Another Selling Update + Assorted Selling Thoughts and Information

I have been throwing up everything that I can find that I don't already have listed for sale.  My eBay store currently stands at 600 listings.  I have 310 listings on Etsy.

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

I purchased a bunch of cookbooks at the Fall Better Books Sale.  I listed all of them this weekend.

I listed assorted Nancy Drew, Kay Tracey, Ruth Fielding, Mildred Wirt Benson, Ted Wilford, Beverly Gray, Cherry Ames, Hardy Boys, Three Investigators, and Sweet Valley High books.

I am testing the waters with auctions of six Trixie Belden Goldencraft hardcover editions.

Trixie Belden Goldencraft auctions

As I prepared to list the books, I wrote the following on my Facebook page.

I have quite a dilemma with the Trixie Belden Goldencraft hardcover editions.  These are the ones that I plan to sell.  I was thinking of fixed-price listings, but I can't find good data on what the books are currently worth.  I know what I paid for them 15-20 years ago.  

I ran a search for "Goldencraft" in the Trixie Belden group.  That revealed how many people are working on completing their sets.  My conclusion is that I need to auction the books in individual listings, even though I have a bad track record with auctions.  I understand that my auction problem is because I will not start the listings at low prices.  I can't risk that.  

Since I will be selling so many of them, I think the best approach is to auction just some at a time.  I might do around 9-10 at a time, staggered over a few weeks.  My starting bids will vary widely based on condition, whether circulated, and price paid.  I will mull this over a bit more.

It was suggested that the price I paid has no bearing on what the current market will bear.  Of course not.  But allow me to explain.

I can only find three Trixie Belden Goldencraft books in eBay's Terapeak results.  Two of them are extras that I sold awhile back.  The third book was sold by someone else at an extremely low Buy It Now price, definitely below value.  This means that I have no useful information on what the books are currently worth.  

When I have nothing, then the price I paid is the only point of reference that I have.  Let's say that I paid $20 for a book.  I would at first price it at $30 to try to cover what I paid.  If the book doesn't sell within a certain number of months, then I would begin to lower the price.  I would go down to $25 and wait some more.  I would then go down to $20.

If I paid $10 for the same book, then I might start at $20.  I'm quite aware that books are not necessarily worth what I paid for them.  I have books up for sale right now at steep losses.  I have other books up for sale at a profit, if they sell.  It just depends.

When I listed my auctions, I made sure that they were spaced at least a few minutes apart to give bidders time to bid on multiple auctions.  It will be interesting to see what happens.  Right now, I feel it most likely that the books will sell at the opening bids or not at all.  If this is what happens, then I will create fixed-price listings for the rest of my set. 

Auctions don't typically work for me.  As a buyer, I now hate them and avoid them unless what is offered is special.  I can't be the only one who feels that way.

Media mail goes up again in January.  Here is a comparison of the current rates (left) and the upcoming rates (right).

I am well past caring what prospective buyers think.  I am currently charging either $4.95 or $5.95 to ship one book depending upon whether the package will be over or under 1 pound.  I will probably leave the shipping charges the same, but it's obvious that I will have to raise them again before too much longer.  It's not just the postage that's going up; it's also the cost of supplies.

I don't add the postage cost to the price of my books.  I realized years ago that buyers greatly prefer for the postage cost to be separate so that they can get combined shipping.  Buyers also have the added value incentive of the free shipping promotion that I offer.  I get many orders for just over the minimum for free shipping.  That's really important to buyers.

It's a win-win situation.  The buyer gets free shipping, and I end up selling more books.  

I have had an increase in sales during the last week on eBay, but that's only because of the large number of new items.  Some books listed are hard to find, and collectors grab what they need as soon as they see it.  

My previously-listed eBay inventory continues not to sell.  Sales on Etsy are also flat.  My goal this last week was to get as much listed as possible so that the books are available.  Gradually, books will sell.