How has the used book market changed?

[bitsofsiliconvalley]

I have a question about the eBay market for used books.

Years ago I was reselling a lot of used books that I purchased at library sales. Typically I'd list a book in a 7-day auction with a starting bid about half the average price in the same condition on ABEbooks. I'd sell about 50% of the listings, which I considered satisfactory.

I dealt mainly in technical books on odd and obscure topics that a person with a related occupation or hobby might want to buy for use. I also sold collectible books that would appeal to the same type of people. Here are a couple of representative listings that I have right now:

Designing and Painting for the Theatre, Pecktal - HB

Design Guide to Orbital Flight, Forward by Wernher von Braun, 1962

I've been away from eBay for three years, and away from selling books for years longer. Now I'm trying to liquidate the books I have on hand. I'm listing and pricing things the same way I used to, and nothing is selling. What has changed? What do I need to do to get a reasonable sellthrough rate?

[2013grotz]

---

@gwens*4saleitems* wrote:

Barnes & Noble is still open and doing very well.

---

But few and far between.  For me, the nearest B&N is a 100 mile one-way trip away.  A visit would be a day vacation event for me or anyone in my general area.

[chris13]

I love books but when I visit a bookstore I almost always browse rather than enter with a book in mind.

Browsing books on eBay is an exercise in putting one's "mouth up to the firehose"

Sometimes I buy very difficult to find specific edition books on eBay, but I do not collect them like they were comic books. Often this type of book is found now on free university sites, since they tend to be antiquarian in nature and I dont need to store them or even pay for them.

[lacemaker3]

@bitsofsiliconvalley 

Speaking as a book buyer on eBay, most books on eBay are overpriced. So, if you base your prices on eBay listings or recent sales, you are probably going to be way overpriced and you're not going to see a lot of sales. That is YOUR problem as the seller, not eBay's problem. You didn't do your research well enough to price your items.

As an example, I recently (within the last couple of days) priced out and bought a set of hardcover novels by an author that I like. The author died several years ago, so there are no more of these books coming out.

I found one seller, in the USA, reasonably close to me, that had all of the books I wanted to buy. Their listings were fixed-price with make-an-offer, so I started to submit offers. Most of my offers (6 out of 8 were accepted, but two of the books were way overpriced, meaning 5 - 6 times the price of the other books, with no logical reason for it. I had expected (reasonably) that they would be willing to accept reasonable offers or send me reasonable counter offers for these two books, especially as I was purchasing multiple items.

Nope. The seller just rejected my reasonable offers and did not bother to send counter offers. I private messaged them, and asked them to send me reasonable counter offers. "No, my wife set the prices and I can't accept those offers." So, no logical reason for it, just "Wifey says no.".

So, I paid promptly (within a few hours) for the 6 listings that I had purchased, and started searching more widely. I found both of the other two books listed on eBay UK, for very reasonable prices, with very reasonable international shipping costs to the US. I had purchased those two books, and they were being shipped to me, before the first USA based seller got my first batch of books to the post office. They were about 1/3 of the total cost of the USA-based seller, including shipping.

So, basically, Wifey screwed up two potentially-lucrative sales, because she was greedy.

So many times, when I'm searching for a book, it is way too expensive on eBay. I'm going to buy the most reasonable cost copy, wherever I find it. That is not usually on eBay.

[the_fancy_fox]

---

@moondogblues wrote:

"There will be a market for old books as the globalists rewrite and burn them and the power grid starts fluctuating and becomes privileged use."

Ha, a conspiracy theorist/survivalist (maybe) after my own heart!  I have always though that a library of fix-it and how to books would be great after the Apocalypse.  Assuming anyone lives through it, old cookbooks with recipes such as Possum Stew, and foraging for wild greens would be good.  Old copies of Mother Earth News, how to identify edible mushrooms...building a windmill, digging a well.  Raising sheep and chickens, spinning yarn, well you all get the drift.  Hard copies will last after the electricity is gone.  Not to be a Debbie Downer but the way the despots are waving the swords...I fear for the future and am glad I am old now.

---

Ok you made me laugh. I already grow all the veggies and fruit we eat all year. Raise chickens and can, freeze and dehydrate.  I’m not looking for the end of civilization but it’s sure a good hedge against all the inflation we have been going through. 

I started laughing when I saw you write about possum stew!! I have a cookbook that has the recipe. Not that I would ever eat a Possum, the babies are cute but the adults sure are ugly. 

And I do sell old books and anything where’s there’s more than a few copies listed I have found it’s not worth creating an ad for it. Well that is unless you have an outstanding copy. 

[1786davycrockett]

@onlinecentral 

"Book sellers like Barnes Noble, B Dalton, Borders and Walden closed down in 2009."

Really?  I must have been dreaming then, all those years I was working at Barnes & Noble until June 2013.

And my old employer still seems to be very much alive, even today.

[1786davycrockett]

@fashunu4eeuh 

"2) Because of the digital revolution, US readers are utilizing e-books and e-readers like Kindle in greater numbers. 25% of American readers chose digital-formatted books over traditional books in 2019, according to the Pew Research Center.

3) In the same study, 20% of readers in the US listened to audiobooks, thanks in large part to Amazon’s acquisition of Audible, making it easy to find favorite titles."

The vast majority of published books are currently NOT available either as e-books or audiobooks, largely due to copyright law and authors' contractural rights.  Many of these books are in public domain (before 1928), and are of very little interest, except for established "classic" literature; but a HUGE number were published between 1928 (the current "public domain" cut-off date) and the early 1990s, when e-books and audio books first hit the book market.

Many publishers are attempting to re-negotiate authors' contracts to include e-book and audio book versions; but most authors have rejected those offers as being too "stingy" for the writers, while being too profitable for the publishers.  And, while many of the authors from this "1928-1990" period have passed away, their estates are largely not interested in the minimal contracts being offered by publishers.

So, that "sweet" period, between 1928 & 1990, is actually a very good area for selling out-of-print books, although non-fiction books from those years present their own problems, largely bearing with obsolete and outmoded technology (although I recently sold a long run of mid- to late-1960s computer magazines to someone at Tesla -- so there IS a market for archaic computer books and magazines -- go Fortran!).

[2013grotz]

---

@chris13 wrote:

I love books but when I visit a bookstore I almost always browse rather than enter with a book in mind.

Browsing books on eBay is an exercise in putting one's "mouth up to the firehose"

Usually when I've gone into an average new bookstore I get sticker-shocked right out of buying anything. Mainly pointing out what I observed up above: There's a glut of supply of books and not enough demand to match. Ebay's where it's very noticed, for sure. It's nice to browse and that's one where a B&M bookstore has ebay beat, but at the same time I browse many other places (thrifts, Goodwill, etc) both to obtain books for me and eventually turn that to stock when I get done where the prices are just much cheaper. To wit, I remember posting something here once that indicated that new physical book sales were booming the last two years, but with what I said above, all of it is just streaming into the used market. From what I can tell book stores are as much going the way of the dodo with the "I've read it now what do I do with it?" question as much as the e-book thing.

One of many things happening in the economy that makes for an interesting study in such a class.

---

@lacemaker3 wrote:

I private messaged them, and asked them to send me reasonable counter offers. "No, my wife set the prices and I can't accept those offers." So, no logical reason for it, just "Wifey says no.".

It's interesting just to see how wide the variance is of price setting between sellers on the same item on ebay. I'm amazed, really at what comes up if I do sort by "price + shipping: Highest first". Nearest I can figure it's people just guessing at a value, and then there's some sentimental emotional attachment behind it. I can understand the latter and see it a lot when I reply to posts in places like this. But at the same time, a lot of the mental exercise in doing this is getting past what you think is valuable and what you like and seeing what others are typically responding to. It always pays to research, and try to not have any attachment behind what you do as a seller on here. Basically put, I'll generally accept any reasonable offers (again buyers and sellers have huge differences of opinion as to what is "reasonable" too) as long as it doesn't end up with me paying to give the product away.  Like I say (and most sellers I run into get), any item is worth exactly what it actually sells for.  Any other estimation is just a pipe dream.

(Not 100% responses to these things, but they are interesting case studies that new sellers would be well benefited to think on)

[maxine*j]

---

@lacemaker3 wrote:

Speaking as a book buyer on eBay, most books on eBay are overpriced...   So many times, when I'm searching for a book, it is way too expensive on eBay.  I'm going to buy the most reasonable cost copy, wherever I find it. That is not usually on eBay.

---

That is my experience, too.  I still read physical books, and I read two to four books a week.  Much of my reading these days is light reading, just commodity books -- mysteries, general fiction, autobiographies by people who did not  lead dark and troubled lives, entertaining travelogues, that sort of thing.   I find these nearly always more expensive on eBay than on other venues, sorry to say.

-

[deltilogical]

It is not a conspiracy theory that they are rewriting James Bond which to me is ridiculous.  How are they going to deal with Conrad and Twain?  Why can't they write their own texts and not rewrite others' successful work?    I'd tell you the answer,  but its just a coincidence.   

When the net is down people are going to be absolutely helpless - they don't even have CD-Roms anymore, nor the capacity to read them.  I had collected all kinds of great info on floppy off the old bbs systems (like Pete Buuttigeg's Dead Cow BBS) and one day I realized the computers didn't read them anymore.   Planned obsolence lost me a library. 

I have books on animal husbandry, beekeeping, Green Beret medical guides - but they're in a box in a storage space.   

[chapeau-noir]

The worst situation in my book buying was some years back when someone on eBay listed the three volume set of Cross's Life of Henry Fielding with one volume in each listing.  Yep - volume one in a listing, volume two in another listing, volume three in a third listing. I had to keep track of three of them to hopefully get the entire set.  Since the setup was so clueless I actually ended up "winning" all three volumes for a pittance.  I was prepared to pay a lot more for the complete set. If they HAD to use auctions they should have just auctioned off the set. They would have got more for the set had they sold it outright.

So I wouldn't advocate auctions to begin with, but if you like them, maybe give them one go round and then list fixed price.  There's a very experienced bookseller here who does well with auctions.

[mike_jayroe]

I have a lot of books listed, mostly NASCAR and railroad related and haven't sold any since early March. I have a lot of paperback books (Dale Brown / Tom Clancy and a lot of non-fiction books ) on another site for over 9 months and have sold only two of them.

Like others have said above, e-books seem to be preferred. I like the old style books where I can read anywhere I want since I don't have a lap top and I don't need to keep a battery charged.

[1786davycrockett]

@deltilogical 

"It is not a conspiracy theory that they are rewriting James Bond which to me is ridiculous." 

Beginning in 1968, the James Bond series was continued, with the publication of COLONEL SUN, written by Kingsley Amis, under the pseudonym of Robert Markham.  This additional Bond book (with many more to come from other authors) was offered not only with the blessing of Ian Fleming's estate (Glidrose Publications); but also with their full cooperation and guidance.

If you don't enjoy the "rewriting" of the James Bond character, blame Ian Fleming's estate -- they have been eager to cash in on the Bond name for over 60 years now.

And, in case you haven't noticed, heavily edited and rewritten versions of both Mark Twain and Joseph Conrad have been in print for scores and scores of years:  I have a version of THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN from the mid-1950s which includes absolutely NO mention of Joe whatsoever -- just a fun-filled adventure of a wild river boy in Missouri in the years preceding the War Between The States -- with no moral qualms whatsoever.

[reallynicestamps]

For the past five years I have been buying fewer and fewer books for resale and have pivoted to unused older sewing patterns.

Part of the reason is less demand.

Part is that SF/F books these days are much thicker and I   have to ship them by Canada Post's parcel rates, which start at $12 domestically.

Older thinner books could go Letter Rate which averaged about $3.00.

My only advantage is that I am buying in Canadian loonies and selling in US dollars.

In addition, the FVF for books is now 15% and any I ship to the USA require an "international " fee of 0.4% in addition.

Whatever you decide, register a Managed Payments account before you list anything.

[deltilogical]

The James Bond books are different than the movies, at least the recent ones, they are kitsch!  

I just think the rewriters should be coming up with their own symbols, and not destroying other people' work.

[bitsofsiliconvalley]

OP here, replying to the messages so far. Due to the remarkable response I got I'm not trying to address each individual point... only ones that came up repeatedly or that I consider particularly important.

I'm aware that eBay's business has largely shifted to the BIN model. I have two problems with it.

First, for some of these items I simply can't find comps; the only alternative to blind guessing is to let the market set the price.

Second, my life has gotten very busy, and I can't run to the Post Office whenever someone decides to buy a book. With auctions I can plan one or two trips a week. It's not so much the time that's a problem, as the unpredictability. If I have a week from hell I can just skip listing auctions. If I've got a bunch of BIN listings I don't have that option. Maybe eBay has a vacation setting... I know Amazon does, or used to. That wouldn't solve the problem but would make it easier to live with. Any other suggestions for a better way to deal with this are welcome.

There's a disconnect between my OP and many responses, but I'm not sure whether it's on the responders' side or mine. It concerns the idea that people just aren't going to pay money for books that contain old information.

My take is that people should be paying good money for many of the books I'm selling because the information in them just isn't available anywhere else. Two examples plucked out of my memory, sold many years ago: an early 1950s edition of a annual guide to repairing popular brands of cars; a copy of the RCA vacuum tube reference manual from the 1960s. If you're interested in one of those topics you'll find scraps of the same information on the Web, but you'll never find all of it, certainly not in one place. If this is unrealistic, please help me understand why!

As for condition, accurate descriptions are important, but less-than-perfect condition shouldn't deter a buyer much; first, because they want the information, not the paper and binding; second, because in many cases there's no telling how long they'd have to wait to find another copy of the book in any condition.

My own theory is that a lot of the lack of response is due to the way eBay classifies things. There's one category for "Books," and six for "Textbooks, Education & Reference" (some of which actually aren't books). Trying to find something is like going into a used bookstore and finding all of the textbooks piled in a jumble on one table, and everything else on another. No hope of finding something that interests you unless you're searching for a particular title.

If I were a buyer I'd use Advanced Search and look for keywords, but my lack of sales suggests that very few people do that. Maybe there's an effective way of making listings findable that I just don't know, or maybe eBay is just a lousy platform for this kind of buying and selling. Or maybe my theory is all wet.