Two methods of chatteling....

John,

I made good money from selling used books from 1979-1997 as a hobby. In 1997 I found ebaY and went into it full-time as an online bookseller.

The market got saturated in 2000-2001 so I backed off somewhat and started my digital publishing businesses.

One thing I've learned about selling used and rare books is that there is always a market for first-edition fiction from popular novelists like Hemingway, Steinbeck, Kerouac-- all the biggies.

Second, if you "Buy it right" you'll always be able to sell it for a profit. I don't know if it was this board or another one I frequent but someone mentioned that "Buying it right" is the first step to making a profit in chatteling (or something to that effect). That's 100% correct.

'Buying it right' in the used book business is critical because "condition" is everything!

A first edition with tattered pages and no dustjacket, for example, might fetch $10.

With a dustjacket, in near fine or fine condition will say, get $150 or more for the SAME book.

I wrote an entire course on book selling online and you can still get it at http://www.gobizinfo.com or just do a search on google for 'David Vallieres' or if your a Warriors member you can get it in the Members section at: http://www.hosts4profit.co.uk/marketingwarriors/

BTW- I don't make any money from these links- I've sold the copyrights to the book.

Stick with the more 'serious' writers, first editions in dustjackets and you'll do quite well.

One thing to keep in mind: Don't spend ALL your time just buying books by the dozens at yard sales... you'll rarely find really valuable books there. Sometimes you hit on a good bunch, but it's very rare.

I like to purchase 'collections' or 'libaries' these days. I purchased a libary of 2000 books in 1998 for $1,000 just after I got started on ebaY to boost my sales - only 20% of those books were worth anything, the rest I had to discard.

But on those 400 books (the 20%) I made over $18,000 in less than 6 months.

So, you can advertise that you 'buy used books' in the local shoppers to get books, but instead of going to 3 or 4 houses a day searching you might want to stick to people calling who have 'collections' of 500 or more books to sell at one time. You'll save your time doing that. Just make sure they have a good 20% or more that are really valuable- you have to make your investment back and make a profit on that 20%!

Also, don't ignore buying directly from other used book sellers. Yes, they are knowledgable and you won't find 'rare' books at 50 cents each, but you get good quality stock. And most used booksellers will give dealer discounts of 10% or more to other qualified booksellers (Tax ID# required).

I have 3 dealers (sources) of used books in my area. All of them have been in business longer than I have but EVERY purchase I've made from them I made a profit on.

Why?

Well,...

1) I got a discount
2) They run a 'retail' store and 2 of the 3 don't sell at all on ebay, so I get good stock that generally does very well on ebay
3) The price you set on a first ed. book in good condition, w/dj is pretty much WHAT YOU WANT FOR IT.

For example, I purchase a first ed of Kerouac's first book from one local retailer for $250.00. I put it up on ebay, and sold it for $527.00.

You take a book that is sitting on a local bookshelf, with limited demand locally and put it on an International site for sale (ebay) and you can get a higher price.

So don't shy away from high priced books because, if you can't make a profit on it, at least you will always get your money back. True rare books are an 'asset' that rarly depreciates in price!

Another thing to look for is 'mistakes'. For example a very knowledagble and well-known bookseller in my area had a 'first' of one of the Wizard of Oz books. He counted 15 illustrations in the book, when it should have had 16. He discounted the book to $49 (it should be $300). I bought it thinking I'd maybe get $75 for it. I took it home and started counting the illustrations. Yep, only 15...hmmm. Well, at least I'll get my money back I thought.

See, one little 'problem' with a book like that will kill its value.

The next day I picked the book up again and started counting the illustrations. 15. I closed the book and it hit me! The 16th illustration was on the COVER of the book! The 'knowledgeable' bookseller missed it completely, and I almost did too!

I sold it for $375 on ebay in 3 days.

Anyway, this was written very quick... if I misspelled anything please forgive...

Best wishes,

-Dave


InfoProductLab: Uniting Direct Marketing, Information Publishing and Technology(TM)