Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Cereal Promotion

In 1978, select boxes of Cookie Crisp cereal had Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys paint books as premiums.  There are six different paint books.

The Cursed Jewels
The Eerie Castle
The Mad Scientist
The Sea Monsters
The Secret Cave
The Visitors from Tomorrow

I have never tried very hard to find the paint books, just because it has never been a priority.  Nevertheless, I do have a couple of them.

The Cookie Crisp cereal boxes with the paint book promotion are extremely scarce and very expensive.  I don't know what the current value is, but I suspect that the cereal boxes are still worth several hundred dollars each in the current market.  They are about impossible to find and would have been a good candidate for my blog post on the "Ten Rarest Nancy Drew Books and Collectibles."

Image from the Nancy Drew Sleuth blog

The above image is of one of the Cookie Crisp boxes and is from Jennifer Fisher's blog.  Please note that I am Jennifer White.

Recently, I spotted a partial cereal box with the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys promotion on eBay.  I almost didn't click on the listing because the seller placed a large white box with "EBAY" inside the image, which made it look not interesting.  Who is interested in something called "EBAY"? 

Someone had cut out the part of the box that contained the promotion, and the seller had that part of the box up for sale.  I immediately decided that I wanted to purchase this item.  I kept expecting other people to bid, but in the end, I was the only bidder on the auction and was able to purchase the partial box at a total cost of $5.74 including shipping.

Partial cereal box on eBay

Even though I only have part of the box, I believe that I got a bargain.

Since the paint books have never been a priority, I would never be someone who would pay hundreds of dollars for an intact cereal box.  It's just not that important to me.  However, getting a partial cereal box for less than $10 is perfect!

You will notice two bids on the auction, but both bids were me.  I bid at the beginning to keep the listing from being closed early.  I bid my true maximum at the very end of the auction.  I kept wondering why nobody else bid on the auction.  I have several ideas.

The seller's big white box placed over the image may have kept people from noticing the cereal box.  I almost scrolled past the image, and then quickly realized that I needed to take a closer look.  I'm glad I did.

Some people may have noticed the auction but chose not to bid because the cereal box was not complete.  I always take the view that I would rather have an imperfect rare collectible than go without having that rare collectible for years in hopes of getting one that is perfect.  Items like this are always worth buying, especially when they are cheap.

The auction closed on Sunday, December 1, which was over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.  More than likely, a number of people did not notice the auction due to being distracted by the holiday.

Notice that my partial cereal box has a blue background and that Jennifer Fisher's box has a black background, so variations in the boxes exist.

Circumventing a Buyer Block

I have blocked a certain heavy buyer of series books from purchasing from me.  He purchased many lots from me last year and left a "four" DSR in all four categories.  This shouldn't have been a problem, except that he purchased many items, and my averages took a quick nosedive.  That alone would not have caused me to block him.  At some point, I figured out that he leaves very harsh feedback for any seller who messes up a description at all, delays shipment, or overcharges on postage.  The latter two would never be a problem for me, but I do sometimes mess up descriptions.  I don't need for a buyer to leave me an immediate negative or neutral for a mistake.  Therefore, I blocked this person on both his buying and selling IDs.

After I began selling on eBay in large quantity in June, I knew that eventually the buyer would run up against the buyer block that I placed on him.  I just received a feedback for a recent transaction, and the feedback uses the same odd phrase that the blocked buyer uses for all of his transactions.  The book purchased is exactly the sort of book the blocked buyer would have purchased from me.  I checked the transaction, and the buyer has the same surname but lives in a different state.  I looked at the feedback left for others, and this buyer leaves harsh feedback for exactly the same reasons as the seller I blocked and with similar phrasing.  Furthermore, one feedback followup mentions the state in which the blocked buyer resides.  I can conclude that my buyer block was circumvented by use of a secondary ID.

This is a reportable eBay offense.  Buyers are forbidden from circumventing buyer blocks.  I will wait several days before running a report to see what DSRs I received, since I do not believe that eBay releases the data immediately for recent feedback.  In the meantime, I have now blocked this third ID as a precaution.  I cannot have been left a low DSR in either communication or shipping cost, but I could have in the other two.  If I find that I have been left a low DSR on either one, then I will be filing a complaint against the buyer for circumventing the block.

If the buyer happens to read this, I am sorry but I cannot risk selling to a buyer who is known to leave harsh feedback without trying to resolve with the seller first.  I do understand that you are a large volume buyer with many incoming packages and cannot be bothered with asking for refunds.  However, sellers are real people who sometimes make mistakes, and nearly all sellers will rectify those mistakes if given a chance.  eBay now gives permanent selling suspensions to sellers who have just a few low DSRs and just a few negative and neutral feedback.

Furthermore, eBay suspends all IDs associated with the seller and all IDs for anybody who has ever used eBay in the seller's household.  This means that if a friend logged into eBay on the seller's computer at any point in the past, then that friend would also be suspended.  Some of you will doubt my words, but I have read eBay's message boards for years and have read dozens of reports of this happening.  This is serious, so buyers who have a habit of leaving bad feedback must be blocked.

For the rest of you, if you sell series books on eBay, you have almost certainly sold to this person, and the probability is at least 90%.

People Buying and Selling with Little Knowledge

Recently, someone asked me if a Dana Girls book was the original edition from 1934.  This type of question bothers me, because while I believe the person wants to know if the book is the original text, I also wonder if the person could be seeking the first printing.  In this case, I made the mistake of answering both possible questions.

My response:

This book does have the original text from 1934 with 25 chapters. The text for Lone Tree Cottage was never revised, so this book has the original and only version. If instead you are asking about the age of this particular book, it was printed during the very early 1950s. Let me know if you need any additional information.

The buyer's response indicated that the buyer wanted the 1934 edition.  A bid had already been placed prior to the buyer asking the question, and the buyer canceled the bid as soon as my message was read.  I sent another message giving additional information.

The 1934 edition is a thick purple book. You want to look for those. It sounds like you are seeking a first printing copy. Even with the thick purple books, you have to ask the sellers about the post-text ads in order to find a first printing copy. Some thick purple books only have one glossy illustration, while the early ones have four glossy illustrations. If you need more information, I have a Dana Girls formats page which has pictures of the different formats along with years and other information. I can't give you a link in this message, but if you click on my "About Me" icon, I have a link on that page. I'm glad you asked about the book before the listing closed. Thanks!

The buyer should now know what to purchase, or at least that's what I thought.  The bid that was canceled was for this book, which you will notice has the green boards that date from 1949 to 1951.

After receiving my messages and canceling the bid, the buyer purchased the following book which lists to Crossroads.

The book purchased instead of mine is from 1954 and is a later printing, making it further from 1934 and supposedly less of an "original edition" from the point of view of the buyer.  I have to admit that I was annoyed and not because I lost a sale.  I was annoyed because I had wasted between 15 and 30 minutes on this person all to no purpose.  They were no better informed after reading my messages. 

During the same hour, the same buyer purchased another Dana Girls book on Bonanza and asked the same question.  I told the buyer that the book was an early printing and not the first printing.  The buyer wanted the order canceled, so I canceled it.  The buyer then purchased the same book from someone else who gave less information, and the buyer had no way of knowing whether that book was the first printing.

I'm sure the buyer asked the other sellers if the books were "original," and I'm sure the uninformed sellers told the buyer that the books were indeed "original."  The next time a buyer asks me if a book is "original," I might just answer "yes" and leave it at that.  Anything else is inviting trouble.  Of course, if the buyer asks if a revised text book is "original," I would tell them that the book does not have the original text.  It did neither me nor the buyer any good for me to try to help, at least not in this particular case.  I felt so discouraged.

I also don't understand why buyers place a bid or make a purchase before asking questions.  It's to the point that every time someone has already bid or purchased and then sends a message, I have a slight feeling of dread before reading the message.  So often, the buyer wants to know more about the book, and as in this case, the answer can result in a canceled transaction.   Why not ask the question before making a purchase?  Wouldn't that be easier for both of us?

In another case, someone new to purchasing Nancy Drew books is enthusiastically buying up many duplicates of Nancy Drew books on eBay.  The person may be collecting, but many of the duplicate books are now getting listed for sale.  Some of the books were purchased cheaply and others at inflated prices.  All of the books that are getting placed up for sale are being priced at five to ten times higher than the price paid for the book.  For example, a book purchased for $45 was listed for $250, and the seller stated in the listing that the book is worth $500.

Another book that I tried to sell for several years at $10 and under was sold for around $5 and has been priced at $40 by the buyer.

The descriptions of the books are minimal and are along the lines of "good vintage condition."  I am perplexed at the selling strategy, but I am even more perplexed that two lots have already sold at the inflated prices.

What I've Learned on eBay This Year

I returned to selling on eBay full-time in June, in addition to maintaining my Bonanza booth.

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

Jennifer's Series Books on Bonanza

With my eBay store subscription, I get 150 free listings per month.  Additionally, I receive at least one "by invitation only" free listing offer per month.  Sometimes the offer is for fixed-price listings, and other times, the offer is for auctions.  I have learned several things.

When using auctions in place of fixed-price, always place the starting bid as what would have been the Buy It Now price.  Never place the starting bid at less than the desired Buy It Now price.  What almost always happens is that the buyers do not take the Buy It Now, and the item sells at the opening bid.  To protect myself, I must have the starting bid at what I really want for the item. 

Never sell cheap items without offering free shipping.  Some buyers see that the shipping price is more than the price of the item and leave a low DSR for the shipping cost.  They fail to understand that the shipping cost is the actual cost and perceive that the seller is gouging.  They feel that if an item costs only $1.00, then the shipping should be free or only cost $0.10.  This isn't logical, but that is how some buyers think.

Never sell cheap items in rough shape on eBay.  This is for the same reason as above.  I have been able to offer this type of item on Bonanza with no problem, but on eBay, cheap items in rough shape bring out a certain type of buyer who wants something for nothing and is quick to complain.

The "My eBay" interface is better for sellers who have stores.  That alone is worth the store subscription, provided that a seller sells enough per month to justify the cost.

The interface makes it extremely easy to see when an item has sold and when an item needs to be shipped.  Printing packing slips is easier, and the packing slips are better than the ones eBay provides to sellers who do not have stores.  Additionally, bulk editing is available, which saves a lot of time.

Free shipping may help sales.  My items have been converted to free shipping for just a short period of time, so I don't know for sure how much free shipping helps with sales.  Within the first couple of days of changing all listings to free shipping, several items that I considered stagnant sold.  My sales have improved since changing over to free shipping.  After a longer period of time, I will know for sure.

A seller's ability to maintain a top-rated seller status is very shaky and is largely outside of a seller's control.  I have one low DSR in the shipping cost category which I received in late October.  I converted all of my items to free shipping immediately after I received the low DSR, but I still have quite a few buyers who have not left feedback yet who can still rate the shipping cost.

Top-rated sellers are allowed a maximum of two low DSRs per DSR category at a maximum percent of 0.50%.  The one low DSR that I have already places me above 0.50%, so if I receive one more in the shipping cost category, I lose my top-rated seller status.  While I have taken action to prevent future buyers from leaving a low shipping cost DSR, I have no control over the buyers who paid for shipping and have not yet left feedback.

eBay has a new feature where an item can be relisted for up to three times for free and not count against a seller's monthly free listings.  I haven't tried this yet, since this feature just went live in the last few days, but it sounds interesting.  I am also wary, because when an item is relisted, it can get suppressed in eBay's search because the item did not sell the previous time it was listed.

Series Book Questions Fall 2013

As always, I have rewritten the questions so as not to publish direct quotes from private messages.

Is the outside of the book matte or very glossy?  I need the matte version.

The above question was asked of the book pictured on the left.  I answered with the following.

This is one of the matte picture cover books. The ones that are very glossy have a yellow band across the top of the front cover with a flashlight inside along with the volume number and logo.

The key word here is "flashlight."  If you see a flashlight at the top of the front cover, then the book is not a matte picture cover edition.  Some matte picture cover editions have a yellow band at the top of the front cover, but a flashlight is not present in the yellow band.

The book pictured on the right is one of the flashlight editions.  The flashlight is visible between "Nancy Drew Mystery Stories" and the volume number, 22, in the yellow band at the top of the front cover.  The spine shows the Nancy Drew logo near the top, and the logo is placed in the middle of the shine of a flashlight.  Once prospective buyers know where to look, a flashlight edition can be identified easily.

I have a book that is missing approximately 30 pages.  Of the pages present, approximately 30 of them are duplicated in place of the pages that are missing.  Do you know anything about this kind of error?

Errors like that do occur sometimes but not very often. I haven't ever seen any series books with pages that are duplicated, but I do have a Little Golden Book where the first half of the book is duplicated as the second half of the book. So the LGB has the right number of pages, but the second half of the story is missing. Duplicated pages usually don't increase the value, unless someone desires that particular anomaly.  Typically, any kind of error that causes some of the text to be missing greatly devalues the book.  It is interesting, nevertheless.

Is this book the first printing?  What is listed as the next Nancy Drew title on page 176?

The first printing of The Clue of the Dancing Puppet lists to The Mystery of the Fire Dragon on the back cover.  This book cannot be the first printing because the book lists to The Phantom of Pine Hill on the back cover. The Phantom of Pine Hill was published in 1965, which places this particular book in 1965. This book was printed approximately three years after the first printing from 1962. Since this book is a later printing, the next title is correctly listed as The Moonstone Castle Mystery on page 176.

What do you mean by "foxed"?

I am not certain whether the prospective buyer needed the meaning of the word or what I meant by the word.  Nevertheless, I gave the definition and explained the flaw with respect to the offered book.

"Foxed" is when a chemical reaction has occurred, causing light brown stains to occur inside old books. This book has foxing on a few scattered pages, whereas most of the book does not have foxing. I have attached a photo of two pages that are foxed.

The photo that I attached to my response is seen to the right.

The Impact of Low DSRs

eBay tracks the number of one-star and two-star DSR ratings that a seller receives.  A seller is allowed no more than two low DSR ratings within each reporting period and the percentage of low DSRs cannot exceed 0.50%.  I've done pretty well being back on eBay since June, but I knew that I would eventually run into DSR problems again.  An eBay buyer has left me a low shipping cost DSR for a recent order.

Without getting into the specifics due to certain eBay policies, I was able to figure out beyond any doubt which buyer left the low DSR.  A certain buyer purchased two books in one order.  I received three stars for the first book and two stars for the second book purchased by that buyer.  I guess the buyer thought that the postage of $3.95 for the first book and $0.60 for the second book was too high and deserving of two stars for one of the books. 

I was not surprised that this particular transaction was for inexpensive books.  Many sellers report that the most troublesome buyers are often the ones who purchase cheap items.  Since the postage cost was as high as or higher than the item cost, the buyer must have felt that I charged too much.

Since I now have one low DSR rating on my account, I am in a precarious position.  If I receive one more low rating on the shipping DSR, I will fall below what eBay considers acceptable.  In order to protect myself, I have changed all of my listings over to free shipping.  With free shipping, I automatically receive five stars for shipping cost, which means that no future buyer can leave a low DSR in that category. 

I figured out what I paid for postage and packaging on the transaction that resulted in the low DSR, and I broke even on postage.  I did not overcharge at all.  I have now blocked the buyer who left the low DSR in order to prevent that person from making additional purchases and leaving low ratings.

The buyer knew the postage cost before completing the order.  If the amount seemed acceptable before completing the purchase, then the buyer should not have left a low DSR.  I have seen listings where I consider the postage to be too high.  If the postage amount takes the total cost above what I am willing to pay, I do not purchase the item.  If the postage amount keeps the total cost within what I am willing to pay and I decide to purchase the item, I do not ding the seller's shipping cost DSR.  I made the decision to purchase the item, so I take the responsibility.

The Razorland Trilogy by Ann Aguirre

The final book in the Razorland Trilogy by Ann Aguirre was released on October 29.  Last year, I reviewed the first book, Enclave, in this blog.  The Razorland Trilogy consists of the following books.

1.  Enclave, 2011
2.  Outpost, 2012
3.  Horde, 2013

When Horde was released last week, I had just finished reading Allegiant by Veronica Roth, and that did not go well.  Quite frankly, I was scared to read Horde, because I was fearful that another excellent trilogy was about to be ruined by the author.  In reading the reviews for Horde on Amazon, I realized that I was not the only Razorland Trilogy reader who was frightened.  We were all frightened because we were still traumatized from the inexplicably different tone that Allegiant had from the previous two Divergent books, and we found the story to be convoluted and boring.  Ugh.  So much for the Divergent Trilogy.

I am happy to report that Horde has the same tone as Enclave and Outpost and is just as interesting as the previous two books.  Deuce is the same Huntress as before, and she is still a little fireball.  Horde wraps up the trilogy nicely and in a satisfying fashion.  This is not to say that everything is all "unicorns and rainbows," but the reader will be very pleased with the end result.

Several times, I have been very disappointed in the final book in a series or trilogy.  Awhile back, I observed that I tend to be more disappointed when the series received too much hype or has become too popular.  I was disappointed in the ending to Harry Potter and the Hunger Games, both series that became far too popular.  I should have known that the Divergent Trilogy would end up like those two series.  The Divergent Trilogy is wildly popular with the same disappointing result in the final book.  Actually, the final book in the Divergent Trilogy is far worse than what happened with either Harry Potter or the Hunger Games.  Harry Potter just needed better editing in the final half of the series, and the Hunger Games needed better editing in the final book.  Allegiant needs a plot change and total rewrite from start to finish. 

The Razorland Trilogy is not nearly as popular as Divergent, Harry Potter, or the Hunger Games, and now that I have read the entire trilogy, I am most grateful that it is not as popular.  Thank goodness the author did not ruin the trilogy!

If you like young adult dystopian novels, then you will almost certainly love the Razorland Trilogy.

People Who Want to Buy Sets of Books

I get asked a least a few times per year whether I have a complete set of Nancy Drew books, Trixie Belden books, or some other series that I can sell to whomever asks.  The prospective buyer asks how much the set would cost and what the postage would be.  Depending upon the request, I may not have a complete set of extra books together.  Sometimes I do, but I always reply that I don't.

Most of the books that I sell were purchased in partial or complete sets, which gives me a wholesale price.  These days, complete sets sell for less than the total for which the books will sell individually.  I am not interested in taking a complete set and reselling it for what I paid for it.  I am also not comfortable with marking the set up to a much higher price and selling it to the person who asked.  I also want the books for individual inventory, so the last thing I want is to get rid of a bunch of them all at once.

Sometimes I do sell sets of books, but this is always done to get rid of certain books fast without taking as much of a loss as I would if I were to sell an incomplete set.  I decided recently to clear out all of my Nancy Drew Twin Thriller books that I had for sale.  It was a partial set, and I determined that I would have to sell the books at less than what I paid for them.  Instead, I put together a complete set of Nancy Drew #1-56 so that the Twin Thriller books would be part of a complete set. 

I sold the set for $199.99 with free shipping, and the lot only took a few days to sell.  After subtracting shipping and fees, I got around $150 for the books.  I managed to avoid taking a loss, which was my goal.  If I had decided to be patient with selling the Twin Thriller editions individually and had also chosen to sell the rest of the books individually, I would likely have gotten over $200 for the books.  One does take less when selling books as a complete set. 

Around six years ago, I had a strange request from a prospective buyer.  This person asked me if I would put together a complete set of Motor Boys books in dust jacket for him.  He wanted to pay me in advance and was willing to pay whatever I thought the books would end up costing.  He didn't want to do the work himself; he wanted somebody else to find him the books.  He didn't mind if it took a year or more for me to acquire the books.  Remember, he wanted to pay in advance for this set of books.

I had a problem with this request for a number of reasons.  I didn't want to invest my time and energy into searching for books for somebody else.  I wanted that time to search for my own books.  I was not at all comfortable with taking a large sum  of money one or more years ahead of time for a set of books that I would likely have much trouble building.  I also had no idea how much the books would end up costing and how much to charge.  Last, I knew that if I spent a significant amount of time building this set that I would likely get attached to books and not want to sell them.  Needless to say, I declined this person's request.