Booksellers. Why ...

[gyronny]

Amazon is very easy to list books on. Their charges are quite high so the price needs to be loaded somewhat, but buyers seem prepared to pay the extra. Amazon has a reputation for customer service as well.
Greenmet is easy to list on and many of the ebay sellers have migrated to there.
Ebid, which should be a natural and obvious place for the sellers to migrate to, still has a very low profile, many of us spread the word, but it's only small publicity.
I think, and wish the management did too, that the time is ripe for a publicity push, an advert on ebay itself might do the trick. Wouldn't that be fun!

http://uk.ebid.net/stores/Gyronny-Books

[ArtisanUK]

Gyronny, how do Amazon sellers make money when they sell second hand books for 1p - is the profit in the postage?

[leapingcat]

Gyronny, how do Amazon sellers make money when they sell second hand books for 1p - is the profit in the postage?

It is quite easy. If you are a large scale seller you pay a flat fee of £28 per month and no fixed fee per sale, so the fees per book sold are negligible. Post over 5,000 books per year and postage will cost you £1.35 for a large paperback or typical hardback. Buy the surplus books from the larger charity shop chains at £75 per ton and you can see how 1p books can be profitable if you do it on a large enough scale.

Back to the original point, prospective booksellers looking through the existing listings will see many cheap and cheerful paperbacks, but not too many of the better and more difficult to find books. I look on that as an opportunity and I am listing more non-fiction books; I hope that other booksellers will come to the same conclusion and raise the profile of Ebid as a bookselling site.

[CrazyJay]

I would still love to see a category specifically for Pulp fiction books - I have more to list, some of which are quite rare and valuable, but will just be lost amongst other listings until the right category is in place.

- Plus I'm still dabating whether or not to put my Angus Vicker up for sale or not.

[bykimbo]

I would still love to see a category specifically for Pulp fiction books - I have more to list, some of which are quite rare and valuable, but will just be lost amongst other listings until the right category is in place.

- Plus I'm still dabating whether or not to put my Angus Vicker up for sale or not.

With unusual books I would never worry about waiting for the category to be made (though obviously requesting one is sensible). Your sort of buyers are going to be searching by title, not browsing idly, I'd have thought. Since you can set up your shop cats as you wish, once you've got them in via a google search you can easily present the rest of your pulp. I see no benefit in waiting for a category. Go for it!

[CarnoustieCats]

Trouble is when I love a book I keep it to read again later - and the pile grows and grows - must be ruthless!!! (one day)

[gyronny]

I always include a flyer advertising ebid with whatever book I sell. I have no way of telling if it works, although my sales have picked up a little.

http://uk.ebid.net/stores/Gyronny-Books

[CrazyJay]

With unusual books I would never worry about waiting for the category to be made (though obviously requesting one is sensible). Your sort of buyers are going to be searching by title, not browsing idly, I'd have thought. Since you can set up your shop cats as you wish, once you've got them in via a google search you can easily present the rest of your pulp. I see no benefit in waiting for a category. Go for it!

To a degree that is true, and there are certain authors that may be searced for by name, such as Edward Deroo, Harlan Ellison, Hal Ellson and the like - But there are many others, which are so scarce, you would tend not to look for them. These would include Angus Vicker, Vin Saxon, Vin Packer and quite a few others.

That is why a specific section would be so useful.

It's similar to searching for records - some of my best finds have been just to search on Rockabilly or Northern Soul - Then going through names I've never heard of.

[bykimbo]

To a degree that is true, and there are certain authors that may be searced for by name, such as Edward Deroo, Harlan Ellison, Hal Ellson and the like - But there are many others, which are so scarce, you would tend not to look for them. These would include Angus Vicker, Vin Saxon, Vin Packer and quite a few others.

That is why a specific section would be so useful.

It's similar to searching for records - some of my best finds have been just to search on Rockabilly or Northern Soul - Then going through names I've never heard of.

I expect you know more about these authors than I do, it's your area, but I still don't see anything in what you've just said that means not listing them at all is better.

[CrazyJay]

I expect you know more about these authors than I do, it's your area, but I still don't see anything in what you've just said that means not listing them at all is better.

That could be because I'm tired at the moment - so some of what I am typing doesn't even make full sense to me.....

I'll try again when I'm refreshed.