Many people are apparently unaware that a majority of the series book buyers on eBay are the resellers of series books. I estimate that at least 40% of the Nancy Drew books currently up for sale on eBay were just purchased on eBay in the last few months. The number of lots won by resellers seems to now be higher than a year ago. EBay's predatory changes have driven so many people off that resellers are getting more of the books than ever before.
How does one know when a seller is actually selling a collection rather than selling extras that were purchased in bulk? A collection was just sold last week by PBA Galleries. I have taken screen caps of many of the books that were offered. The prices in green are the closing prices, and the prices in red are for the lots that did not sell. Buyers also had to pay a buyer's premium which adds around 20% to the total, so the prices paid are higher than what is shown here.
I did not take screen caps of everything, but what is pictured here should give a good idea of what was offered. When a collection is sold, the books are usually sold in bulk due to the sheer volume of books. The books were placed in sets that each contained many duplicates. Books that were more valuable were sold separately, such as first printing Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books.The last time I saw a collection sold on eBay, it was sold in a similar fashion. The books were mostly sold in bulk, and at times, many random series titles were thrown in the same lot. Someone selling a relative's collection, and it took her several months to finally get rid of all of them.
When a collection is sold in bulk, the books normally go to resellers. One reseller purchased many of the books from the PBA auctions, so we will soon begin to see some of these books resurface either on eBay or in other venues.
3 comments:
I tracked these lots carefully as well. Many of these lots contained duplicates or triplicates of 2 or 3 of
the earlier titles while omitting the key titles. This was true not
only of the older 1920s/30s series, but also the later series such as
398 Rick Brant and 267 Biff Brewster (4 copies each of the first 2 titles,
but missing the key, Caribbean Pearls).
The individual lots had very high auction estimates. Although there many be examples over the years of these particular Hardy Boys, Tom Swift & Nancy Drew titles & printings having realized a certain price -- often it was for examples in higher grades and
under more ideal economic conditions. Based on the auction results --
obviously, this was something which they didn't factor into their
estimates.
By the way, I contacted them about the Hal Keen lot #293 -- and they
omitted a key fact from the auction description -- two of the jackets
were photocopies. One is quite noticeable in the photo, the off-color
Skeleton Rocks (again one of the keys for this set). This lot of 24
had 6 copies of the first title, Hermit of Gordon's Creek.
Lot 266 Baseball Joe sold for $390 even though it was incomplete and
missing 5 volumes.
Lot 345 Lone Ranger sold for $390 including 36 volumes. Lone Ranger
#1 - 5 copies; Mystery Ranch #2 - 3 copies; Gold Robbery #3 - 4
copies. All the key titles are missing #15 Bitter Spring Feud; #16
Code of the West; #17 Trouble on the Santa Fe; #18 Red Butte Trail.
Lot 398 Rick Brant sold for $600 incl. 48 volumes. 5 copies of
Rocket's Shadow #1; 3 copies of Lost City #2; 4 copies of Sea Gold #3;
none of the rare picture covers.
Personally, there was little to appeal to me in this auction. I have
just about all the dustjackets in these lots in better condition plus
the ones they're missing. To be fair, I've been collecting for a long
time though.
As far as the original owner, Bill Strong. I didn't turn his name up
in the old YellowBack directories. I believe there were 3 (?) of the
member directories printed.
Regards,
Frank
I think there would be many more 'collecters' rather than 'resellers' if postage to non-US countries wasn't so expensive. You are so fortunate to be able to buy these great books, in bulk for good prices. Bulk lots never (!) come up for auction in Australia...
Regarding Frank's comments:
I find it interesting that the PBA auctions were missing all of the hard to find titles. The set of Judy Bolton books also had many duplicates of just the lower-numbered titles. The books with real value were missing.
It is hard to believe that a longtime collector would have none of the hard to find titles. Even people who don't like to spend much on their books are going to have a few goodies fall into their hands. I had some amazing finds years ago in antique shops when I was not willing to spend much on books, such as the Tom Swift game for under $30.00.
The PBA auctions did feature a few desirable Nancy Drew first printings, although those books were grossly overpriced. Since a few desirable books from the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and Tom Swift series were offered, surely the collection had a few desirable ones from the other series.
I have to wonder if these auctions were an attempt to sell off a bunch of extras at a good price while also trying to sell some of the best books for high prices.
Regarding Rachel's comments:
I agree that the USPS rates to other countries are very high and suppress the desire of international buyers to purchase books from the United States. All lots that weigh more than four pounds must go by priority mail, which is exorbitantly expensive for international transactions.
I tend not to offer my heavy bulk lots internationally, simply because I know that international buyers do not want to pay $100-$200 for postage. In the past when I would offer to ship internationally on the bulk lots, I would get multiple requests for the postage costs from international buyers, and none of them would bid. The postage cost scared them off.
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