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Jul. 7th, 2016 04:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckBooks for sale online have such varying levels of available information about edition and condition, and they’re every bit as susceptible to wishful thinking (and pranking) as anything else that people try to sell. I’m trying to figure out what to do with a handful of books that might (or might not) be worth trying to sell, either via Books By Chance or on our own.
If I can find evidence that a particular book is worth more than about $7 plus shipping but less than about $20 plus shipping (and if it isn’t very heavy. Books By Chance will reject books for being too heavy to be worth selling at the price they expect them to command), I’m willing to offer it to Books By Chance. If I’m sure it’s more than $20, then Scott and I will discuss eBay. If I have no idea at all… Well, I have no idea at all. Books By Chance doesn’t seem to be at all interested in anything that requires more than plugging in an ISBN in order to figure out the price.
I’m really at a loss as to how to figure out the value of some of the books I’ve got. They seem to be priced quite high on Amazon (or on some other, single site) and considerably lower elsewhere. I can’t tell if I’m looking at different editions (Amazon frequently folds listings for multiple editions together) or if prices in one place are wildly high or wildly low. I also can’t tell if the books actually sell at those prices.
I’m pretty sure Books By Chance isn’t going to want to deal with a hardcover from 1914 that’s listed for $89 on Amazon, $93 on eBay, and $6 on Alibris. (My guess is that the $6 price is more realistic since the thing is not a first edition or in any way special.) Or with the various withdrawn library books that list high (also for withdrawn library copies) in one place and low in another. Or the books for which I can’t find any listings at all. Or the book that I know is quite old and that has had the title page ripped out. If it’s what I think it is and it’s the US edition, it’s probably worth about $5, absolute maximum, in the condition it’s in (a good copy is about $250). Good copies of the English edition seem to go upwards of $1500. This is not a good copy, but it still might be worth some small fraction of that. If it is the English edition (which is less than likely given that I found it in a Goodwill store in Michigan, but I’d hate to be wrong about it).
I’ve done a little looking around to see if there are local antiquarian book people who might be willing to take a look. Everyone I’ve found seems to specialize in things that aren’t what I have, and I really can’t easily go outside the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area. Also, none of them talk at all on their websites about buying from people or about selling on consignment or anything that makes me feel that my approaching them with my three or four questionable books might be welcome.
If I can find evidence that a particular book is worth more than about $7 plus shipping but less than about $20 plus shipping (and if it isn’t very heavy. Books By Chance will reject books for being too heavy to be worth selling at the price they expect them to command), I’m willing to offer it to Books By Chance. If I’m sure it’s more than $20, then Scott and I will discuss eBay. If I have no idea at all… Well, I have no idea at all. Books By Chance doesn’t seem to be at all interested in anything that requires more than plugging in an ISBN in order to figure out the price.
I’m really at a loss as to how to figure out the value of some of the books I’ve got. They seem to be priced quite high on Amazon (or on some other, single site) and considerably lower elsewhere. I can’t tell if I’m looking at different editions (Amazon frequently folds listings for multiple editions together) or if prices in one place are wildly high or wildly low. I also can’t tell if the books actually sell at those prices.
I’m pretty sure Books By Chance isn’t going to want to deal with a hardcover from 1914 that’s listed for $89 on Amazon, $93 on eBay, and $6 on Alibris. (My guess is that the $6 price is more realistic since the thing is not a first edition or in any way special.) Or with the various withdrawn library books that list high (also for withdrawn library copies) in one place and low in another. Or the books for which I can’t find any listings at all. Or the book that I know is quite old and that has had the title page ripped out. If it’s what I think it is and it’s the US edition, it’s probably worth about $5, absolute maximum, in the condition it’s in (a good copy is about $250). Good copies of the English edition seem to go upwards of $1500. This is not a good copy, but it still might be worth some small fraction of that. If it is the English edition (which is less than likely given that I found it in a Goodwill store in Michigan, but I’d hate to be wrong about it).
I’ve done a little looking around to see if there are local antiquarian book people who might be willing to take a look. Everyone I’ve found seems to specialize in things that aren’t what I have, and I really can’t easily go outside the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area. Also, none of them talk at all on their websites about buying from people or about selling on consignment or anything that makes me feel that my approaching them with my three or four questionable books might be welcome.
