churn' their collection and
gives an extra dimension to the joy of browsing in bookshops. For
instance, you may not want to add a book to your collection but would
like to read or browse through it. You now have great opportunities to
buy such a book and sell it easily when finished with it. Also,
wholesalers now have amazing selections online where you are likely to
find books you want for your personal collection. You can buy these
very cheaply, and sell the other books you buy. Ebay is a good option
if you want to shift books quickly, though the profit is likely to be
less than you would get on Amazon (though sometimes you can get a nice
surprise!) Indeed, buying books on ebay to sell on amazon is a good
route to go down.

In summary, experiment with selling books on amazon. It's very easy,
zero start up costs, more fun than you might think, and simple to make
profit forecasts. You'll soon find out if you can make it a full time
job, keep it going as part of a 'portfolio career' (my option), or
decide it's not for you. It's inspired me to start a web site devoted
to book selling, so if you want more info try www.321books.co.uk.

P.S. It's a good job for someone trying to make it as a writer. You
MAY sell the book you're writing in two years time, in the meanwhile
you can be selling several other books a day & making some money.
Great for morale, and not very taxing on the grey matter.

Malcolm wrote:
(Stacy Chung) wrote in message . com...

i did a little reseach on the sellers on half.com and found that on
....

In summary, experiment with selling books on amazon. It's very easy,
zero start up costs, more fun than you might think, and simple to make
profit forecasts. You'll soon find out if you can make it a full time
job, keep it going as part of a 'portfolio career' (my option), or
decide it's not for you. ...

On factor that is not covered in this discussion is that a
fraction of your books will not sell in a reasonable amount
of time - these will eventually be sold below cost or be
given away.
Every book you sell has to cover a portion of these unsellable
books. In the beginning, this fraction will be significant.
As you get better at judging the market, you will reduce the
unprofitable fraction greatly.

[Even the experienced dealer will get stuck
with unprofitable books due to changing markets. i.e. an uncommon
book gets reissued. New edition of a reference book is published.
A seller floods the market when a box of a book is found.
Schools change the required text/reading lists. Undetected
flaws (I had an art book with missing pages - they were removed
cleanly so the only way to tell was to look at page numbers.
I discovered it when I used the index to find a famous painting
and the page was not there.) etc.]

Brian