Allowing people to sell books in Facebook groups is quite problematic. People who want to sell books have trouble following directions. Furthermore, as soon as some people realize that they can list their books for sale on Facebook, they temporarily lose all sense. When they see that they have an opportunity to sell, they apparently experience great urgency. They race to create multiple sales posts as fast as they can, often putting the posts in the wrong groups and breaking multiple rules.
The members who behave in this fashion end up showing their worst side. Little do they realize that some collectors like me see the crazy behavior and decide that these sellers are too flaky to trust. There's no reason to act like a timer is clicking away when an opportunity to sell presents itself. Relax, read the rules, and think before you act.
Some members who want to sell books go about it in a random fashion. Instead of going to a sales group to create a post, they pick posts in the regular groups and make comments asking random people if they want to buy books. For instance, a member asked someone who does not collect Nancy Drew books whether he would like to buy her Nancy Drew books. I don't understand this approach, and I've seen it many times. It's far better to create a sales post to attract the people who actually want to buy the books instead of hitting up on members at random.
Another problem is lack of information. A member says that they are looking for Nancy Drew books but does not specify which Nancy Drew books. The format, titles, and price that they wish to pay are rather important details. Other times, the person wanting the books is specific, but then several members hastily post (because they must view this as a race with a timer clicking away) a vague comment like "I have some Nancy Drew books!" That's not very helpful. Which books and how much do they cost? Details, people!
Rather often, someone posts in a selling group that they have some books available. They don't mention price or titles. They just tell everyone to contact them if interested. That's not going to work well. If someone says that they have Nancy Drew books, they could have one of thousands of variants. We need information.
I think that the "contact if interested" people are planning to set prices depending on who is interested. It's like when I'm at a garage sale with no prices, and the owner won't tell me what the children's books cost until I tell them exactly which book I want. Once the owner knows, they state that the desired book is quite collectible and set a steep price.
I have this suspicion that on Facebook, these people are waiting to see who will contact them. If someone like me, who is known to have paid higher prices for books, should happen to respond, the price will be higher than if someone else responds. We don't play that game in the groups. Time and time again, I have had to comment on these posts telling the members to read the rules and that we must have prices listed upfront. This gets tiresome.
Here are some final thoughts from the present. I now currently greatly dislike all of the series book selling groups on Facebook. I gather that other people like the selling groups a lot, and I am happy for them. However, I get nothing from them and find most everything about them to be obnoxious.
I feel that way due to the people who are pushy or simply cannot follow rules. They ruin the experience for me. I buy my books on eBay, Amazon, AbeBooks, Biblio, and occasionally Etsy. I sell my books on eBay and Etsy. I don't need the Facebook selling groups, and I seldom visit them anymore.
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