NOTE: The seller did nothing wrong. DO NOT criticize them. Sellers have a right to price their books however high they want. It's not fraud. This seller made no claim about the book's value or printing status. The seller said this: "Acceptable condition. This book has been read several times, is showing signs of advanced age, and the dust jacket is worn and badly torn."
As I expected, there were still some comments about the seller being wrong to price the book that high.
I have been selling books online for nearly 30 years. I find it truly impossible to price books fairly in all situations. Every seller prices wrong at times, and it's unfortunate that some people are so judgmental. Pricing books in a way that is fair to both buyer and seller is difficult.
I had two-thirds of a set of Applewood edition Nancy Drew books in very nice shape to list. I needed to decide whether to go with eBay or Etsy and how to price each book. It's not easy. I want to get a good price for myself, but I don't want to overprice them.
I went into eBay's Terapeak to see the highest prices paid for the Applewood editions in the last three years. For the earliest titles, I ignored results for the first printings. Beginning around #7, I went with highest overall. I made that decision since my copies of the earliest titles are not first printings.
I made note of the highest prices for each title, based on the above criteria. I wanted to know the highest price so that I had the upper boundary for the value range. The lower boundary is useless. I try to list my books somewhere between 50% and 75% of the highest price, depending upon condition.
#1 Old Clock - $19.99
#2 Hidden Staircase - $18.00
#3 Bungalow Mystery - $19.99
#4 Lilac Inn - $24.95
#5 Shadow Ranch - $20.00
#6 Red Gate Farm - $19.99
#7 Diary - $41.95
#8 Letter - $59.95
#9 Twisted Candles - $29.99
#10 Larkspur Lane - $40.00
#11 Broken Locket - $44.99
#12 Hollow Oak - $59.99
#13 Ivory Charm - $54.99
#14 Whispering Statue - $50.00
#15 Haunted Bridge - $157.49, $66.99
#16 Tapping Heels - $84.99
#17 Brass Bound Trunk - $79.99
#18 Moss-Covered Mansion - $89.99
#19 Missing Map - $134.32, $114.99
#20 Jewel Box - $114.99, $110.24
#21 Old Attic - $142.95, $115.00
I felt that the highest sold price for #15 Haunted Bridge was an outlier, so I also noted the second-highest price which was more in line with the prices for the other books. I also listed the top two prices for the last three titles since sometimes buyers and sellers overvalue the final books in the set.
I noticed that Twisted Candles sells for lower prices than the surrounding titles. It could be that more copies were printed.
I inserted line breaks in the list to indicate where I feel that the overall scarcity increases. There are approximately five levels of scarcity for the Applewood editions.
#1-6 very easy to find
#7-11 usually easy to find
#12-14 a little harder to find
#15-18 moderately difficult to find
#19-21 hard to find
But still, it's not that hard to find any of them at a reasonable price if you are patient. The books are out there. If you're looking to build a set quickly or want to acquire any book in the set immediately on any given day, you must expect to pay more on average for the higher-numbered titles.
I decided to list my books on Etsy. I looked at sold prices on eBay for the last 90 days as I prepared to list each book. When I create a listing on Etsy, I copy my new listings from my own sold listings, which are still available to me in my account. I had my own sold prices to guide me as well. These are the prices I went with for the books I listed:
#4 Lilac Inn - $14.99
#5 Shadow Ranch - $14.99
#6 Red Gate Farm - $14.99
#10 Larkspur Lane - $24.99
#12 Hollow Oak - $24.99
#13 Ivory Charm - $37.99
#14 Whispering Statue - $37.99
#15 Haunted Bridge - $49.99
#16 Tapping Heels - $59.99
#17 Brass Bound Trunk - $59.99
#18 Moss-Covered Mansion - $79.99
#19 Missing Map - $99.95
#20 Jewel Box - $99.95
#21 Old Attic - $99.95
I priced #13 and #14 at $37.99 to split the difference on the postage amount. $34.99 would not qualify for the free shipping promotion, but I didn't want to price the books at $35 and trigger the free shipping promotion. I also didn't want to price the books at $39.99 to where the buyer would get free shipping—but not really due to the higher price. I went with a compromise so that both the buyer and I benefit partially. There is a lot to consider when pricing books.
My goal is to price the books somewhere in the middle—not too high and not too low. As I mentioned earlier in the post, I want to price the books fairly for both the buyer and for me. Sometimes I am wrong and let a book go for too low of a price. Other times, I price a book too high and then gradually lower the price until it finds a buyer. I do the best I can, and I don't stress over the mistakes. It's always a bit of a guessing game, and I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it. I go with my gut.
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