eBay Store Update #2 and the True Meaning of Free Shipping

My eBay store is getting closer to the way I want it.  I have added subcategories to my Nancy Drew category, and they mimic the ones I have on Bonanza.

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

The books I have for sale on eBay are not the same ones up for sale on Bonanza.  I am pretty sure that 100% of the books up for sale are different unless I failed to deactivate one that I moved from Bonanza to eBay.  I did find one on Bonanza that I missed a few days ago and got it deactivated.

The Nancy Drew picture cover books that I just listed on eBay are all different books from the ones on Bonanza, because I pulled out different books from my extras and created new listings for them.  The listings all have free shipping, and I did incorporate shipping into the cost of the books.  I need to continue to get my shipping cost DSR back up to at least 4.9.  Once I get it back up to where I want it, I will remove the free shipping and lower the prices.

My eBay listings other than Nancy Drew that have free shipping really do have shipping that is free to the buyer, because I am the one paying for shipping out of the item price.  I am working towards decreasing my overall inventory of series books and moving out books that have not sold for three or more years.  When I changed those eBay listings, such as Judy Bolton and other series, to free shipping, I left the price the same and clicked on the free shipping box.  The buyer is getting a really good deal on those books.  There are a few books where I compromised by raising the price a dollar or two and clicking on the free shipping box.  That means that I am still paying part of the shipping price.

On the eBay listings that are set as free shipping but with the price raised to include shipping, I will not send any refund if more than one item is purchased.  eBay fees are very high, and even when I have listings set with the shipping as a separate charge, I have to pay an eBay fee on the shipping.  My $3.95 shipping charge is now way too low on eBay, especially since I pay a fee on it.  My true shipping charge on eBay should be $5.95 for the first book and then a certain amount for each additional book.  $5.95 would cover all of my packaging costs, the postage cost, and the eBay fee on the postage charge.  But, I don't think a $5.95 postage charge would go over too well with buyers.

So, when a buyer purchases two or more listings where the shipping was incorporated into the price, it really means that I am not taking a loss on the shipping charge like I do on the other listings.  It would actually better for me to switch everything to free shipping with higher prices.  However, I would prefer not to have shipping incorporated into the item price because I want buyers to feel like they are getting a fair deal.  Some buyers think free shipping is always better for them, but if the free shipping is incorporated into the item price, the seller gets the better deal.

Regarding my new eBay store and monthly fee, my current thinking is that I will keep the eBay store permanently in addition to my Bonanza booth.  The store subscription is well worth the monthly fee based solely on the extra features that are now available to me.  The bulk editor makes it easy to change the books from one store category to another.  The summary page on My eBay makes it really easy to see how many items I have to get shipped.  I can now generate all of my packing slips at the same time, and they look better than the ones previously available to me on eBay.

Last, make sure you follow my Facebook page so that you are kept informed of interesting series book information.

Jennifer's Series Books on Facebook

Nancy Drew #57 Triple Hoax and #58 Flying Saucer

In Nancy Drew #57, The Triple Hoax, Aunt Eloise asks Nancy to help out a friend who has been swindled.  Nancy's investigation takes her to New York City, Mexico City and finally to Los Angeles.  Ned, Burt, and Dave are able to join Nancy, Bess, and George in Los Angeles.

The first half of this book bored me.  I began enjoying the story once Nancy reaches Mexico City, but even then, I was not extremely interested.  The Triple Hoax is the typical travelogue book, which tend not to be favorites.

Another reason I do not care for this story is that the plot seems forced at the beginning, and the entire story with the Hoaxters seems kind of stupid.  The Hoaxters have people go up on stage, where they proceed to pick their pockets, taking wallets and similar items.  After the theft is revealed, the Hoaxters have the people return to the audience, telling them that they will be able to retrieve their belongings after the show. The Hoaxters end up using information found among the belongings to target people in various swindles.

Perhaps people in 1980 might have been more likely to tolerate this, but I couldn't help reading it from a 2013 point of view, and all I could think of was identity theft and credit card theft.  This caused me not to enjoy reading the first part of the book.  I did begin to enjoy the book more once Nancy gets to Mexico City, so I partially enjoyed the story.

The book reads just like the higher-numbered titles from #41 to #56 and fits in well with those titles, although I do not care for it. 
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In Nancy Drew #58, The Flying Saucer Mystery, the Drews, along with Nancy's core group of five friends, go on a camping trip in the Shawniegunk Forest.  A UFO has been sighted in the Shawniegunk Forest, and the Drews hope to locate it.

The Flying Saucer Mystery is one of those books that is disliked by a large number of Nancy Drew fans.  I have always enjoyed the story, and this time was no exception.  The story pulled me in from the very first page, which The Triple Hoax failed to do. Sleuthing in the woods is appealing.  Even though Nancy is away from home, the book has the feel of a book set in or near River Heights, which are the ones that I like the best.

Some aspects of the mystery are bizarre, but they are roughly the same level of strange that is seen in many of the Nancy Drew books from #41 to #56.  The one exception is the extended dream sequence that runs from page 77 to page 89, spanning slightly more than one chapter.  The Mystery of the Tolling Bell also has a dream sequence, but it is brief and considerably less bizarre.

In this dream sequence, Nancy and Ned are inside the flying saucer when it leaves, taking them to an alien world.  Nancy and Ned wear silver suits and helmets, can communicate telepathically, and use wings to fly through the air in the alien world.  I believe that if the dream sequence had been left out of the book, fewer people would hate it.  The book is comparable to any of the higher-numbered Nancy Drew books from #41 to #56, except for the dream.  While I love the book, I do not like the dream at all.

A relaunch of the Dana Girls series in softcover was planned at the time this book was released.  To help promote the Dana Girls, they are mentioned by name on pages 99 and 160.  This is the only Nancy Drew book ever to mention the Dana Girls.  The new Dana Girls series never came to be.

A giant Indian named Shoso wanders the woods.  He throws nuts at Bess.  This is pure comedy gold.  Priceless.

Later, Nancy makes the stunning observation that Shoso and Old Joe sort of look alike except for the difference in skin tone.  On page 53, she wonders "if all naturalists were similar in stature."  The thought sounds stupid, but really, Nancy is demonstrating her sheer genius.  Any regular reader of Nancy Drew knows that Shoso and Old Joe will turn out to be long-lost relatives!

Old Joe is looking for his father's treasure.  Nancy discovers a pyramid of rocks in a stream.  In years of wandering the woods looking for treasure, Old Joe has somehow never spotted this pyramid.  I suppose it is possible, but I find it rather convenient that Nancy spots it so quickly.  The pyramid is the first in a sequence of clues leading to the treasure.  The clues and search are rather similar to the ones in the revised text version of The Message in the Hollow Oak.

On page 107, Shoso mutters in an Indian dialect, and it is considered strange because "there are no Indians in this vicinity anymore."  Isn't it safe to assume that Shoso once knew other Indians?  Why would it be strange for him to speak his language, especially since he doesn't know English?

The young people encounter a wildcat.  The wildcat hisses at them, but Nancy and Ned decide to pet the wildcat.  Dear me, this is even worse than Nancy jumping into the crocodile pen in Mystery of Crocodile Island.  The young people want to explore the cave, so they give the wildcat one fish from their bucket of fish.  The wildcat takes it, runs off, and does not come back for more.  I find that hard to believe.

#58 also fits in well with Nancy Drew #41 to #56.  Most particularly, the book reminds me of The Crooked Banister due to the strangeness of certain parts, and The Crooked Banister is another favorite.

The Desirability of Nancy Drew #1-56 vs. #57+

I have finished reading and reviewing Nancy Drew #1-56.  The plan is to keep going, but my immediate problem is that I do not like several of the lowest-numbered volumes very much.  Once I force my way through them, I should do much better.

I want to make several points, but most of them were previously made in "Will the Real Nancy Drew Step forward?"  Here are the key points from that post.

I read Nancy Drew books from around 1979 to 1985.  People in my group tend to like most all of the original 56 Nancy Drew books, since all of them had been published by that time.  Furthermore, we tend to like the revised text books as well as the original text books.

My preferences were also influenced by which books were available to me.  Early in my collecting, I had a strong aversion to the softcover Nancy Drew books.  The reason is simple: most of those books came after I quit reading Nancy Drew books.  It had nothing to do with whether the books are good.
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We were strongly influenced by which books were available to us as children.  I do not believe that most people realize that the primary reason they prefer certain books is based solely on what they read as children.

People who are my age consider #1-56 to be the real Nancy Drew.  I at first resisted collecting the softcover books simply because they are softcover and I did not read them when young. Once I took that leap, I found that the softcover books, #57-175, are very worthwhile.  That is, I can only comment for up to around #165, since I have not read the final volumes.  Up to where I left off, the books are enjoyable and worth reading.  People who do not care for them likely did not have the softcover books available as children.

As stated, I do not like several of the lowest-numbered Nancy Drew paperback books.  The books are a bit uneven for a time.  The lower-numbered Nancy Drew paperbacks were published in a time of transition.  Harriet Adams' health had failed, and Nancy Axelrad took over writing the books.  After Nancy Axelrad, the books were written by a number of different people, and during this time, the Stratemeyer Syndicate was sold to Simon and Schuster.  From that point on, Simon and Schuster was completely responsible and made necessary subtle changes to the series, like dumping Burt and Dave.

After this long transition, which occurred from #57 up to around #80, the series settled into consistently good titles.  The books are not the same as #1-56, but they are also not dramatically different from the higher-numbered ones.

Where does the fan draw the line?  What a fan read as a child usually makes the final decision.  Many (and perhaps most) of the post #56 Nancy Drew books are worth reading, but many people are not interested.

Collectors tend to stop at #56 since that was the final book originally published by Grosset and Dunlap.  For a time during recent years, Grosset and Dunlap issued #57 through #64 in hardcover editions, so some collectors expanded up to #64.  Other collectors have purchased the Wanderer hardcover editions with dust jackets, so they collect up to #78.  As far as I know, anyone who ventures beyond #78 goes all the way up to #175, even though the softcover books have had several format changes.

I don't know if I will continue revisiting the books up to #175 since I get easily distracted by other books, but I will go as far as I can.  My upcoming reviews generally will not be written up to the degree of my previous ones.  I only write for this blog when the content comes easily to me.  If I have no particular thoughts about a book, I will not review it except for a brief mention as to how much I enjoyed it.

#57 is the first one that will likely not have much more than a short review.  #58 is a favorite, so I should come up with a pretty good review.  My expectation right now is that for most books, I will write short reviews, and most posts will contain reviews of multiple books.  Now you know what to expect moving forward.

Nancy Drew #56 The Thirteenth Pearl

In Nancy Drew #56, The Thirteenth Pearl, a valuable pearl necklace is stolen from Mr. Moto's shop.  Mr. Moto disappears, and the Drews must find him and the thieves.  This book bores me enough that I do not wish to put forth the effort to write any better of a synopsis than that.

This was the last Nancy Drew book that I attempted to read as a child.  I did not read the books in order and did read at least two or three of the books from #57-63 or so.  I do not know which ones, but they would have been read before #56.

I know that this was the last book, because after I began collecting Nancy Drew books in 1991, I found my original bookmark partway through the book.  I lost interest before I finished the book, and that was it.  I moved on to Sweet Valley High and other teen books.

I had trouble finishing this book in the middle 1980s the first time I tried to read it.  I read the book again sometime between 1991 and 2001, and I did not enjoy it that time.  I just finished reading it, and I was not very interested this time.  We have a bunch of different men and women involved in selling jewels, stealing jewels, and worshiping jewels.  It's hard to keep up with all the characters, and the plot is a bit weird.

I made note of a few oddities worth mentioning, at least when I was paying close enough attention to notice details.

Nancy calls on the Mises and brings Togo with her.  On page 24, Togo leaves the car and barks to get inside the home.  Nancy goes to the door, and Togo runs in, breaking a vase, which is most likely valuable.  Nancy wants to pay for the vase, but Mrs. Mise refuses, telling Nancy that she is not responsible.  I disagree.  Nancy's dog broke the vase, so Nancy is responsible. 

Nancy questions Mr. Kikichi about the mess in Mr. Moto's back room.  Nancy leaves with Bess and George, but then she walks back inside on page 34 to explain to Mr. Kikichi why they were asking questions.  I find it odd that Nancy feels the need to explain.  She usually asks questions and doesn't worry about what people think.  I also thought the intent of her questions was obvious and needed no explanation; she wanted to know about the back room.

On page 43, chrysanthemums are for sale in the marketplace.  The text makes a point of mentioning that the chrysanthemums are of every size and color and that they are not yet in season.  "Apparently they had been forced."  The comment seems strange to me, since we all know that people use greenhouses to grow flowers in order to sell them.

I was taken aback on page 57 when Nancy purchases cufflinks for Burt and Dave, in addition to purchasing presents for her other friends.  Wow, Nancy has started buying presents for her friends' boyfriends!  However, we learn on page 137 that Nancy purchased the cufflinks for Bess and George to give as presents.  I think that an explanation on page 57 would have helped since I almost thought that Nancy was making a play for Burt and Dave. 

Have you ever noticed that Burt and Dave are like the same person with two different names?  They are also pretty useless.

On page 95, a man named Mr. Natsuke introduces himself and immediately announces that "his name meant ornamental button."  Is that normal for someone to volunteer the meaning of his name as soon as he is introduced?  

As you can conclude from my comments, I have never enjoyed reading The Thirteenth Pearl.  Part of the problem is the travelogue aspect; I have never liked those books as much.  I also can never remember the plot of this book.  When I think of The Thirteenth Pearl, I always think of the story of The Mystery of the Fire Dragon, but I always quickly remember that story is The Mystery of the Fire Dragon.  I then wonder what the plot of The Thirteenth Pearl is and can never think of it.  I just need to remind myself:  crazy pearl worshippers.  That should do it.

Nancy Drew #55 Mystery of Crocodile Island

In Nancy Drew #55, Mystery of Crocodile Island, Carson Drew has been asked to investigate the Crocodile Ecology Company, located in the Florida Keys.  Roger Gonzales is concerned that the other partners in the company may be involved in an illegal scheme.  Nancy, Bess, and George travel to Florida under assumed names.

I was confused about a series of phone calls made during the story.  On page 13, Mr. Gonzales calls Carson Drew, telling him to cancel the trip.  Mr. Drew believes that Gonzales was forced to make the call, so Nancy makes the trip as planned.  Later, in the book, the Drews learn that the villains had wiretapped Mr. Gonzales' home.  But then we learn that Mr. Gonzales called Mr. Drew from the club instead of his home, which is why the villains were unaware that he canceled the trip.  But then the villains supposedly had Gonzales make the call.  Perhaps I missed something.

Nancy is given a piece of meat to throw to a crocodile on page 73.  Nancy decides that she is not in a good position to aim well, so she jumps into the pen with the crocodile.  After she throws the meat, she becomes so interested in watching the crocodile that she fails to leave the pen.  At the last moment, Nancy jumps out of the pen, avoiding injury. 

Joe tells Nancy, "You're some girl."  It is not appropriate for Nancy to be complemented about her foolishness.  It is also out of character for Nancy to be so foolish.  I mentioned this new, brash Nancy that appears in The Strange Message in the Parchment.  She is alive and well in this book as well.

This book is full of random events.  The girls find a message in a bottle and follow up on it.  A map is found in the woods, and the girls dig for treasure.  These subplots have nothing to do with the mystery.  

The young people plan to visit Key West Naval Base.   On page 134, Nancy wonders if she can tour a submarine.  George declares that it will be no problem.  "How could anyone ever say no to Nancy Drew?"  Insert an eye roll here.  A naval base would not let random visiting girls tour a submarine.  But of course Mr. Crosgrove is a friend of one of the officers, so Nancy gets her wish.

With no discussion, Nancy hands Captain Townsend her car keys on page 138 so that he can drive them around the base. What must young girls think when they read these books?  Nowadays, Nancy would drive instead of the man.

Nancy's face reddens on page 141 when Ned is mentioned.  Any hint of romance and Nancy is embarrassed.  But wait... on page 94, Nancy is called a doll and practically asked out, but she doesn't blush.

I was halfway through the book when I reflected that at least Ned, Burt, and Dave were not conveniently able to join the girls.  Oops, I was wrong.  On page 141, we learn that the boys want to come down to see them.  Don't they go to college?  They must have very bad grades.

The Haunted Bridge is mentioned by name on page 148, which is interesting. 

On page 157 Danny plans to take the girls to an uninhabited key.  He tells them that he "can almost guarantee that you won't find any mosquitoes." Now exactly how would he know that?  Isn't there a lot of water in the Florida Keys?  My backyard is swarming with mosquitoes, and my backyard has less water than the Florida Keys. 

A submarine docks at Crocodile Island, and the men from the submarine go into a nearby building.  Nancy and Ned get in the submarine!  Exactly how stupid are they to think that they have time to get in the submarine, investigate, and emerge before the men return?  Of course the men return, and the young people find themselves prisoners in the submarine.

I overall enjoyed this story.

Recent Interesting Nancy Drew Auctions

There have been several interesting eBay auctions for Nancy Drew books.  This auction was for The Password to Larkspur Lane with the photoplay wrapper.

Most of the wrappers did not survive, so the wrapper is rare.  This particular wrapper is in outstanding condition.  The auction closed at $1,864.63.  Farah's Guide values the wrapper at $1,200.

A second auction with the photoplay wrapper surfaced just after the first auction closed. 

This second auction closed at $1,050.00.  Based on the winning bidder's user ID, I believe that the book was purchased to resell.  I could be wrong, but the buyer is an antiquarian bookseller who does not specialize in series books, which is how I draw my conclusion.

I would love to own this wrapper, but I am not willing to pay a high price for it.  The Bonita Granville movie items are all neat, but I personally would not want to pay very much for any of them.  They are a very low priority for me.  That takes me far out of the running for these auctions.

If I were going to purchase one of these wrappers, I would only be interested in the first auction for the one that was not faded.  The second one would be of no interest unless it fell into my hands very inexpensively.  To me, the two wrappers are in profoundly different condition, and the second one is far less desirable than the first one.  If I were to purchase the wrapper, I would want to display it in a frame, and the faded part is a huge flaw.  In my opinion, the second wrapper is only worth around 25% to 33% as much as the first wrapper.  Either the first wrapper sold too low, or the second wrapper sold too high.  I'll let you draw your own conclusion as to which is true.

Another interesting auction was for the first printing book of Nancy's Mysterious Letter.

The first printing of Nancy's Mysterious Letter lists to The Clue in the Diary in the post-text ads.  This auction closed at $118.28, and the book does not have a dust jacket.  Multiple later printings list to Nancy's Mysterious Letter in the post-text ads, and those books are often mistaken as the first printing.

The first printing listing to The Clue in the Diary is extremely scarce and is one of the toughest first printing books to acquire.  This first printing is harder to find than nearly all of the blank endpapers first printings, with the possible exception of the first printing of The Mystery at Lilac Inn.

Nancy Drew #54 The Strange Message in the Parchment

In Nancy Drew #54, The Strange Message in the Parchment,  Nancy is asked by Junie Flockhart to discover a message in a parchment.  The Flockharts purchased the parchment, and soon after, an anonymous caller informed them that the parchment is the key to righting a wrong.  Nancy, Bess, George, Ned, Burt, and Dave join Nancy at the Flockhart's farm and help her solve the mystery.

Lots is wrong with this Nancy Drew mystery, and it's like we can see how Harriet Adams descended into dementia as these books were written.  Nancy even acts out of character at times. 

The book gives too graphic of a description of the slaughterhouse on page 22.  I was eating a corn dog as I read that page, and I stopped, staring at my corn dog.  I was thinking about where that corn dog came from and then had to force myself to finish it.  I don't know what Harriet was thinking.

On pages 23 and 24, Nancy and Junie recite some bad poetry, like how Junie had a pet lamb that was taken away and made into a sheepskin coat.  Was Harriet trying to gross me out even more?

Mr. Rocco has lived on a farm near the Flockhart farm for many years.  Strangely, on page 38, Junie has no idea how to get to his farm.  Really?

On page 40, Nancy and Junie get what they deserve when they trespass on Mr. Rocco's property.  They are attacked by a flock of vicious birds!  Later in the story, we learn that the birds were lifelike mechanical birds.  This plot device reminds me of the events from The Invisible Intruder.

The painted parchment is stolen from the Flockhart's home.  Nancy draws copies of the pictures as best she can, thinking that the artist can be identified from her sketches.  How?  The reader is expected to believe that Nancy is so good that she can duplicate someone's painting well enough that the original artist can be identified.  Not only that, but Nancy can recreate the original artist's work completely from memory.  Seriously?

Eezy's constant quoting of bible passages annoyed me.  Everything about the book kind of annoyed me.

Here we are on page 113, and Nancy is masterfully painting the parchment pictures from memory.  Suddenly, two men pop up out of nowhere and throw paint onto Nancy, Junie, and the parchment!  How random!

After the paint attack, Nancy wants to go back outside to look for clues.  She asks Mrs. Flockhart to go outside with the girls because Nancy is "sure that two men would not want to tackle three women."  I'm not so sure about that, but even if Nancy is right, the men could be armed.  Three women does not guarantee that there will be no trouble.

Nancy trespasses on Mr. Rocco's property multiple times during the story.  At first, she has no just cause, and her actions are a bit brash and completely out of character.  Nancy even ignores signs warning trespassers away and climbs Rocco's fence to get inside.  She searches his barns when she really has no definite reason to do so. 

The early original text Nancy Drew books portray Nancy as a brash young girl who breaks the law at times.  These later revised text books typically portray Nancy as a law-abiding citizen.  Her behavior is unusual for these later books. 

Nancy's five friends do not appear in the story until page 142, and these higher-numbered Nancy Drew books almost always have Nancy sleuthing with others.  Nancy does have Junie, but Junie is not one of the regulars.  Nancy is away from her core group of friends for 80% of this story.  It's like Nancy remembers her brash side when her primary friends are not present.

On page 154, George is "intrigued by the idea of meeting a real thief face to face."  Has George forgotten that she has solved mysteries with Nancy since volume five and that she has met many thieves?

On pages 158 and 159, Nancy has a heart-to-heart talk with young Sid in the jail.  She gets him to understand how sad he would be if someone were to steal something important from him.  Sid decides that he wants to go straight.  What a happy ending!  A criminal decides to quit hurting others.  Aw, so sweet...  and unrealistic.

The bible passages and Nancy's reformation of a criminal make this book seem preachy. 

I did not enjoy reading this Nancy Drew book, aside from laughing at parts of it.

Avoid Annoying Pop-Up Ads + New eBay Store

I was browsing some blogs and found a link to my site, www.series-books.com, along with a comment that it is a good site even though it has annoying pop-ups.  The comment made me cringe, but really, I didn't put them there.  The site did not always have pop-ups, but at some point the web host added them.  I was not aware for the longest time about the pop-up ads, because I use Adblock Plus, which is a browser add-on.  It works splendidly.

I would pay more in order to make the ads disappear from my site, but unfortunately, it would raise my monthly fee by $20.  I am sure I could look around and find another web host, but I would prefer to leave the site where it is for convenience.  So, do me a favor and get a good pop-up blocker installed, and then you will never see another pop-up ad.  Please.  Just do it.

I took the plunge and opened an eBay store. 

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

The store is a work in progress, and to be honest, I don't like it right now.  I am used to Bonanza being one way and eBay being another way.  My eBay has changed to a new interface for me because of adding a store, and it will take some time to get used to the change.  It looks completely different.

I have not added many categories.  I do have around six added, but only one is visible.  I learned that store categories are only visible when items have been placed in them.  That is a good feature.  On Bonanza, I have to delete categories after I have removed all items.

I do think that the store will be good once I have gotten everything in place the way I want.  I signed up for the monthly subscription at $19.95 per month rather than the yearly subscription at $15.95 per month.  I found out how high the cancellation fee is for cancelling the yearly subscription early, and I decided not to take that risk. 

I will give the eBay store a try for at least two or three months and then will decide whether to keep it.  The plan is to list certain books on eBay while keeping other books on Bonanza.  The vast majority of my better books will continue to be on Bonanza, so as always, I encourage you to visit.

Jennifer's Series Books on Bonanza

Remember that I have a 12% off coupon which can be applied from any item page.  The coupon is visible near the price of each item.  The coupon will apply to all items placed in the order.