I have been selling books online since 2000, and have been leading a discussion list with a bookseller’s subscription service in it for a few years. I see some reoccurring common mistakes made by people who sell books online. Here I have listed the three worst mistakes and what you can do instead so you are sure to be successful in selling books online.
Mistake #1: Old doesn’t mean valuable. If it’s old and antique looking many people equate that to valuable in the book world. They will invest sometimes a lot of money in a book hoping it sells without doing the research to ensure they will not only recoup their investment but actually make money on the book. I made this mistake my first year in selling vintage children’s books online. I won’t forget it and hopefully you will avoid it by reading this article. I found a dust jacketed copy of The Bobbsey Twins at a book sale for $30. The first clue that it wasn’t worth any money beyond the $30 was that the book was still there the second day of the sale. I brought it home and found that the book was selling online for $2! I was crushed, but did learn a valuable lesson that day. High supply and low demand means no profit whereas low supply and high demand means great profit.
How you can avoid this mistake: Know your market. Spend time researching closed auctions on eBay. Peruse the eBay and Amazon bookselling boards and listen to the discussions. Have a way to look the book up from a remote location while you are out book hunting. You can do this easily now with the internet so readily available everywhere. Just because it is listed on Amazon doesn’t mean it sells for the asking price. You need to analyze quickly the amount of books actually up for sell and the median asking price.
Mistake #2: Not pricing competitively or way too low. When you sell a book in less than 24 hours and it’s not a quick flip title then you have probably underpriced your book. This is losing money even if you made money.
How you can avoid this mistake: Research. Go to http://www.AddAll.com and look up your title. See how many listings are there and note the median price. Go to eBay’s completed listings and note what the final value was of each closed listing. Typically speaking, eBay will be only a fraction of the market value on Amazon, ABE or Alibris but you still get an idea if you are dealing with a $10 book or a $50 book. You will want to note the demand through Amazon’s rank and how many closed auctions actually sold then you may be able to gauge the demand of the book.
Mistake #3: Skipping the children’s books leaves money on the table and much of it. The vintage out of print children’s book market is alive and well. Most booksellers want to pass right over the children’s books tables at the sales because they think the text books and tech manuals is where the money is – they are right but they are stepping over dollars to pick up dimes. Yes, children’s books can be very lucrative and they typically cost less at the sales!
How you can avoid this mistake: Look up closed auctions on eBay in the children’s books category. Click on sort by highest price. Tip: be sure to put in minus lot and minus teacher. This way you aren’t getting the multiple book listings which will take your time to wade through them. Jot down titles or peruse pictures. Go to http://www.LoganberryBooks.com to look at the most requested books link. This is where people request the children’s books they can’t find on the internet.
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JulieAnna,
I really like this article ~ concise and clear and very helpful to anyone just starting out…if they listen it will be of great benefit to them.
Thanks for writing it,
Carol