02-18-2025 09:50 PM - edited 02-18-2025 09:53 PM
Those of you who sell books and do sell vintage books… is there a magic number of listings when you really started to see a steady number of sales? I have just over a thousand books listed right now (it took me three years to list these many books 😅), and some days I sell nothing, sometimes even a week goes by without a sale. Some weeks I sell every day, or have even multiple sales in one day. I offer discounts when I see that someone is ‘watching’ an item, I do occasional promotions, etc.
I do list sporadically, as I am a homeschooling SAHM, and I don’t have much time to post, but I’m really trying to put more time into posting and bringing in a steadier income, so I made 5-10 listings/day my goal.
I’d love to hear some advice/tips that have helped making your sales faster and more efficient. Thanks!
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02-19-2025 05:04 PM
Thank you! I completely agree! I avoid books with just AI descriptions!
02-19-2025 05:06 PM
Interesting, and I hear you. I’ve had some international sales though where the buyer did pay a hefty amount for shipping. Those people are definitely out there, it may just take longer for them to find you. Don’t give up!
02-19-2025 09:41 PM
Obviously, the more items which you list, the greater potential for sales.
And the secret is to offer books which very few (if any) other booksellers are offering -- all "best sellers" from the last 35 years are too thickly abundant; and, unless you have a Near Fine (or better), first printing in dust jacket edition, there is little point in adding yet another lesser graded listing to the multitudes which are currently available.
Better to concentrate on esoteric pre-1990 titles, with shorter press runs, that may not have been "best sellers" in their time, but which have gained interest over the years.
Additionally, pre-1990 non-fiction titles seem to be good "long term" investments, as well as movie, music and TV tie-ins from that same pre-1990 time period.
With my books, I am not concerned with immediate sales (although they happen with a very satisfying regularity); but what I am counting on are the "spur of the moment" buyers, who have been spent years searching for a particular book, or author, or subject matter -- and who finally discover it on my site, where it may have been sitting for years, just waiting for the right buyer.
And, the more similar titles which you list, the greater the chance of attracting more and more of those "spur of the moment" book hunters.
Most of the really good antiquarian book sellers whom I've met over the past 60 years have had one very good quality in common -- the patience to wait for a book to be sold to the right buyer.
Good luck!