A couple months ago, I had a bad week while selling (more like attempting to sell), which I mentioned in a few posts. People wanted me to sell the books for low prices or criticized my prices. (By the way, I probably will list some books in the next day or so since I do have the time. I'm trying to motivate myself, and I hope it will be worth it.)
I have also had people try to get me to sell books that I just bought at low prices. This has happened to me many times. It starts with me winning an auction that contains just one valuable book. The rest of the books are of minimal value, and I only bid on the lot because of that one book.
One time I bought a lot of around 20 books for around $300.00, and one of the Nancy Drew books was a very special printing that I had wanted for years. The book was very hard to find, and I was definitely keeping it. I felt certain based on who the other bidders were that the closing price was almost completely based on this one book.
Another collector contacted me right after the auction closed. This collector wanted to know whether I would sell that one book for the Farah's Guide value of around $120.00. This is one of those cases in which I totally disagree with the Farah's Guide value and feel that the book is worth more. Of course I said that I was keeping the book. If I would have sold that one book for less than half of what I paid for the lot, I would have taken a huge loss. The other books were not worth $180.00—not even close. I had to give a bunch of them away.
This has happened to me multiple times. I find it amazing that people actually think that I will sell a very desirable book for well below my cost. I was once in a position in which I didn't see a certain large lot of library bindings until after it closed. I was quite distressed and had a feeling that the winning bidder was someone who was just building a set and probably just bid to get some books cheap. I wanted those particular bindings, and I know I'm about the only person who desires them.
This was the one and only time in which I contacted someone to see if she would sell the books to me. I offered her a two-for-one deal in which for each book I wanted, I would send her two picture cover books that were in very good or better condition. I fortunately had a lot of extras at that time that had not cost me more than around $1.50 each. She was very receptive to my offer, and what happened is that I was able to get the library bindings and that she was able to trade around 30 library bindings for at least a complete set of regular editions.
The lot cost her around $40.00, so both of us benefited. She was able to get many more books for her $40.00, and I was able to get the books that I had missed out on. That is how you handle the situation when you miss out on something you really want. You have to make it worthwhile for the other person, or they will not help. Don't make it benefit only yourself. Unless the other person is "stupid and dumb," they are going to see through it.
7 comments:
You mentioned giving away books, but do you have a good place for them?
I've been horrified to learn that paperback books I donated ended up in the trash. True, they were Hardy Boys and lesser known series which aren't in great demand, but really, I hate to see any book thrown away when it's still in decent condition.
I've already swamped local libraries, book sales, the hospital, care center, friends, and relatives.
I've also given about 70 books away on bookmooch, but the demand for series books isn't as great as I had hoped, so I'd be happy to hear what other people do.
Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to be anonymous. I had put the address for my bookmooch inventory where it says URL, so you need to click on Anonymous above to see that (or presumably on my name since I'll type that in this time...)
When I say that I have to give away the books, I usually mean that I sell them on eBay in bulk at a loss, which means that I am giving them away. I like to try to sell them, because sometimes I'm lucky and come close to breaking even. The books may also eventually find a home. They usually get sold to a reseller who puts them up individually at a few dollars each. It is not worth it to me to sell books at a few dollars each.
Occasionally, I donate books to the thrift store if they are so low value that I don't even want to bulk list them.
Local libraries can be a good place to donate books, particularly if they are part of a larger library system, since the larger systems have big yearly library book sales. Individuals show up at those sales, so the books have a very good chance of finding a home.
The Oklahoma City Metropolitan Library System has the largest two-day library sale in the United States, and I am very lucky to live here. I am at that sale each year for the pre-sale, and it is huge at around 400,000 books. I have checked on the last day, and they do sell just about all of the books.
I don't usually donate books to the OKC Library System (although I should) because I'm afraid I'd end up buying them back accidentally!
My advice would be to donate to a large library system that has a large yearly sale because their sales generate lots of interest. The OKC sale usually has around 4,000 people at the pre-sale. It is quite an event!
I wish there were some way to just ZAP trash out of existance!
Have just discovered 'bookmooch' after reading Suzanne's comments. You wouldn't happen to to be Jennifer W. who's wishlist includes several Beverly Grays, would you? Just curious...=)
"Jennifer W." is not me. I haven't visited Bookmooch yet, but I'll have to check it out.
I have a very common name. Once when I visited a certain site that ranks names in the United States, I learned that my first name is around the 20th most common female first name, and my last name is the 4th most common last name. There are quite a few people who live in my area who have the same first AND last name as me!
Okay=) Just interesting to see what other people want that I have!
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