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Library book sale, directed toward booksellers
My wife, associating with an ex-library director who volunteers time,
told me of a library book sale that is intended to be of interest to booksellers and is not being publicized as the usual library book sales are. Apparently books of better than usual quality have been retained for this sale. Pricing is said to be set in relation to the market for used books. I do not know if this is in relation to high-end or low- end pricing; I have always noted that pricing is highly individualistic. The notion seems problematic to me. I get the picture that booksellers are *supposed* to be interested at prices that dealers *might* pay. In businesses where dealers buy for inventory, setting prices at a percentage of a well-defined market price may be well advised. But at a major used-book store in our metropolitan area, there are progressive markdowns of unsold books from $5 to $1. What happens to books that don't sell at a dollar, I shudder to think. I get the picture that dealers buy at prices that offer little or no risk, and that they would prefer to have room to negotiate rather than buy at stated prices. In other words, I believe this sale is likely to prove unsuccessful. Comments, anyone? David Ames |
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#2
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Library book sale, directed toward booksellers
My wife, associating with an ex-library director who volunteers time,
told me of a library book sale that is intended to be of interest to booksellers and is not being publicized as the usual library book sales are. Apparently books of better than usual quality have been retained for this sale. Pricing is said to be set in relation to the market for used books. [...] The notion seems problematic to me. [...] I believe this sale is likely to prove unsuccessful. I would agree. A much better model is the Christian Aid book sale in Edinburgh: http://www.standrewsandstgeorges.org..._book_sale.php They get dealers in to help sort and price their donations; in return the dealers get first pick at *some* of what comes in. And they work together, so nobody can quietly sell themselves an incunabulum for 50 pence. The result is that Christian Aid gets sensible market prices for their books, and the dealers and the public get a fair deal too. It's been going for more than 20 years so they know what they're doing. There is even one dealer who takes a week's holiday from his business in the US every year to fly over and help out. ============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ============== Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760 http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975 stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557 |
#3
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Library book sale, directed toward booksellers
On Mar 14, 9:12 am, "David Ames" wrote:
The notion seems problematic to me. I get the picture that booksellers are *supposed* to be interested at prices that dealers *might* pay. David Ames They would do better to sell tickets to anyone who wants to come in early (dealer or collector) for first pick. Cutting down your potential customers doesn't make a lot of sense. And collectors, as opposed to dealers, may be much more willing to pay higher prices for good selection early. |
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