Interesting Seller Commentary

Sometimes listings appear which have remarkable commentary.  This can take the form of seller rants or major misinformation.  I am sometimes amused by what I read, but other times, I am horrified.

Carolyn Keene Signed Nancy Drew Mysterious Letters Book

Several collectors in the Nancy Drew Sleuths group expressed doubt as to whether the book was actually signed by Mildred Wirt Benson.  The signature does not quite match other known examples.  However, no one can be sure, since we all sign our names differently at different times.

The seller stated that the book was signed in person.  If this is true, then the signature is real.  Buyers have to make a decision and act accordingly.

What is unfortunate is that the seller reacted badly to some communication that was received from prospective buyers.  I get the idea that a few people may have been rude to the seller.  We know this from the rant that the seller added to the description.

CLARIFICATION for ebay ass holes who thing they know it all.

Mildred Wirt Benson was the ghost writer of this book, earning between $150.00 and $250.00 for each version written. She worked at the Toledo Blade until the day she died, while getting ill at work, she was 96 I think, she was a journalist for 58 years. She wrote a weekly column there on the elderly and gettting old. She was a cratchedy old fart, but nice once you got to know her. She signed this book in person, as Carolyne Keene, which was the pen name the books were written under for those of you that I confused, or those of you who feel the need to be know it alls who send email to pontificate on your own self worth.

Its rare to get one signed by her, under the penn name, and harder to get one signed under her real name, which I also posess, but am not selling.

I hope this clears up any misconceptions, I will include aletter of authentication with this item from myself, signed and dated.

Yikes.  First off, as annoying as some people are when they ask questions, sellers should remain professional and keep their true feelings to themselves.  The seller may have had reason to be angry, since I have seen some very rude comments appear in the question and answer section of past auctions.  On the other hand, the seller may have overreacted, as some people do.

Regarding the seller's comments, Mildred Wirt Benson did not write Nancy's Mysterious Letter, so the seller was mistaken. Could Mildred have signed it anyway?  Yes.  I am pretty sure I recall reading about one time when a collector mistakenly had one of the Karig books signed by Mildred.  The collector realized her mistake at some point and felt odd about it, but I do not believe Mildred was ever aware.
.......................................

This auction was for a Red Gate Farm book with the Tandy dust jacket.

1st ed Nancy Drew SECRET OF THE RED BARN .unread !D/J

Incredable chance to grab an American legend

1st printing of nancy drew with dust jacket that caused an uproar and was pulled off the shelves and the artwork redone..

This book is in unread condition tight pages spine....UNOPENED

dust jacket is hangin' in there but needs a good home.

Original owners name printed on inside

Please ask any questions as i'm a carpenter and don't know that much about books.*^_^*

I have collected Nancy Drew books for 20 years, and I have never heard that the Red Gate Farm jacket was pulled due to the cult members resembling the KKK.  This is because the jacket was never pulled due to controversy.  The jacket was in print for close to 20 years.  The jacket art changed at the same time that Grosset and Dunlap revised the dust jackets for #1-9 and #11.

I wondered where the seller got that information, and soon into the auction, the seller posted a response to a question.  In that response, the seller stated that the information came from the seller's grandmother.

Nancy Drew Danish Editions

My very favorite of the Nancy Drew international editions are the books from Denmark.  The Danish editions were published by Martins Forlag in Copenhagen, Denmark.  I love the way Nancy Drew is depicted on the covers.  She is sophisticated and pretty.  To me, Nancy's hairstyle looks timeless on many of the covers.  Here are my very favorite Danish covers.

The Clue in the Diary

Nancy's Mysterious Letter

The Haunted Bridge

The Clue in the Crumbling Wall

The Ghost of Blackwood Hall

The Haunted Showboat

The Moonstone Castle Mystery

You can see all of the Danish editions that I own on my Nancy Drew Danish Editions page.  Which Danish covers do you like the best?

More Package Troubles

I have recently had problems with two different packages. 

I paid for a book on February 6.  Two weeks later, I did not have the book.  This seller is sometimes a slow shipper, so I kept waiting.  I finally received the package on February 28.  The seller mailed the package on February 23.  I stated in a previous post on this subject that shipping delays are very often the fault of the seller.  This one certainly was.

The other situation involved a package I mailed out via First Class International to Canada.  I mailed the package on January 22.  It should have arrived within 10 to 14 days, by the end of the first week in February.

The buyer inquired about the package on February 11.  She was eagerly awaiting the delivery and wanted to know about when the package would arrive.  I was immediately concerned, because it had already been too long.  The buyer contacted me again on February 18 to update me that the package had still not arrived.  We were going to wait a little longer, and we still had hope that the package might arrive.

I have never sent out a package that has gotten lost; that is, I have never had a buyer report that a package never arrived.  Each time I have a delayed package, I reason that I will eventually have one go missing and wonder if the current package is the first one.

I asked the buyer to let me know what books were of interest, because my plan was to send out another package to replace the one that was missing.  I was willing to fully refund the buyer's money, but I would rather make it up to the buyer by sending replacement books.  I told the buyer that I could fully refund the money paid but that I was sure she would rather have the books.  I stated that a refund is never good enough.  Wouldn't you agree?

We continued to wait.  On March 2, the package showed up in my mailbox.  It had a sticker on it from Canada Post from the buyer's province stating that it was returned because it was unclaimed.  The buyer verified that the address was correct and speculated that the notice for her to pick up the package was likely not left in her box.  I agreed, because this has happened to me when expecting a package.  If a carrier forgets to leave a notice, the package can get returned to the sender after a few weeks.

I mailed the package out again on March 3.  Finally, the buyer received the package on March 17.  I am glad that the missing package situation was ultimately resolved successfully.

Sellers like to state that they are not responsible for packages once the packages are mailed.  This statement is true, certainly.  My view is more that the sellers cannot control what happens to the packages once they are mailed.  Both viewpoints seem identical, but the implication is different.

While I cannot control what happens to the package, I am ultimately responsible to make the transaction right.  If I fail to do so, then the buyer will almost certainly never make another purchase.

I am reminded of an international seller with whom I had had several transactions.  Finally, one package went missing.  I didn't say anything until the seller contacted me to find out why I had not left feedback.  I informed the seller that I had not received the package and did not ask for anything.  The seller apologized, but did not offer anything.

The end result is that I have never purchased from that seller again.

eBay 2011 Spring Seller Update Part 2

I decided to verify that the new policy will be a fee increase for me.  Since I use only auctions, the final value fee is not going to be reduced.  It will remain at 9% for me.  That answers my question, but I wanted to see what the exact impact will be.

I recently sold $217.21 worth of books on eBay.  I was charged $19.55 in fees.  If I had paid a final value fee on my shipping fees, I would have paid an additional $4.27 in fees for a total of $23.92 in fees.

This is actually not that bad, in my specific case.  One reason I am impacted less is because media mail is a less expensive shipping method, so that reduces what eBay will take in the final value fees.  I am also impacted less because I use the free listings and am not charged a listing fee for my items.

If I were still a regular eBay seller, my fees would be outrageously high.  I was only charged for the items that sold.  If all 700+ of my Bonanza items were on eBay, I would have to pay a $49.95 monthly store fee plus insertion fees for all of my items. Ugh.  That is why I am no longer selling in volume on eBay.

During the same time period that I sold the above amount on eBay, I sold $524.75 worth of books on Bonanza.  I was charged $23.00 in fees.  I did not pay insertion fees on Bonanza either, so $23.00 was my total amount in final value fees. I have over 700 items in my Jennifer's Series Books booth on Bonanza.  Which would you rather?

While I admit that the change to the final value fees is not going to have a big impact to me, this is only because I have already moved my items off of eBay.  I only use eBay to move extra books that I want to sell fast.  I also have purposefully chosen to list only cheap items on eBay due to how much more I would have to pay in final value fees on eBay if I were to sell expensive items.

I refuse to allow eBay to victimize me.  I felt used and abused at the end of 2008 when I had listed a large quantity of items, most of which did not sell.  I was out a large amount in fees, and I swore that I would never let that happen again.  And I have not allowed it to happen again.

For sellers who have remained on eBay, the new policy of taking a final value fee on the shipping will have a profound effect.  Many sellers are just now thinking of leaving for another venue.  My advice is to remain on eBay with a few listings while building a following on the new venue of your choice.  The task will not be easy, but it can be done.  There is no one venue that will work for all sellers.  I have found Bonanza to be a good fit, but others may find another venue more suited to their needs.

If you are an eBay seller looking for a way to deal with these upcoming changes, you might want to check out the new Facebook group eBay alternatives-leaving FEEBay behind.  The sellers who have joined are brainstorming what to do and which other sites to try.

eBay 2011 Spring Seller Update

I can safely state that eBay's 2011 Spring Seller Update is the most controversial update in at least one year, perhaps in two years.  People are so hysterical over one change in particular that I find their messages on eBay's message boards to be rather incoherent and too difficult to read.  I am having to skim most comments, and normally, I enjoy reading people's responses to eBay's updates.

The first change has very few people upset. Those of us who do not have an eBay store will now be guaranteed 50 free auction listings at any starting price per month from now on.  Or, at least we will have them until eBay changes direction at some point in the future.  With eBay, nothing good lasts forever.

I now only sell on eBay when the fee to list is waived, so this change is good for me.  I have a pile of Nancy Drew library discards that I want to sell fast and cheap, and eBay is where they need to be listed.  I will have to wait another month before I can list them, but I am willing to do that.  The final value fees are so extreme that those fees pay for the the listing fee. eBay has no business charging me to list when they get so much from the final value fees.

eBay will be introducing a shopping cart.  This could be either good or bad.  If the cart works properly, it will be good.  If the cart does not work, then it will be bad.  I will reserve judgment until I see what happens.

The change that has everyone in hysterics is the change to the final value fee structure.  The final value fee will be decreased slightly but will be instead applied to both the item's price and the shipping charge.  Some sellers cheated eBay out of final value fees by listing items for $0.99 and then charging $100 shipping.  eBay will be charging the final value fee on the shipping charge as well in order to prevent sellers from avoiding final value fees.

What will likely happen is that most sellers will raise their shipping costs in order to cover the additional final value fee.  By the way, eBay is spinning this change as a fee decrease, since eBay states that fees will decrease for sellers who offer free shipping, which as we all know means that the item's price includes the shipping charge.  Those sellers were already charged a final value fee on the shipping, so eBay reasons that those sellers will see a fee decrease.  eBay can spin it however they want, but a large percentage of sellers will be seeing a fee increase.

eBay is also eliminating the power seller discount for sellers who are not top-rated sellers.  I'm sure those sellers are unhappy.  It seems that their fees are increasing as well, even though eBay claims this update is a fee decrease.

I am interested to read what you think of the shipping charge final value fee.  Will your strategy change?  Will you raise your shipping and/or your prices?

My fear, as a buyer, is that prices will go higher than ever.  Many of the prices on eBay are quite high.  As I wrote in a recent post, several series book buyers have complained of high prices on Bonanza.  The books that are priced high on Bonanza are also priced high on eBay, which makes it unfair to single Bonanza out.  The high prices began on eBay and have spilled over into the other venues.  Many sellers have not figured out that they can charge less on Bonanza due to the low fees.

Nancy Drew Mobile Mystery: #1 Shadow Ranch

Her Interactive just released the first Nancy Drew Mobile Mystery, Shadow Ranch.  The mystery is an application for the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad.  The iPod/iPhone app costs $2.99, and the iPad app costs $9.99.

I purchased the mobile mystery so that I could play it while waiting in line at the book sale.  I had not read any reviews of it, so I was under the impression that it is a mobile version of the Her Interactive game, The Secret of Shadow Ranch.  The mobile mystery is not at all like the game.  It is completely different.

The mobile mystery is primarily a book.  The book has activities consisting of a word scramble kind of like Scrabble at the end of each chapter.  By playing the activities, the reader can unlock one bonus mystery per chapter, which is a short story that contains a mystery for the reader to solve along with Nancy.

Aside from the bonus mysteries, the mobile mystery contains eight chapters.  Several of the chapters have their own mysteries.  The text is written well and is very engaging.  Scattered words can be clicked, making sounds such as a galloping horse or thunder.  This adds to the atmosphere of the story.

During at least one point in each chapter, the reader must make a decision on how Nancy should react to a certain situation.  In some cases, both reactions work out fine.  In other cases, one reaction leads to disaster, and the reader must go back and try again.

The game aspect of the mobile mystery is very easy to manipulate.  It is not nearly as difficult as the regular Nancy Drew PC games.  I have read a few reviews of the mobile mystery from members on Her Interactive's site.  What I noticed as that some devotees of the games were disappointed because the mobile mystery was very different from the games.  Other people were very favorably impressed because they love to read.  Follow this link to read a detailed review that explains exactly what the mobile mystery is like.

I loved reading and playing the mobile mystery.  The story is loosely based on the revised text version of The Secret of Shadow Ranch with Frances Humber, Dirk Valentine, and his treasure.  However, the story is also very different.  It is like a second version of the revised text Shadow Ranch.

I highly recommend the mobile mystery to people who enjoy the Nancy Drew books.  I think most all readers of the Nancy Drew books would greatly enjoy this story.

More Thick Library Editions

I found the rest of my thick library editions. I have four of them.  Three of them are Nancy Drew books, and one of them is a Dana Girls book.

All four books are thick with a glossy frontispiece illustration. 

The blue Hollow Oak has pulp paper that has deeply yellowed.  These bindings are not as old as the one mentioned in my previous post on this subject.  Lilac Inn and the blue Hollow Oak came from the same library.  Both books have "date due" dates from 1985 to 1995.  Hollow Oak has a sticker from the bindery which is stamped November, 1980.

The red Hollow Oak has no dates, but the binding design is very similar to some books I have that were bound in the 1960s and 1970s, so I assume that it dates back to that general time.

Lone Tree Cottage also has no dates, but the bindery was Hoag & Sons' Book Bindery, Inc. from Springport, Michigan.  I have several books from Hoag & Sons that date back to the 1950s and 1960s, so Lone Tree Cottage was likely bound during that time.

It is quite unusual to run across any library editions that were rebound from thick books with glossy frontispiece or glossy internal illustrations.

2011 Book Sale Part 2: What I Found

I will begin with the books that I consider to be my best finds of the evening.  I was lucky to get them, because the area was getting crowded by the time I noticed them.  The books were organized differently this year and placed where I was not expecting to see them.

I bought a bunch of Tom Swift books with dust jackets.
 

 

 

The spine condition places the dust jackets at the low end of the value range, but I am still very pleased that I found them.  My problem is that I do not collect Tom Swift and do not follow the auctions.  I have no idea which ones are worth more and how to price them.  Of course, I do know that duotone jackets and higher-numbered titles are usually worth more, but I'm going to have to watch Tom Swift auctions for a while to try to get some idea.  If possible, I would prefer to sell them at fixed price on Bonanza, but this will require me to figure out specific prices.

I bought some Judy Bolton books with dust jackets.

The books are from around 1940 with good quality paper and a glossy frontispiece illustration.  The only one that might be a first printing is Midnight Visitor.  A few of the books have been chewed by mice or insects.

I hesitated briefly before I grabbed every book by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

At $3 to $5 each, I was not sure since these books are Grosset and Dunlap reprints that do not have dust jackets.  However, I am aware that even the G&D reprints are very collectible.  I did some checking upon arriving home, and a few of the books have sold for $10 to $35 on eBay in similar condition.  Be aware that I am referring to sold copies, not unsold copies.  Unsold copies can never be used to assess value, unless the unsold copies are priced at $1.00, and then one knows that a book has no value.

The red Happy Hollisters in the above picture is Midnight Trolls, the last and most scarce title in the series.  I left all of the other Happy Hollisters books that did not have dust jackets.

Here are some Tom Swift, Grace Harlowe, and other books.

Here are some miscellaneous books as well as a few Judy Bolton books.

I found one Judy Bolton, Fog Island, as well as a few Cherry Ames, Connie Blair, Brains Benton, and Trixie Belden books.  There was a stack of Random House Black Jacket Mystery books, but I only took one.  There were also stacks of each title from the recent Bobbsey Twins series, but I did not take any of those.

I bought some Black Stallion books.

I bought these hardcover Nancy Drew books.

I probably got all of the blue books, but I left all of the flashlight editions and many of the matte books.  A preteen girl was looking over the matte books when I finally found their location, and she was carefully selecting titles.  I left the area so she could finish.  I then went back and selected primarily higher-numbered titles.

I bought just some of the softcover Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books.

I probably bought most of the Nancy Drew Files and just some of the Boxcar Children.

I concentrated on higher-numbered Nancy Drew Girl Detective books.  I did not own any of the books above around #32.  I was pleased to find books that are not library discards.  They have some bumping and minor wear, but I am pleased not to have to pay the full price of a new copy.

This year, I did pass on a number of books, as already mentioned above.  As usual, I did pay too much for some books and wish I had not come home with some of them.  I always place a sticky note inside each book with what I paid for it, and I reconcile my mistakes by adding to my cost of the better books, such as the Tom Swifts and Judy Boltons.  That way I can rid myself of my mistakes without feeling bad about them.