April 2021 Selling Update

I am still working on getting books out of boxes.  At one point, I had 17 boxes of books.  I am now down to three boxes of books, but at a cost.  Here are photos of my shelves of extra books that have not been listed for sale.  The Nancy Drew picture cover books are in good order, but the rest of the books are in a bit of disarray.  It's better for the books to be on the shelf in a disordered state than for them to be boxed away.

This last photo shows where my extra Hardy Boys books are hidden.

The Hardy Boys books are behind the books seen in the photo, and I could hardly take the photo because stuff is stacked in front of the shelves.  There's no way that I'm listing the Hardy Boys books anytime soon.

Each weekend I select some books to list.  This weekend, I listed Judy Bolton picture cover books on Etsy.

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

I had to guess at the prices.  The Judy Bolton picture covers are so very scarce that pricing cannot be researched.  I do know that some picture covers have sold for $150 or more each when auctioned on eBay in the last few years.

This is the very first time in my 30 years of collecting that I have had extra Judy Bolton picture covers other than an occasional one or two random copies found around once every five years.  I almost never find the books.  They are that scarce.  The only reason I have these extras is because I got very lucky.  I was able to upgrade a few of my own picture cover books, which was great.

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

I also listed some vintage teen books on eBay.  I created a category for the vintage teen books so that the different sets show up together.

Vintage Teen Books Category

My message placed in each listing that states that I don't accept offers has discouraged people from submitting offers through email.  Unfortunately, I am getting asked for discounts if multiple books are purchased.  I have had three requests in just the last few days.  It discourages me, to be honest.  

I struggle with my pricing.  I want the books to sell fairly quickly, but I also don't want to take a loss when I can avoid it.  For the vintage teen books, I generally price the books at $5.99 each.  Most of the books were purchased individually online, and the lowest price for a book online is $4.00.  My eBay fees are at least $1.00 on a $5.99 listing, and fees also get charged on shipping.  For a $5.99 book that sells individually, my fee is going to be at least $1.50.  Why would I give a discount?

I tell these people that there is a discount for orders shipping to the United States when the purchase price is $35 or above.  Those orders get free shipping.  Of course, they probably already know that but want more of a discount.

I don't price my items with the shipping figured into the price.  For that reason, the shipping really is on me when the order is $35 or more.  The free shipping promotion has gained me sales.  I receive many orders where the total is between $35 and $50.  Unquestionably, many people are making sure that they get free shipping.  

Aside from some minor issues, having the stores back open is going pretty well, and I am making progress on reducing the quantity of extra books that I have.