Serious Decline In Publication / Books Sales

[oletooks]

Over the years, OleTooks Books has sold over 35,000 books, rare publications, periodicals etc. In the last six (6) months our sales have been almost non-existent. We noticed a serious decline in book sales in 2023 when the USPS raised the Media Mail rate. Is the decline in book sales related to the dumbing down of America's young people, a result of increased shipping costs or other factors?  From 1995 to 2010 our customers were mainly older individuals of the 'Greatest Generation" that were collectors of militaria, rare book collectors of non-fiction historical subjects, Easton Press enthusiasts, and a variety of college / university students wanting text books and reference materials.

We would appreciate feedback from other eBay book sellers concerning the decline in book sales on eBay in the last year or so.

Thank you for your feedback,

OleTooks Books

[selsa84]

I don't sell books but am a collector and buyer. I sell maps to pay for my book and map collecting and will tell you a lot has changed over the last 15 years. The older generation is tighter with their money nowadays and the younger generation doesn't look at old books as investments like others do. I'm friends with a few rare book dealers and they have all stressed the same issue. Sales are down at most rare book stores and it's a rough business these days. My favorite book dealer who had 2 brick and mortar stores has closed one and seriously downsized his books, some at a considerable loss. My uncle who has one of the best private Civil War book collections started to sell some of his off and also had problems selling them. I know young people who collect books but 95% are over 50. I wish you luck and hope things pik up for you. 

[toysaver]

It's not just eBay.  Costco is going to stop selling books year-round and only offer them from September to New Years.  

[kensgiftshop]

They have all these gadgets now that will read the books for you, so need to buy actual books anymore.

[onlinecentral]

From 1995 to 2010 our customers were mainly older individuals of the 'Greatest Generation' ...
The majority of the 'Greatest Generation' has passed away. Their collections were or are for sale.
The desirable age 25 to 54 customers from 1995 are now age 54 to 83.
The present age 25 to 54 customers prefer to stream rather than own media.
They are less interested in the collectibles their grandparents cherished.
They want the Pokemon or Magic the Gathering from their youth.
An increase in the Media Mail rate would be a small increase compared to the overall expense of a rare book, sales tax and postage.
Sorry that your niche dwindled.

[reallynicestamps]

From 1995 to 2010 our customers were mainly older individuals of the 'Greatest Generation" that were collectors of militaria,

During that 15 years the Greatest Generation (1901-1927) were between  68 and 109 years old.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greatest_Generation

Today they are 83 and up.

They are no longer collecting.
Or statistically, breathing.

...and a variety of college / university students wanting text books and reference materials.

Most of which are now available online, including online inter-university loans.

I sold,on another ID, science fiction and fantasy paperbacks . But my sales have almost stopped too.

Most of the SF is very dated, and as James Nicholl Davis elucidates in his Young People Read Old SFF https://youngpeoplereadoldsff.com/ the authorial attitudes can be very offputting.

the USPS raised the Media Mail rate.

Another problem is , just as the USPS raised Media Mail rates, Canada Post no longer allows books under 2cm to be sent as Letter Mail (it's the Universal Postal Union actually, but...) and newer SFF runs to 250-to 500 pages. Expensive to ship.

Is the decline in book sales related to the dumbing down of America's young people,

I don't think so.

Young people are reading, and writing, more than we did as kids.

But it's not happening on paper.

One of the most popular current SF  series (Murderbot) is written in novella length stories, meant to be consumed on e-readers. Each book costs about $15 as a paperback but $5 or so for Kindle. There are a dozen or so of them at the moment.

A lot of the "kids" you see staring at phones are actually reading books. Just not in a form we would have recognized at their age.

So.

Our costs changed.

Our demographics changed.

We are not selling what our potential customers want to read.

My decision was to stop selling books almost entirely and concentrate of sewing patterns which do sell nicely.

I have found a small but steady market on this ID for scholarly works on philately, most of which were produced in tiny numbers, often less than 20 copies ever printed, with fewer surviving.

[chapeau-noir]

My statistics and math textbooks sell, but others are slow. 'Rare' books often aren't very rare anymore - a HTF  book I might have spent quite a bit of money for 10 years ago might have five copies on offer most probably at least two from the massive book sellers who dump on ebay at penny prices. 

Yes, a lot of youth read electronically. I'm not 'youth' but for a lot of reading I prefer electronic means. I also do research and many of those books are not digitally available but i can get them cheaper these days. 

I'm cleaning I out two libraries and am opting to donate my books. I live in a 'city of readers' as we were once called and people haunt the thrifts as well as used and new book stores.

Media mail prices do impact, but I don't think they impact rare or HTF books- not long ago I shipped 20 lb of advanced stats and methodology books to The Netherlands. $$$

[yuzuha]

---

@reallynicestamps wrote:

Is the decline in book sales related to the dumbing down of America's young people,

I don't think so.

Young people are reading, and writing, more than we did as kids.

But it's not happening on paper.

One of the most popular current SF  series (Murderbot) is written in novella length stories, meant to be consumed on e-readers. Each book costs about $15 as a paperback but $5 or so for Kindle. There are a dozen or so of them at the moment.

A lot of the "kids" you see staring at phones are actually reading books. Just not in a form we would have recognized at their age.

---

Exactly. I have both a Kindle reader as well as the Kindle app on my phone and I haven't purchased a physical book in almost a decade now. Why would I when it costs much less to just buy a digital copy that I can carry with me on my phone?

Additionally, I like to read books in Japanese to keep up my language skills. If I purchase a Japanese book in Kindle format, when I run into a word I'm not familiar with, I can simply tap on it and it will bring up a dictionary entry for that word, so I don't need to either carry around a dictionary OR go to a website to look up the word. Ten times more convenient.

[jewelbiz]

I must admit I was so excited all Winter long about my new future book business venture of my selling my books out on the street, on Broadway, from 1 table as I tried last year.  I have a hand truck and maybe 10,000 books to consider with a 6 foot folding table and chair.
I carefully chose the books all Winter 📚 researched and priced what I thought Upper West Siders of Manhattan passing by would like.  I brought 4 boxes of books downstairs in front of my apartment building and planned to stay exactly 2 hours no matter what!

Oh my!  How painful was it!  I tried very hard but just didn’t sell 1 book!  I found it excruciating.

 Stayed the full 2 hours and then packed up my stuff and fortunately got upstairs in few minutes.

Little by little I have been slowly putting the books back on my shelves.

Honestly can’t figure out why it was so unsuccessful!

Last year I went out for the same 2 hours time period and sold $90.

Obviously can’t afford an employee to make doing it easier.

Emotionally it was bad! Real bad!  Pix is of me April 15, 2024 

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Would you ever have been able to run a b&m bookstore with the number of bools you offered on Ebay?

I think not.

Back in the days when we had no free listings on Ebay, the listing fees destroyed the profits for many booksellers. Sell though rate was awful just as it was for many antiquarian and used booksellers.

Very early in Ebay's history, the sell-through rate was far better because Ebay sellers were totally destroying the price structure which existed in real bookstores.

We all know that Ebay turned modern first editions from a lucrative specialty to a low margin specialty.

Every has there reasons for why people are not buying, but few want to admit that buying online is no longer a cheaper way to buy books. And selling books and other media on Ebay requires inventory levels beyond what many sellers can acquire and more effort listing than many sellers wish to spend.

The used book business is an inventory intensive, slow turns business, and never generated huge profits even for the high end bookstores.  The closest to high end profit stores were often making their money on remainders, and Ithe Internet and Ebay made them marginally profitable.

There are still some folks who can make money by doing house cleanouts, but that is hard work.

[greatmidwestcoin]

I seriously do not understand why books have remained on the earth this long with technology. As people age, the new Gen is abandoning books. Libraries are in the same boat. They would not be around if not for DVD's and computers for people to walk in and use. Oh, of course like most of the downtown libraries they are used for housing the homeless. A waste of tax money IMO. You can't go green unless you lose these ancient items too. 

[greatmidwestcoin]

Nailed it.

[greatmidwestcoin]

I love your glass phone panel.  I used to be a TC Specialist and traveled to many states and thousands of branches installing Key and PBX systems. I did see a working phone booth about two months ago. I was shocked to see it. You look very proud, as you should be.  Stay safe and be well.

[funfactorychannel]

Funny, i was always early adopter of dvds and books but switch to digital when kindle first came out and prime video. I bought every new model of kindle and own like over 3k book over the years and 2k of movies and tv purchase on prime.

Lately i switching back to physical media. I have records of book and movie purchases but these publishers pull them down and relist them as new or a different edition so I can no longer find them. I also do not own any of the digital content.. we are only bless with the right to watch and read. 

And this year they are removing more and more stuff to have me rebuy them again. Kinda annoying so I started switching back to physical with my own media server.

[cardsforauction]

You may want to have a large sign (if possible)  with a list of what types of books your selling : Novels, Art, Sports, History, Technology, Science, Religion, Textbooks, etc.  Sure, someone can come up to you and ask if you sell those type of books, but if you only sell novels and  art books you can just post it on a sign what kind of books you sell. "Novels, Art Books, and More"  Maybe you want them to come ask and you don't want to have a sign or not allowed to have a sign there?  I don't know the rules for selling there.