The Best Advice

[bestpaperboy]

I have been selling off my personal book collection for the past year - almost all first edition sci-fi and fantasy novels - some signed by author. Nothing here is inexpensive but for the most part nothing too dear, mostly $35 to $75 type books. 

One book, among other, didn't want to sell. It was a collection of Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan the Barbarian) stories that was self published in a hard cover edition in the '70s _ Worms of the Earth. I don't know details of the publicatioan but I am guessing it was kind of a vanity press edition that some rich guy wanted to publish. (I could be totally wrong about that.)

I have been listing it off an on but pulled it down after its  last posting with a whole bunch of auctions because we were going to be out of town for a week in mid-May. Went to relist it the other night this week and made three changes: in addition to fiction also listed in vintage and collectible - it is not vintage but definitely collectible. I added the words "Bran Mak Morn" to the listing title which would pull in more Howard fans and then I raised the price.

I had been listing it somewhere in the mid-30s price-wise. I took one look at that price and said what the ___ and raised the price to $45.23 - a neural marketing price* - and the book sold in like two days at full price.

That was the advice from back in the day on the book board. If an item didn;t sell, raise the price and try again.

* We expect prices like 5.95, 199.99 or even 349,900 on a house up for sale. We tend not to pay close attention to these prices as they are expected and fall into our frame of reference. Set a price at 45.23 - or any odd number that does not come readily to mind - and you give the impression that you know something about the value of the item you are selling.  

[hanksbookcase]

Years ago I worked in a restaurant in a tourist town with lots of sidewalk traffic and competition from other restaurants.  The owner was hands off, hiring a manager to run the place.  The food was great and the prices were low.  The manager always had a menu posted on the front door so people walking by could see the great deal on a meal they could get if they came in to eat.  People looked at the menu, but few came in to eat. 

Eventually the manager found another job and moved on, and the owner hired a new manager.  The new manager didn’t change anything except the price of the food – he nearly doubled it.  “Perceived Value,” he said when questioned about it.  All us employees thought he was nuts.

Like the old manager, the new manager posted the new menu with the new, much higher prices, on the front door.  Within a month the restaurant was always packed.  Don't know if it works with books.  Maybe.

[bill11223]

If a book is priced to low a prospective may wonder "What's wrong with it?"  There is no formula  to find the right price too low or too high may prevent a sale.