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Author Topic: Welcome to The Bookshop Blog Forum  (Read 1937 times)
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Bruce Hollingdrake
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« on: November 26, 2007, 12:33:10 PM »


Welcome to our new forum. We will be doing our best to provide a friendly atmosphere for seasoned sellers as well as those just considering opening a shop. Online retailers and Brick & Mortar owners should all feel at home. Fire away with comments, opinions, news items and questions of all types. If any of you feel that you'd like to contribute to the blog we would love to hear from you. Also, as the forum is brand spanking new, the categories will evolve a bit; let me know if you think there is a section we should be adding. Thanks and enjoy.

Bruce
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XenithBS
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« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2007, 06:48:28 PM »

Glad you are doing this! 

A good bookseller's forum is much needed!

Paul
« Last Edit: November 29, 2007, 06:51:04 PM by XenithBS » Logged

Paul @ Xenith Booksellers
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Bruce Hollingdrake
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« Reply #2 on: November 29, 2007, 07:14:24 PM »


Thanks Paul,
It may take some time to get things rolling but I think we'll have some fun here.

Bruce
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Kathy Roy
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« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2007, 11:58:21 AM »

I'm adding my thanks.  I've only had my store for 2 yrs so I wont have a lot of advise but I appreciate the opportunity to give and receive help in the very very long learning process.
Thanks for taking the time to set this up.
Kathy
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Bruce Hollingdrake
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« Reply #4 on: November 30, 2007, 01:24:05 PM »


Welcome Kathy,

With the hosting company I use it was actually fairly simple. Glad you signed up.

Bruce
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valuesoftware
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« Reply #5 on: November 30, 2007, 02:09:40 PM »

Newbie here...just been selling a little over a month. I'm likin' what I see. Book selling is new for me...been selling software at that other e-site for some time & decided to branch out a bit. I need to learn from some seasoned bookdealers, so I hope to be visiting the forum quite often! Thanks for this new opportunity!
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PJ
Bruce Hollingdrake
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« Reply #6 on: November 30, 2007, 02:33:52 PM »



Value (is that your real name?),

What kind of software were you selling? I presume you meant eBay. You might be able to share tips with some book dealers thinking of branching out there. One tip I can mention of the bat is to keep the minimum value of the books you sell as high as you can in relation to your knowledge then keep trying to raise it. If you start at a base of $10.00 then simply never list a book below that price (and never acquire that kind of stock- even if it's free) You'll soon find that managing space as well as margins work better with higher values.

Good luck.

Bruce
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prying1
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« Reply #7 on: November 30, 2007, 09:27:11 PM »

OK! I'm in! Looks like this will be a good place to meet new friends and share information.

One problem already though is that XenithBS and I have the same first name. - Paul -

That's not really a problem though. All the other Pauls I've met are likable fellows so this board is already double blessed. (Jump in and agree with me Paul)
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« Reply #8 on: December 01, 2007, 07:58:28 AM »

Hi, My name's PJ.

Yes, I mainly sell on eBay, but I've started selling software on Amazon. Been selling software & computer hardware for the last 15 or so years, at computer shows (dying venue with the advent of the internet), a B&M store for 6 years & on-line for 3 years. Selling software is like selling anything else...you have to research the market, find suppliers, etc.

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"keep the minimum value of the books you sell as high as you can in relation to your knowledge then keep trying to raise it. If you start at a base of $10.00 then simply never list a book below that price (and never acquire that kind of stock- even if it's free"

I've started selling books to clear out my personal collection.  Retiring in the next couple years & we're selling everything & buying a boat to 'sail the 7 seas'.  So I have a wide range of product...not only paperback novels, but a few older hardbacks, which research shows are quite uncommon, with selling prices over $100.00, old (75-100) year old misc, hardcover books in the 10-20 year old range, collection of VHS tapes.

So for starters, I really CAN'T have a 'start base'. I've sold some for $0.29, others for $18.00. If I decide to pursue this & go out and acquire books to sell, you say to pick a price as a base level.  What do you do when you buy a 'lot' of books...some more valuable than others? What do you do with the pieces that are less costly than your minimum 'base price'?

In my experience of selling, I offer a whole range of prices. That way I have something for everyone...broadens my customer base. Since I'm not intending on becoming a major player in bookselling, I'm not concerned with warehouse space for storage, and anyway, I DO have a warehouse that we've used for years for our software business. So having space for low end books isn't an issue.

I might ask, however, (not asking for trade secrets), where can I go to research info on the value of books? Amazon prices are so crazy...from a penny to MANY dollars for the same book. I know, price is based on supply & demand, but was just wondering where others go to look for info on books. (I hope this isn't asking for info that others would feel is only acquired after years of hard work...I don't want to start off our relationship here getting flamed, as so often the case on discussion boards elsewhere!! If this is an inappropriate question, I quickly retract it...move on to something else!  Kiss)

PJ



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PJ
Bruce Hollingdrake
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« Reply #9 on: December 01, 2007, 09:52:55 AM »



PJ,

Thanks a lot for the question, it gives me a chance to explain something. It was recently asked on the Amazon board what will make this forum different. You just nailed it on the head when you suggested that asking for assistance may be inappropriate and on many other boards (Abe is a great example) you may get flamed. This is precisely how we will differ. I will try and foster a real sense of helping one another here. If anyone ever gets flamed for asking a simple question I will ask the flamer to tone it down. This forum will be about getting answers. So don't be shy, ask away.
Quote
If I decide to pursue this & go out and acquire books to sell, you say to pick a price as a base level.  What do you do when you buy a 'lot' of books...some more valuable than others? What do you do with the pieces that are less costly than your minimum 'base price'?

I have a Brick and Mortar so yes I do keep a lot of less expensive stock for those that want a nice little thriller or romance pocketbook. I do not list them online. Finding books, transporting them, listing them. storing them, wrapping them and then transporting them again to the post office is a lot of work to make 1 or 2 dollars. When I buy large lots (and I bought a whole bookshop - 5000 books- last summer) I put some of the more interesting pocketbooks on my shelves (maybe keep an extra few copies of the more popular authors) spend 10 seconds jotting a price inside and the rest all get dropped off at local churches or thrift shops.

Books will have a way of finding you once you get further in to it. Try not to get overrun with cheap stock. Keep those warehouse shelves for the good stuff.

There may be some dollar dealers that completely disagree with me, lets here from you.
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prying1
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« Reply #10 on: December 01, 2007, 10:29:56 AM »

Hi PJ - Paul here. - Do you know about Bookfinder.com (no 'S') and AddALL book search sites. From them you can find out what others are ASKING for a book (Not neccessarily GETTING) and price yours accordingly.

If they show zero hits try Googling first the "title" and "author" IN QUOTES (This pulls up the exact wording you type). Combined then separate - Sometimes this will pull up sellers that were missed in the other two sites. I've found some books that have no internet presence but that is very rare. Most of these can only be priced lowball to sell and if no one knows the title or author why should they search for it on the Internet much less buy it?

There are books with prices and values for books. (Most are costly) and I imagine online services that will give an idea of a particular books previous sale at auction price for the more costly ones at least.

There are 'professional' booksellers in the ABAA (Most are reputable but...) and perhaps one lives near you to help with the really tough to price volumes. 

Paul - prying1 -
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Paul - prying1 -
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« Reply #11 on: December 01, 2007, 10:40:27 AM »

Paul,
Thanks! This is just what I'm looking for!! I appreciate the tips! What's ABAA?

Bruce... What do you think of having a topic where folks sort of have a list of meanings of things (Like what's ABAA, ie), and perhaps links to places like the tips Paul just gave, or at least a list of resources so we could look'm up ourselves?  For a newbie, theres lots of abreviations & (what's the word I'm looking for?) initials that I don't have a CLUE about! Whadda ya think, boss?

PJ
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PJ
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« Reply #12 on: December 01, 2007, 10:41:36 AM »

Oh...also, maybe it could be 'stickied' to the top, so it would always be easy to find!

PJ
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PJ
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« Reply #13 on: December 01, 2007, 11:02:17 AM »

Here's one I linked to in my website. I'm looking for more like this one too.

http://www.henryberkelouw.com/glossa.html

Henry Berkelouw Books and

http://www.abaa.org/

ABAA

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Paul - prying1 -
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Bruce Hollingdrake
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« Reply #14 on: December 01, 2007, 12:40:50 PM »


I will add a Reference/Resources category shortly, thanks for that.
I also keep a list of resources on the Blog - just click on the Logo above or check out this link (still fairly small)
http://bookshopblog.com/book-edition-information/

I'm working on a resource list of Edition States and other info by Author but it will take some time.

Bruce
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