foxing on books

[keziak]

Alas I have a lot of leatherette books with light foxing on page ends. I am asking myself whether I should just dump them. So far I"ve run some through auctions with no luck. I can't blame buyers for saying "nope" and buying others in better condition. Any thoughts from experience?

[katzrul15]

Do they have an odor at all?

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

Selling them in the craft supplies. I've seen these books cut into numbers or letters with maybe a wire EDM and the college kids just love them.

     We take a stack of 3 old narley books at the thrift shop and tie a beautiful bow around them. ( we have a volunteer florist)

Sometimes customers just need suggestions.

[go-bad-chicken]

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@keziak wrote:

Alas I have a lot of leatherette books with light foxing on page ends. I am asking myself whether I should just dump them. So far I"ve run some through auctions with no luck. I can't blame buyers for saying "nope" and buying others in better condition. Any thoughts from experience?

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@keziak 

In my experience there will always be some buyers of books who will accept minor flaws for a discounted price. 

If it were me I would list the books as buy it now and price them somewhere around 10% to 25% less than current market value, and then see what happens.

Best of luck.

[keziak]

No, they are in otherwise nice condition (ie no wear or damage to the leatherette or musty smell).

[katzrul15]

That is a great idea!

There is a local gal who takes the nice leather ones that the binding/covers are in great shape and removes the pages and they are bound together to be placed on bookshelves, etc.  She blends some neat colors and choices.  

[keziak]

I have them at auction with Best Offer at the moment. The views are low. Maybe the problem is more glutting of the site than anything. They have to actually go into the listings to see the information about foxing. 

The craft idea is thinking outside the box!

[Anonymous]

Is it actual foxing or is it mold? If the latter, trash.

[slippinjimmy]

Unless these are rare and valuable books you should dump the Auction format and use Fixed Price.

When I'm looking for common and low value items I often click the Fixed Price only filter because I'm not at all interested in anything listed as an Auction.

It might just be me but the only time I will even look at an Auction is if the item is so obscure that it rarely if ever shows up on eBay (or elsewhere).

[katzrul15]

Then I would group them and sell in lots, FP.

Some want the "patina" look on them, if it is not too heavy and just on the edges.  Note in the description that they have no odor, the covers are remarkable for their age and they have been discounted due to the foxing, etc.

Especially if they are wanted for shelf decorations, the foxing will have little to no impact, etc.

[keziak]

When selling media in lots I like to start them at auction. That moves a fair amount of stuff. If I think they are worth it I will move them to Fixed Price in my  store next, or auction with Best Offer. 

My storage area for boxes of stuff in my Store is pretty limited. I do have a storage unit but I do not use it for store storage.

[keziak]

That is excellent specific advice. Thank you very much.

[keziak]

No, not mold. thanks for your input!

[dhbookds]

Take a look at these solds:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/267/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=books+shelf+Decor&LH_TitleDesc=0&rt=nc&LH_Sold=1&...

[keziak]

I was a librarian back in the day and the lame joke was about people coming to the Information Desk asking for books by color.