Sunday, June 17, 2018

The Problem of Pricing Books

Sellers often face the dilemma of wondering how to price books for which they do not know the value.  This happens to me fairly frequently when I sell books that I do not collect or do not actively follow on eBay.  In this post, I will detail two recent experiences in which I had to guess at prices.

Some sellers are paranoid about pricing and price books at consistently steep prices in order to avoid ever selling a book at below cost.  Unfortunately, this practice keeps the books away from people who would like to purchase them.  I prefer for my books to sell, even if I sometimes get less for a book than it might be worth.

A few months ago, I purchased a large number of Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) books locally.  The books were cheap, but they were also library discards in rough shape.  I was aware that CYOA is a popular franchise, which is why I purchased the books.  However, I had no idea how to price the books.

I spent around an hour researching the different sets of CYOA books.  The original set was published by Bantam Books in the 1980s and 1990s.  Random House purchased Bantam Books in 1998 and somehow let the trademark for CYOA lapse, thereby losing the rights to publish the series.  It's amazing that a modern publishing company was so careless.

One of the authors of the original CYOA series, R. A. Montgomery, gained the rights to the series and founded the Chooseco company, which has since issued multiple reprint sets and sets consisting of new titles.  The Chooseco sets are also quite desirable and sought by fans of the franchise.

I figured out that the books I purchased were a mixture of original Bantam books and books from two different Chooseco sets.  I separated the books by type, then checked eBay sold listings.  I could not list the books for as high as other listings, because mine were in rough shape.  I went with bulk lots and priced accordingly.  Here are some photos that show the rough condition and the library stickers.







All sets sold quickly within a few days of being listed.  I kept wondering if I had priced the books too low.  I don't think so.  Condition is important, and I couldn't ask as much for the books as if they had been in nice shape.  I assume that the people who purchased my books wanted to read them, and rough condition library discards read just as well as more expensive nice copies.  My bulk lots served that purpose fine and saved the buyers some money.

I am also not very knowledgeable of past Ken Holt prices.  Each time I have extra Ken Holt books, I check eBay sold listings and come up with prices.  Auction prices tend to be below value.  Fixed-price listings that have not yet sold tend to be above value.  Fixed-price listings that have sold indicate what someone was willing to pay but are not necessarily indicative of the actual value.

I look at both sold and unsold listings and come up with a price that is usually above the auction results but below the fixed-price listings that have not yet sold.  My price is also heavily influenced by the condition of the book.  Condition is important, and when books have certain flaws, they must be priced lower than books that do not have those flaws.  Most of the Ken Holt books that I listed in early May had sticker scars on the front panels and/or spines of the dust jackets.  Sticker scars reduce value.  The books also smelled of cigarette smoke, which does fade in time but is a significant flaw.






Most of my Ken Holt books sold rather fast, which is what always happens when I list Ken Holt books.  Here are the listings that have sold.






Here is another picture of The Mystery of the Sultan's Scimitar which shows the faded spine.


I would have priced the book higher if not for the faded spine.  The book sold almost immediately after being listed, and I am pretty confident that the book was purchased to resell.  I guess that means that I could have gotten more for the book, but I did not feel that a higher price was justified.

I was asked to reduce the price of The Mystery of the Plumed Serpent shortly after I listed it.  I ignored the request since my book was in a tie for the lowest price online.  The prospective buyer later purchased the book at my original price.

Two books did not sell in the first listing cycle but have sold in the second listing cycle.



During the first listing cycle I was asked to reduce The Mystery of the Invisible Enemy to just $20.  Considering how fast the other books sold, I was not about to do that.  I did end up getting my original listing price of $34.99. 

Two books, seen below, are the only ones that have not yet sold.


Even though all of the Choose Your Own Adventure and many of the Ken Holt books sold fast, I don't regret how I priced the books.

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