Question:
Do any of you who sell books on Ebay also list with Abebooks or bibliofind? I’m thinking of subscribing to one of those services, or both, and I was just wondering what the sales were like compared with Ebay, if anyone preferred one over the other etc. Thanks! Eva — Get the Fat Cats out of office– Elect a Dog! http://www.brutus2000.com
Response:
Eva, I sell on all three and am satisfied with all three. If you have alot of books, ABE/Bibliofind might be for you. I have about 450 books listed on both, mostly higher end items ($20.00-$3,000.00). I sell only occasionally on ebay. There seems to be a different mentality on ebay, so sometimes things sell for alot more, sometimes alot less. On ebay I once sold a $50.00 book about George Harrison for $520.00, and a $450.00 Rex Stout 1st for $125.00. For quick sales, ebay is great if you’re willing to take a chance on selling cheap. ABE/Bibliofind are more like retail prices, but you might have the book for awhile. I don’t list lower end books, say under $10.00, too much of a hassle to pack and all, plus you have to figure the buyer might end up paying more in s/h than the book is worth. ABE/Bibliofind members are generally more professional and knowledgeable in books since it costs a bit more. Ebay is open to anyone with a computer and a car to go to yard sales, so there seems to be alot of junk to weed through for the buyer. There are alot of very knowledgeable book people on ebay, but they get lost in the mass of amateurs who throw anything up for auction. Hope this has been some help. Bob Streeter — http://www.allroutes.to/thatbookstore http://www.allroutes.to/stjohnsbury
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Do any of you who sell books on Ebay also list with Abebooks or bibliofind? I’m thinking of subscribing to one of those services, or both, and I was just wondering what the sales were like compared with Ebay, if anyone preferred one over the other etc. Thanks! Eva — Get the Fat Cats out of office– Elect a Dog! http://www.brutus2000.com
Response:
I”ll agree with everything Bob says regarding book site mentality! I don’t do the volume of rare and OOP books that would justify using the other services. For common books, I use half.com. The traffic there is very high and I sell about 3% of my inventory a day, my pricing is moderately aggressive. If you sell a few rare/OOP/first edition books, then you might try Amazon.com’s Marketplace service to sell if your volume won”t justify using the other services. Amazon’s database is very complete and if someone is searching for an OOP book, a link to the one you have available will show up in his search. They allow you to set your own prices for collectible/OOP/rare books and charge .99 + 15%. If you are a Pro Merchant subscriber, there is no .99 fee. They provide the shipping credit. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Eva, I sell on all three and am satisfied with all three. If you have alot of books, ABE/Bibliofind might be for you. I have about 450 books listed on both, mostly higher end items ($20.00-$3,000.00). I sell only occasionally on ebay. There seems to be a different mentality on ebay, so sometimes things sell for alot more, sometimes alot less. On ebay I once sold a $50.00 book about George Harrison for $520.00, and a $450.00 Rex Stout 1st for $125.00. For quick sales, ebay is great if you’re willing to take a chance on selling cheap. ABE/Bibliofind are more like retail prices, but you might have the book for awhile. I don’t list lower end books, say under $10.00, too much of a hassle to pack and all, plus you have to figure the buyer might end up paying more in s/h than the book is worth. ABE/Bibliofind members are generally more professional and knowledgeable in books since it costs a bit more. Ebay is open to anyone with a computer and a car to go to yard sales, so there seems to be alot of junk to weed through for the buyer. There are alot of very knowledgeable book people on ebay, but they get lost in the mass of amateurs who throw anything up for auction. Hope this has been some help. Bob Streeter
Response:
Thank you both for the information! I think I’ll take the plunge and try ABE and Bibliofind. It seems too silly to list everything on Ebay- it’s so time consuming and just stupid for those books that aren’t highly collectible… I think ABE and Bibliofind might end up being cheaper, in the long run- or even the short run. I spend about a hundred something dollars on Ebay fees a month. This week has been especially crazy- I have about 70 books listed and three days left in the auctions… and the only thing that has gotten a bid is the two pokemon games I wanted to get rid of 
I’ve never had so much on with so few bids! I wasn’t aware of the Amazon Marketplace- thanks for the tip! Eva
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