restricting inventory input - no Sold history?
Do you have a policy of only listing stuff if you found copies that were sold recently?
I am working on limiting what I list with the goal of eventually bottoming out and retiring. So far I have raised my minimum and weeded books in inventory too long. My recent spate of that resulted in my knees hurting so bad that I went to a specialist who said knee replacement is brutal. (the reason: having to bring all the books upstairs from basement shelving).
Anyway I am also trying to avoid books that have a lot of listings of any condition.
I wonder if the next step is to list only if the books recently sold. That will whittle down a lot.
Do you have similar policies?
7 comments
itsjustasprain
·4 months agoNo - but I might lower my prices on items that have not sold at all (by anyone). I figure that my items can be found along with the others. I do not pay for promotion but I sell vintage stuff and lack of promotion fees does not seem to affect my sales.
I also sell a lot of replacement parts that would only be of interest to someone who needs that part so I expect it will be a while - but also that when they need that part I will have it. I see watchers who I assume have bookmarked me for later. Books probably have a different shelf life here though. (Har!) I cannot say that my experience with long-time listing of old parts would be the same as old books.
I have also sold records in a different account which might be closer to books in that when a record sells it might have been first listed two months ago or two years ago - I can see no pattern at all for when any given title actually sells here but my pricing is fairly low on most titles and seems to be consistent with others. I make a point of writing actual detailed descriptions for each and taking clear photos and I think that is what gets me sales over others who are listing the same titles.
I read what I just wrote here and it seems to be all over the place. Maybe need more coffee this morning. Anyway - I think in general I just put my best effort into creating the listing and then I just put it out there and move on to the next. It will sell when it sells and I will do a bit of comparison with other sellers but otherwise I will let it ride for a year or so before considering a price reduction.
keziak
OP4 months agoOne of my main problems is lack of space for inventory. I weeded 300 books and now I am just about back up to 2200 and space is filling up again. I see so many books that seem to me to be very nice (not the sort of things found on the shelves at thrift stores). I've held on to a number of higher price books from about a year ago but eventually I will have to purge them if there is just no demand.
When I pull books or reject listing them I rarely come up with logical lots to list at auction. Auctions are tough these days anyway plus the lots in my store are also slugging sellers.
I sell a fair number of specialized books so go figure.
bonanza125
·4 months agoIn the case you are describing if the item is similar to a bunch of other stuff I have and can be bulk lot into one I would just add it to a lot rather than sell it individually if I know it is something common which nobody wants. If it's something valuable then I check what others have it listed for. If nobody has listed it then I usually wait on it til I find a comparison.
kibble-net
·4 months agoIf there are no sold items, there's two possibilities.
(1) There is little to no demand. Usually the case when there are many of the item currently listed for sale, but none have sold. In this case, you're better off bundling the item with other items.
(2) It's rare and valuable. More likely to be the case when you can't find any listed at all. In this case, an auction might be worthwhile, or further research on other platforms.
Just my 5 cents - hope that helps a bit!
keziak
OP4 months agoI think mostly it's lack of demand for books on the specialized/esoteric side (but not antiquarian).
I'm not sure how many books fall into this category because I often don't check Sold history (hangs head in shame). I'm mostly throwing the books on the reject pile for having too many copies even if I have a superior condition book that may be worth listing by condition. Too much competition. I got that advice here.
I have been working on going through books by age in inventory because I do not have time to go back through all of the books.
dhbookds
·4 months agoFirst thought is that recently sold would probably include mostly mass market stuff....which would be low $ items........and might increase the number of sales, but decrease profit.......but cause you more physical effort.
But I need more coffee......
jonathanbrightlight
·4 months agoNot exactly, if something is listed and hasn’t sold, of course that’s a warning sign, and if it has sold in there are none listed, that’s a huge positive. The scenario of nothing listed and nothing sold usually just means that I do a little more research and expand the scope of my search to see if I can find relatively similar items listed or sold, and gauge whether it might be worth it, and just rare. Just the fact that it hasn’t been sold or listed recently is not a red flag in it of itself, but it certainly means that I might have to spend a little more time, so I’ll do a snap judgment on whether it’s likely worth enough if it’s worth anything to be worth the time spent to research it.