Dealers, Margins and the Madness of it all (1 Viewer)

[DavidK]

Bought on ebay 11 days ago for $787:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bukowski-Yo...RdZmuxgs10xXFenvTZLoc%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Now on sale for $1,600:

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Boo...ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want&cm_ite=viewbook

Just saying...

 

[Bukfan]

Typical! Buy on Ebay, sell on Abe...

 

[mjp]

If you go to that second link three years from now, the book will still be for sale.

If it's not, all it means is someone offered the seller a grand and they took it. Those are just asking prices. Abe has never been a reliable barometer of real world value.

 

[Rekrab]

True. Most of the high prices for rare books on ABE are wishful thinking, and those books sit there for years. I've found that a book will actually sell for about half the high ABE price, sometimes only a third.

 

[jordan]

The thing I don't understand is how book dealers have enough spare cash to sink $800 into a single book that might sit on their shelves for 3 years. Most of the book dealers I have ever met came into their most unique items through buying entire collections, not through cherry-picking unique books off of eBay.

 

[Rekrab]

Some dealers buy up lower cost copies of a rare book to bolster the high prices on copies they already own -- essentially buying out the competition. I wonder if sometimes they don't get burned holding too much expensive stuff, if prices fall.

 

[Papillon]

This stuff sold at auction for $156 with vig on 6/13.

http://www.pbagalleries.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/7/lot/1498/?url=/view-auctions/catalog/id/7/?page=1&key=bukowski&cat=&xclosed=no

Currently on abe for $350. They didn't even take their own photograph of the lot.

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=10427920472&searchurl=bi=0&bx=off&ds=30&kn=greeting&pn=black+sparrow&recentlyadded=all&sortby=1&x=0&y=0

Some items go to abebooks to die, in my opinion. I picked up a lot of 8 lettered greetings at the same auction for $420 with vig. You get some of these dealers who will say "I've got $50,000-$100,000 worth of books..." Uhh, no you don't, unless you have a buyer lined up, or a good insurance policy and an arsonist on the payroll.

 

[skiroomalum]

I think Abe is a fantasyland. I've purchased things from shops in NYC that list on Abe and usually get at least 30% off with
no hassle. Only one place has refused to deal and I find that funny as hell. They must own the building. Also that last PBA
was a bargain fest.

 

[Papillon]

I'd love to hear how you pull this off. I tried something similar about five years ago and the whole scene culminated with me and a dealer telling each other to f--- off via cyberspace. Ahhh, good times... The stuff I was trying to procure was non-literary and it is still for sale today. I blame myself for the whole ordeal, in retrospect. Probably should have handled it a bit more delicately. But it is what it is.

Some stuff on ABE I think is fairly priced, especially when I look at auction history, and the prices of varying levels of BSP editions (numbered v. lettered). Overall, I think 15% and above off an ABE price is a sweet spot that would result in a lot more movement of goods and exchange of $$$.

 

[chronic]

Some items go to abebooks to die, in my opinion.

It's a pretty common practice among booksellers buy cheap and then double or triple the price. I always hated it when booksellers won one of my auctions since I knew the fate that awaited them (the books).

Every now and then you can actually find a bargain on abe (at least you could when I was buying). I picked up a very good copy of Poems and Drawings from a dealer in New Orleans for $200. Of course, that's a while back, but it was a good deal then too. You just need to scan abe often to find deals, since the really good ones have a way of going really fast.

Oh, and I also picked up a nice copy of The Naked Ear #8 for fifty bucks.

Both of those ended up in Nick Lawrence's collection.

 

[skiroomalum]

For many businesses, at least in my area, discounting is standard on a retail level when their is a proprieter or the shop is a stand-alone. In my business which sells relatively expensive items in a ridiculously high-rent part of town, bargaining is constant. On a keystone item there is very little margin to move but on some merch. you can get 25% instantlly just asking. On line buying is to me another world. Cash in hand and a readiness to spend it can still yield substantial results. Not always but often.

 

[Papillon]

On line buying is to me another world. Cash in hand and a readiness to spend it can still yield substantial results. Not always but often.

I think you nailed it right there.

I've seen the term "dealer discount" thrown around along with the numbers 30-40% off sticker. I wonder what I've have to do (bare minimum) to qualify?