From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints

[lludwig]

From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

 Most new bookdealers burn out within three years...

[Satnrose]

[ozarkjoe]

Know what the buyer needs to know about specific genres.  If it is a physics book then make note if the units are mks, cgs or English.  If it is a bible then specify which version.   For textbooks make it known if it is the American or International edition and if it comes with an online access code.

[lludwig]

From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

Bookselling is VERY, VERY labor intensive when done right. It also takes lots of skill and knowledge. People aren't paying for the book, they are paying for you finding the book, cleaning the book, describing the book, and knowing what you have found. Booksellers undervalue their talents in general because they know how much people love books and want to share that pleasure.

[Hollowayd]

]

[rockmaple]

A picture is worth a thousand words: Ebay gives you the opportunity to include up to 12 photos with your listing. Photos give your buyers a more complete idea of what you are offering in your auction and may also discourage SNAD returns. Clear photos will help to protect you when returns do happen and will help your case if someone tries to return a different item than the one they purchased from you. For pricier items, take more than 12 photos and keep them in your files for at least 60 days.

I would be lost without my camera and wouldn't want to list without it. A scanner may give you a clearer image of a flat item but it can't compete with the options you get when taking photographs. If your photo doesn't come out clearly, take it again. If you have difficulty holding your camera steady use a tripod. if your photos have a big white spot in the middle from your flash, experiment with reflected light or bring a table over to a window on a bright sunny day and photograph many items at once. If you use a lamp for more light to take photos at night, use a bulb that gives you the right color light so the colors will be true without a yellow cast, and make sure you and your camera aren't being reflected in the mirrored surface of shiny items!

Photograph all flaws but also photograph what's right. Photograph your page edges to show they are clean or to document the amout of foxing or other discolorations and stains. Photograph your copyright page to show what edition you are selling, your gutters to show they are intact and not cracked, the corners to show they aren't bumped and the spine to show it's not twisted. 

Use photo editing software, especially to straighten and crop. There are many free programs available-- I use a PC and find that Picasa is quick and simple to use.

Even though good photos are important selling tools, they are not a substitute for a detailed written description. Don't be that seller who writes "see photos for details and condition." Photos do not come up in a search--you need key words for that and the more details you can include in your written description, the greater the opportunity for your listing to be pulled up in a search.

[gretchenfetchinsllc]

"when shooting fish in a barrel, shoot all the fish" ~~~~~~~~~~Satnrose.

"and don't forget to take out the lead when you filet 'em"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~adderbolt

[lludwig]

From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

When shooting ducks in a barrel, shoot all the ducks!

If you go into a bookstore or other venue and they have a bunch of interesting stuff, buy it all!! Don't "cherrypick", i.e., don't just buy what looks to be the most likely. Take a chance! You might find that something that looked less important turned out to be most important.

And if you do go into a store and find something great, buy some other stuff as well. Both to share the wealth and hide your luck.

[Satnrose}

[lludwig]

From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

This is one of my favorite tips from Mr. Joel: if you are shooting ducks in a barrel, shoot ALL the ducks. Meaning, if you stumble across a great treasure trove, beg, borrow, steal enough gettus to buy ALL of the trove. I chanced upon about 30, or so, fine condition Easton Press books in, of all places, a furniture refinishers shop. Was bold enough to ask for (and get) a nice discount if I took them all. Did. Made a bundle.

[Sparrowsnestbooks]

[emmbook]

I guess the Hints are not to be messed with, but in fairness the more common usage is "shooting fish in a barrel."

Joel seems to have been combining the familiar references to fish in a barrel and sitting ducks. And, before anyone cries fowl here, a more apt feathered reference would be a turkey shoot ...

[gretchenfetchinsllc]

The Mayor of Shooting Ducks is a revered personage here, as is his arch-nemesis, who named him so: Black Jack Whitefish, the pirate of Lakewood.

who actually said: "Work smarter, not harder" and to my knowledge never offered advice about filet of fish or sandwich, but I will admit to loving the taste of a good greasy philly steak and cheese.

[lludwig]

emmspostingid - The two that I posted were posts that were related to the other one,. I often post related posts.  For example, the "follow the flag" and the Huck Finn one posted earlier were the result of reading something on another thread and they came to mind. In any case, if one is going to quote a person (and use quotation marks)  then best to say exactly what was said and not make up quotes; otherwise, imo it is better to say, "In efffect, so and so said x, y, and z" instead of putting words in other people's mouths.

"shooting ducks in a barrel" is a common malaphor as those ducks appear to be as easy a target as the fish - as you said they are "sitting ducks". I always smiled at that hint because it brought to mind the image of ducks in a barrel at long-ago county fairs where children would cherry pick a duck out of the barrel and underneath would be a number that matched a prize. This was before the days of the mechanical penny arcade with the running stream of ducks.

haha on the "fowl" - 'tis the season!

[michael_r_weinstein_bookseller]

Always look at the worst case scenario when buying and the best when selling:

Meaning don't imagine riches when you are buying always think in modest terms. Once you own the book(s) and have fully evaluate and researched is when you should give them their full value. This will protect you from flaws misidentifications and tricky issue points. Everything is nothing until it is proved something. The main difference between a pro and an amateurs is a pro starts at the bottom and is slowly convinced up through the evidence, where the amateur starts at the top and has to be talked back down to earth.

[lludwig]

michael_r_weinstein - Hi! Nice to see you again. Great hint! It reminded me of the difference in how my spouse looks up books on addall vs the way I look them up. I l set addall in descending order just to see what the highest asking prices are and then work my way down. The other half sets addall in ascending order and works his way up. 

From the Collected Works of Booksellers' Hints . . .  

You will often find hallucinatory prices on the internet.

Keep in mind that these prices

are asking prices,

and not the price the book has actually sold for

or is even worth.

[Satnrose] 

From the Collected Works of Booksellers' Hints . . .

When some people sniff too much book dust

they get too high. Too high, try to kiss the sky.

We call this kind of pricing: "Hallucinatory".

The range of prices is often deranged

by intexticated bookseller junkies.

So,

ignore the elevators.

They're trippin'

[Satnrose]

[michael_r_weinstein_bookseller]

Thanks Lludwig, nice to see you as well and carrying on the tradition 🙂

Thats how I do it as well when looking up price if the field is cluttered, but if I can narrow 1st in dj to one page or so, I will start at the bottom until the first copy of equivalent condition. I am not competing with the most you can pay for that book I am competing with the least. Now sometimes there is one person who is pricing their F/F as a VG/VG and I will sometimes ignore that copy figuring they can sell their first because im not willing to go that low.

Most often there will be a few copies by specialist ABAA guys, who I pretty much ignore. Like on my current Conan the Barbarian Curry gets $800ish for copies like that, but I only had it priced $450 in the shop and $350 min bid because that what anyone else could get for it.

Also when evaluating the item I start from the bottom of possibilities, i.e. reading copy, and then work up to collectible, first, nice copy exceptional copy, etc...

When selling on Ebay I use ebays sold prices as a guide and only look at unsold copies to see what NOT to dobut I use Ebay for quick flips and not as a basic parking site.

[lludwig]

From from the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

The first curve is the steepest.

There is a helluva lot to learn in this business. For most people, the most accelerated part of their education will be from the initial part of the process from when they glimmer that books can be valuable to the point where they have enough of the basics of bibliosavvy to list books on eBay. After the first rush, you plateau for a while. If you're lucky and smart, once you get a handle on it you can pump yourself up to a higher level eventually.

eBayability is a separate but distinguishable learning curve all by itself. It doesn't take much, but to do it well takes time and experience.

[Satnrose]

[michael_r_weinstein_bookseller]

In modern books (20th-21st century) you can often tell a lot about a book by who published it. Most universty presses are very good though Oxford publishes a lot of mediocre stuff. Things by obscure publishers are generally scarcer than those by mainstream ones. Things published by topic specific publishers are almost always good and things published by vanity presses are often unsellable. Some publishers do almost nothing but good books, but few have much value though are very sellable (dover) and others you can almost always expect decent value (like Taschen). In fiction its all about the books you have heard of but in non fiction its often about the books you haven't.

[lludwig]

From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

Anyone can improve their selection of nonfiction titles with a few simple tips. One larger tip is to buy University Press books like Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale ...and a million other university presses. The corollary anti-tip is to not buy nonfiction published by the huge New York publishers.

Those tips disguise what is going on in the book market and with book buyers. University Press books tend to have small print runs aimed at the smaller audience interested in the specific subject matter addressed. For that reason, they are also usually not reprinted as bookclub editions. But, beyond that, they are also -- importantly -- more authoritative. Univ Press books will all have some combination of notes, references, sources and indexes at the rear of the volume. The text is documented, even if it presents a slanted point of view.

The other side of that equation is a book published by a huge New York publisher. Their goal is to sell a million copies. The distribution system is large and effective; they advertise like crazy; and the books tend to be much less scholarly. Since there are so many out there, and since they are written for a broader audience, they tend to not have the key and authoritative information that readers need. And the books are common in the modern market.

So, nonfiction book buying and selling lesson #1: check the publisher and table of contents to make sure the book 1) has a table of contents; 2) is indexed; and 3) ideally, is documented with notes/references.

[Psthomas]