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- This topic has 19 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 5 months ago by
Sigilini.
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03/15/2018 at 3:40 pm #35281
I met a gentleman last week who has a four story house full of books. I mean this quite literally as be inherited nearly 1 million books from his father who hoarded them for years. They are mostly antique and vintage books (1950 through 1990) and looked to be a mix of fiction and non-fiction. He’s selling them for $50 a car full and he’s in the process of throwing everything out that doesn’t sell.
I’ve read some older threads that detailed what to look for, so I think I’m good on that front. I’ve already taken one car full of the highest potential stuff.
My main question concerns how long it would take to work through these. Is this a good enough deal that I should fill a truck?
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This topic was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by
cmtella.
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This topic was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by
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03/15/2018 at 4:25 pm #35288
Listing on Ebay, I’d say 5-10 minutes a book. Sounds like quite a find!
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03/15/2018 at 4:34 pm #35290
I WISH it took me 5-10 minutes per book, I have been working on two car loads on and off for several weeks now. From what I learned from others here, and from what I experienced recently myself, the best books are the most narrow topic books, such as booklets about specific locations and their history, or vintage bibles, etc.
I sold a lot of navy text books, vintage, for 75.00
In my research, I did notice that old vintage books are being sold in lots by color for decor, like green ones, blue and yellow ones, etc. That was new to me.
I personally found that most books with ISBN numbers were mostly a dime a dozen and I did not find them worth listing.
There is a thread here where So Cal Joe was giving me a lot of advise on listing and it was super helpful.
Hope that helps.
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03/15/2018 at 5:09 pm #35302
How long depends on you and how long it takes you to do research.
It will be an incredible grind. You will end up donating or discarding probably half of them, or more. Many will be long tail items.
Do you like old books? Do you have the room to store them?
If you’re willing to put in the time and deal with the learning curve, there’s money in them. If you find old dusty books boring and cumbersome, you should list the ones you already have and pass on the rest.
Good Luck
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03/15/2018 at 5:34 pm #35305
I’ve been selling books for over 30 years so I guess it’s gotten pretty routine for me. It takes me about 60 seconds to list a book on Amazon and 5-10 on Ebay due to the photos and etc. That’s why I prefer Amazon because it is so much faster for me.
I was offered a great deal last month. Truegether support contacted me and offered to upload my Amazon inventory to Ebay for free. I jumped on that offer and they were able to list about 66% of my Amazon inventory onto my Ebay account. That created a nice boost to my Ebay sales and moved a bunch of old stock. They also upload my new Amazon listings daily to Ebay.
As So Cal Joe says, you have to have room to store them. Books are definitely long tail items!
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03/15/2018 at 5:55 pm #35311
If you have the space to store more books, I would go for it. Especially if they’re that cheap.
Did you get a good look at the genres available for sale? Or is it seriously every subject known to man?
Sounds like someone that went to a lot of thrift stores to build up a collection that vast, if it’s a mishmash of everything.
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03/15/2018 at 5:58 pm #35312
Clarity, that is amazing! What a windfall.
Do you specialize in a type of book? Or any book is a good book? How many do you have listed? What percentage of the books you have listed sell for you? What books sell the best for you?
I only ask because I have a bunch of more books (several more boxes) to list and I was going through them today to see which are going to the thrift store… it can get a bit overwhelming with so many books and some I don’t even know what they are about.
When I go on Amazon and I see my book listed for $4.00 free shipping and there are 20 of them, I figure why bother.
Whatever you are willing to share is helpful.
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03/15/2018 at 6:59 pm #35320
I own a brick and mortar, old school, general used bookstore. We have have hardbacks and paperbacks on all topics. We have around 200,000 books on the floor for customers to peruse. We have around 27,000 books listed online. In the store, our best sellers are paperback mysteries & romances. Online, paperback fiction does not sell well for a decent price. Our online sales are mostly nonfiction and a lot of older titles, ie pre-1980’s.
For online listing, we list it if it is $10 or up. So your example, Sigilini, of $4 and free shipping, I would not list that book. It would either go on the shelf in the store or to our local thrift shop. We average about $20 a book online and about $5 a book in store.
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03/15/2018 at 8:47 pm #35329
Clarity, thank you! That is amazingly helpful.
This is all new to me so sometimes it is hard to know if what I am doing is good or a waste of time. So Cal Joe gave me some very helpful tips some weeks ago and I was able to use that information to launch the book sales.
Thanks again and if you are inspired to, feel free to share any other info about best books to list or other tips, I will be watching this thread to see what else there is to learn about this new universe of books.
Sigilini
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03/17/2018 at 10:24 am #35426
Anonymous
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I bought a houseful of books once – 99% non-fiction
Sold many on Amazon .. took a long time
I FBA’s the high end travel and how-to booksTONS of work – loading, unloading. sorting, packing…
About 70% sold within 1 year, the rest just sat and sat and I ended up giving them away as FBA costs went higher and higher
I don’t think I’d do it again.
But the travel and how-to type books sold.
It was way more work and time than I thought.
I do love books and sometimes it was fun, other times my house was so cluttered I wanted to burn the books!
Good Luck …
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03/19/2018 at 2:25 pm #35585
Book selling is very new to me and I was hoping for your advise.
I picked up a 1st Ed, 3rd Printing of The Story of Ferdinand
I researched and found that prices are high but no sold listings on Ebay.
I am not sure how to interpret and translate this data into a sale price: any sage advise?
Do I price high like others and hope it sells?
Do I recognize that these other sellers are unrealistic and sell at a lower price?Your thoughts? And Thank you!!!
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03/19/2018 at 3:06 pm #35588
I’d price it high with best offer and let the buyers (and offers) come to you.
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03/19/2018 at 3:34 pm #35590
Thanks Joe, I will do that. I just did a little better research, I can see better comparisons as well now so it gives me a little more to go on.
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03/19/2018 at 3:47 pm #35592
Joe, there are some crazy prices like in the thousands for 1st Ed 1st Print. Mine is 1st and 3rd. I see one similar to mine selling for 250.00. The sold listings are later issues by a year or two and are less than $200.00. Do you think those wild prices are realistic?
This is making me a little crazy, trying not to make fool out of myself with low prices but at the same time not being so far from realistic as to be a fool on the other end of the spectrum.
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03/19/2018 at 3:54 pm #35594
Who’s the publisher? Does it have a dust jacket? What year was it published?
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03/19/2018 at 4:37 pm #35595
Hi Clarity, Thank you for asking:
The Story of Ferdinand 1st edition 3rd printing 1936 Hardcover
By Munro Leaf
Illustrated by Robert Lawson
New York: The Viking Press
Hardcover IllustratedNo dust jacket, fading on back cover, and some on front cover, inscriptions on inside front cover and front page, handwritten page numbers on every page. Not ex-library. Pages are yellowed with age. Exhibits some shelf wear. Bound in brown cloth.
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03/19/2018 at 5:22 pm #35600
The devil is in the details. As a rule, solds are the barometer. Asking prices don’t mean too much to me. Clarity asked all the right questions and they all affect price.
I had a first edition first print Breakfast and Tiffany’s (no dust jacket and some wear issues). The comps were all over the place. I was happy to accept an offer of $200 plus shipping.
The dust jacket made a big difference on price. I ended up selling to a guy who had the dust jacket and no book. He actually offered to sell me the dust jacket at first.
I had four books in German signed by Oskar Maria Graf. There really are no comps for signed copies, even on Ebay.DE. I’ve sold two so far to someone in Germany and he’ll probably get the other two from me eventually. I suspect he’s reselling them over there and making a pretty penny.
I’m Ok with not getting top dollar.
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03/19/2018 at 5:30 pm #35603
If I had it in my store, I would price it around $35 since the jacket is missing. But I looked at the solds on Ebay and there is one similar to yours (no DJ and heavy wear) that sold for $160. So go high and see what kind of offers you get. You never know!
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03/19/2018 at 5:42 pm #35606
I should add that on Amazon, the price is around $8-20 for that edition.
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03/19/2018 at 7:15 pm #35611
Thank you both, that puts me at ease and I feel more comfortable now to list it. I put it up for 150.00 and let’s see where it goes. Thank you again, I am very grateful for the help.
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