bengtsson wrote: Boy they sure do want money for them on the used book sites. I've seen Hunts at $80!
As a regular buyer of used books I have learned that the asking prices for scarce books can sometimes bear no relationship to reality!
What happens is that so-called "spider sellers", with no inventory of their own, locate scarce (and presumably in-demand) titles in one marketplace and list them with a hefty markup in another. It's a type of price arbitrage. The tell-tale signs are:
- The book's price is many times higher than found elsewhere.
- The book's condition is vague or worst-case, since the spider seller does not know!
- The delivery time is vague or worst-case; ditto.
- The listings appear and disappear in unison with copies from other sellers; this can be difficult to spot.
Buyers who do not look elsewhere then assume that the asking price is the market rate and pay up. The spider seller then merely orders the book from the original seller and pockets the profit.
What also happens is that (genuine) sellers find it difficult to value titles which are not on sale anywhere else. Consequently such books may be priced too high and never sell, or be priced too low and sell within hours. Remember that on used book sites such as ABE you only see the books which
haven't sold.
And as Laurence has already indicated, eBay is a good place to find scarce titles at reasonable prices. Some weeks they will attract many bidders, other weeks they will not sell at all. I know of at least one individual who buys in-demand naval books on eBay and resells them with a markup on ABE.
A buyer's best defence is knowledge; knowing the market rate for a scarce title and knowing where to look for it.
All scarce titles turn up at reasonable prices eventually somewhere. The trick is to find them before anybody else
[quote="bengtsson"] Boy they sure do want money for them on the used book sites. I've seen Hunts at $80![/quote]
As a regular buyer of used books I have learned that the asking prices for scarce books can sometimes bear no relationship to reality!
What happens is that so-called "spider sellers", with no inventory of their own, locate scarce (and presumably in-demand) titles in one marketplace and list them with a hefty markup in another. It's a type of price arbitrage. The tell-tale signs are:
[list][*]The book's price is many times higher than found elsewhere.[/*][*]The book's condition is vague or worst-case, since the spider seller does not know![/*][*]The delivery time is vague or worst-case; ditto.[/*][*]The listings appear and disappear in unison with copies from other sellers; this can be difficult to spot.[/*][/list]
Buyers who do not look elsewhere then assume that the asking price is the market rate and pay up. The spider seller then merely orders the book from the original seller and pockets the profit.
What also happens is that (genuine) sellers find it difficult to value titles which are not on sale anywhere else. Consequently such books may be priced too high and never sell, or be priced too low and sell within hours. Remember that on used book sites such as ABE you only see the books which [i]haven't[/i] sold.
And as Laurence has already indicated, eBay is a good place to find scarce titles at reasonable prices. Some weeks they will attract many bidders, other weeks they will not sell at all. I know of at least one individual who buys in-demand naval books on eBay and resells them with a markup on ABE.
A buyer's best defence is knowledge; knowing the market rate for a scarce title and knowing where to look for it.
All scarce titles turn up at reasonable prices eventually somewhere. The trick is to find them before anybody else :big_grin: