Conversations with Prospective Buyers and Sellers

I frequently have people contact me wanting me to buy their books.  I almost always decline, since I am constantly in a position where I have too many extra books.  I can't take everyone's extra books.  It's not like my home is a huge warehouse.

Depending upon how busy I am, I may or may not respond to requests to purchase books.  Sometimes I am exhausted or very busy, and those are times that I read and then ignore the message.  Other times, I try to take the time to decline politely.

In the cases where I don't respond to the messages, some people get pushy, demanding a response.  And of course, the only proper response to those people is apparently "yes."

I took screen caps of a few conversations with identifying information removed.  This first one came from someone in the Philippines.  The only way I would purchase books from the Philippines would be to get neat international editions.  The postage cost is high.  I didn't respond to the first message, so the person tried again.  After I declined, he tried yet again.

I have also had several people try to manipulate me into purchasing books by telling me that the books will be destroyed if I don't purchase them.  Here is one example. Note that I did not respond, so they then became obnoxious.

I don't understand why, if someone purchased a book to make into a journal, they would contact me asking me if I want the book.

There are also the people who have desperate requests.

It's funny to be asked for the ending of a book that is actually available for free on Gutenberg.  All he needed to do was view the file on Gutenberg and read the ending.  I felt like he was writing a book report and needed someone to feed him the information really fast.

I also have prospective buyers try to negotiate prices with me on eBay and Etsy.  I don't have "best offer" activated for my listings.  That's a big sign that I don't want to negotiate prices.  However, an increasing number of buyers try to get me to lower my prices to fit their needs.  Sometimes I respond and politely decline.  Other times, I do not bother to respond.  I sometimes get harassed, since some people do not understand that a lack of response means "no."

Several people have annoyed me with the tone of the request.  In one case, my mind was closed as soon as I read the first message, yet that person continued to try to beat me down, sending multiple messages even when I did not respond. 

There are rare cases when I might respond favorably, but the books have to be more expensive books for which I am aware that I will almost certainly have to gradually lower the prices.  I will not do a drastic price reduction.  Some people want me to take 50% or more off when they inquire, and I ignore those people.

Other people have no chance of success because they offer the information in a difficult fashion for me to process.  A list of item numbers is obnoxious and means nothing to me.  I will not take the time to paste each one into eBay's search.  A list of titles is almost as obnoxious.  If you want me to consider a price reduction, then place the links to the items in the message.  eBay allows links to its own site in its message system.  Make it easy, or I'll ignore you.

Even if you do make it easy, there is a high chance that I'll still ignore you.