Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Five Mini Rants in One!

This time you get five mini rants in one. I find that a lot of stuff is annoying me lately.
  1. Sellers who abuse the books when they photograph them. Some sellers bend back the boards really far so that the outside of the book makes a smaller angle than the inside of the book. The normal position for holding a book open is with the inside of the book at a smaller angle. One seller does this to really expensive books.

    I have also seen photographs in which a seller was holding a book while pinching the pages. Don't do that! If you abuse the book while photographing it, I worry about how you will pack it!

  2. Sellers who state that a 70+ year old book is in "as new" condition. I don't think so. The last old book I saw described in "as new" condition was a book that had yellowed pages. I doubt that the paper was yellowed 70+ years ago when the book actually was new. Thus, the book was not in "as new" condition. Not only that, but the book did have light wear to the edges, which also took it out of the "as new" category. Do these sellers think we are that stupid?

  3. Sellers who overuse the word "RARE." I have beaten this one to death already, but I might as well do it some more. If you are one of the people who likes to lure in buyers by describing a majority of your books, including the common ones, as "RARE," please consider that many of us are now avoiding your listings. People have told me in private that they avoid certain sellers, and I also tend to avoid these sellers. I'm sure newbie collectors just love "RARE" books, but those of us who have collected for many years are not impressed. We do still buy books, you know. We do have money to spend. Do you want to chase us away? If so, you are succeeding.

  4. Sellers who use the word "PRISTINE." Drop it, please. My dislike of "PRISTINE" is rapidly surpassing my dislike of "RARE." While not the exact definition, "pristine" implies that a book is perfect and without flaws. Every single time that this word is used I can easily see at least some wear and tear to the book in the seller's photographs. Sometimes I see major flaws, like the books with dirty spines.

    If the seller means that the inside of the book is pristine, then the seller should make that distinction. Otherwise, I assume that the seller means the entire book is pristine, and that is where I take exception.

  5. Sellers who use overuse capitalization. Not only do I dislike "RARE" and "PRISTINE," but I also dislike "STUNNING," "BEAUTIFUL," and "GORGEOUS" and everything else that is in all capital letters. Do people not realize that all capitals is considered SHOUTING on the internet? It is also harder to read.

  6. Sellers who claim that a book is valued at $1,000, but they only want $200.00 for it. Give me a break! The book must be only worth $200.00 if that is all the seller wants. We are not stupid!
In closing, I want to link to the New York Times article that I already mentioned in a previous post. The article contains this sage advice:
Make sure the listing looks reliable. Proofread it carefully and don’t use too many exclamation points or language that suggests you’re inexperienced or unprofessional. "Stay positive, clear and concise — that’s really important," Mr. Lindhorst said. "It’s all about making the buyer feel comfortable."
I doubt that buyers run a search for a "stunning Nancy Drew book" on eBay. Consider using some of these descriptive keywords:

blue
orange
vintage
thick
tweed
original text

Some people do use those words when they run searches. Why annoy buyers by overusing meaningless words in your titles? Help us find your book by describing exactly what it is.

These rants come as a result of my frustration that I am beginning to miss out on truly rare books because some informed sellers describe them exactly the same way as they do all of their other much more common books.

4 comments:

Paula said...

Ditto, ditto, ditto, ditto, and ditto.

And I always appreciate your suggestions about how to advertise our books when selling. Unfortunately, I still haven't got around to listing my extras but my New Year's resolution is all prepared! ;)

Jenn Fisher said...

Amen to all that ;) I could add 5 more mini rants too--poor packaging, book sellers marking prices inside books in sharpie pen, repairing stuff with tape, double seconding the rare thing, and driving up prices (in their own selling market) bidding to resell!

Jenn:)

Kathleen said...

Mea culpa. I'm guilty of many half of those rants. LOL.

When pristine I'm referring to beautiful clean white orivory pages. IMHO, they're pristine.

I avoid WWII paper like the plague- I hate it so I won't sell it unless I buy one in error. Some people do not mind.

As a teacher, I am licensed in Illinois and California to give out grades, even in Spanish. ;o)

I also hold a book down with a finger but I cannot get it to stay open otherwise for a photo.Some of the EP are very tight.

I do take very good care of the books. I have never received a complaint about my shipping that I can recall. I ship very carefully.

I dislike scanning & rather take photos.

I know it looks goofy. I'm open to ideas.

I also hunt for the finest books I can find. To me it is far more important than price.

I rarely sell something I would not want & then I make it as clear as day but I think some aspect might be good enough that someone might want it.

I give the crummy books away. I gave a whole set of yellow spines & Hardy Boys to a school nearby. Believe me, kids will trade.

Like I bought a book from a great, popular buddy & it split as soon as I opened it. She is dear friend so I do not care.

The last thing I want to do is rip off someone nice enough to send me their hard-earned cash.

I take at least 6 photos for each book usually. It is utterly ridiculous & I describe every darn flaw I can find.

But I love photography anyway " I can't stop writing as you may have surmised.

I capitalize certain words are my ads are so darn long. Not everyone wants to read them. But I get compliments all the time how much people enjoy reading my listings.

I definitely need new material.

I write too much. I cannot stop.
I love helping the newbies. That is the teacher in me, being ripped often in the beginning & a wonderful seller who walked me through it.

I try not to use rare but maybe "relatively rare", HTF instead. I often explain it.

Sometimes I slip. Like I had a "Whistling Bagpipes" listed with a tri-fold that I have not seen in years. That I consider relatively rare, at least.

Some of the Applewoods are rare-ish at least as I cannot find certain titles ANYWHERE.

I use "stunning" as I truly think the artwork, especially on the covers, is stunning. I love the graphics of Tandy in particular. I am crazy about them- old books & Applewoods.

I get no complaints from buyers about my books not being up to par.

These books to me are gorgeous.

People understand I'm selling something. I've terrific stars on accuracy.

Communication is perfect.

Not that I like that unfair system anyway. Ugh!

I don't use any defined source to rate books except maybe Farah.

Most people do not understand the professionally defined ratings. They are not PROS like people in here.

What I hate is people with a 1st printing advertising as a 1st Edition only. Technically that person is correct: buyers do not understand it.

Even I get mixed up. But no way would I ever buy off of him. He is deliberately misleading people, IMHO.

If he explained that would be different.

I'm trying my best so you might want to consider looking at what I do have listed.

I buy from all sorts of silly listings. I avoid the people that threaten, the mega-sellers except occasionally & anyone that will not tell me what I'm buying.

Also I give terrific freebies- stationery, magnets, Nancy pins I have made, Nancy greeting cards. It depends on what I have but I usually give 3 or 4 different freebies at a time .

I truly appreciate my buyers.

So that essentially is my style. Like writers write differently. Teachers teach differently. They can still get their points across.

Kathleen said...

Mea culpa. I'm guilty of many half of those rants. LOL.

When pristine I'm referring to beautiful clean white orivory pages. IMHO, they're pristine.

I avoid WWII paper like the plague- I hate it so I won't sell it unless I buy one in error. Some people do not mind.

As a teacher, I am licensed in Illinois and California to give out grades, even in Spanish. ;o)

I also hold a book down with a finger but I cannot get it to stay open otherwise for a photo.Some of the EP are very tight.

I do take very good care of the books. I have never received a complaint about my shipping that I can recall. I ship very carefully.

I dislike scanning & rather take photos.

I know it looks goofy. I'm open to ideas.

I also hunt for the finest books I can find. To me it is far more important than price.

I rarely sell something I would not want & then I make it as clear as day but I think some aspect might be good enough that someone might want it.

I give the crummy books away. I gave a whole set of yellow spines & Hardy Boys to a school nearby. Believe me, kids will trade.

Like I bought a book from a great, popular buddy & it split as soon as I opened it. She is dear friend so I do not care.

The last thing I want to do is rip off someone nice enough to send me their hard-earned cash.

I take at least 6 photos for each book usually. It is utterly ridiculous & I describe every darn flaw I can find.

But I love photography anyway " I can't stop writing as you may have surmised.

I capitalize certain words are my ads are so darn long. Not everyone wants to read them. But I get compliments all the time how much people enjoy reading my listings.

I definitely need new material.

I write too much. I cannot stop.
I love helping the newbies. That is the teacher in me, being ripped often in the beginning & a wonderful seller who walked me through it.

I try not to use rare but maybe "relatively rare", HTF instead. I often explain it.

Sometimes I slip. Like I had a "Whistling Bagpipes" listed with a tri-fold that I have not seen in years. That I consider relatively rare, at least.

Some of the Applewoods are rare-ish at least as I cannot find certain titles ANYWHERE.

I use "stunning" as I truly think the artwork, especially on the covers, is stunning. I love the graphics of Tandy in particular. I am crazy about them- old books & Applewoods.

I get no complaints from buyers about my books not being up to par.

These books to me are gorgeous.

People understand I'm selling something. I've terrific stars on accuracy.

Communication is perfect.

Not that I like that unfair system anyway. Ugh!

I don't use any defined source to rate books except maybe Farah.

Most people do not understand the professionally defined ratings. They are not PROS like people in here.

What I hate is people with a 1st printing advertising as a 1st Edition only. Technically that person is correct: buyers do not understand it.

Even I get mixed up. But no way would I ever buy off of him. He is deliberately misleading people, IMHO.

If he explained that would be different.

I'm trying my best so you might want to consider looking at what I do have listed.

I buy from all sorts of silly listings. I avoid the people that threaten, the mega-sellers except occasionally & anyone that will not tell me what I'm buying.

Also I give terrific freebies- stationery, magnets, Nancy pins I have made, Nancy greeting cards. It depends on what I have but I usually give 3 or 4 different freebies at a time .

I truly appreciate my buyers.

So that essentially is my style. Like writers write differently. Teachers teach differently. They can still get their points across.