Auction Finds - Interesting Books (1)
A small amount of my online auction sales is books. It used to be a much larger portion of my sales, but I found books have a sneaky way of accumulating! I noticed the amount of items on my online auction site had crept up to almost 2000 items! More items do not equate to more sales, as people get lazy browsing through innumerable pages of items to find the treasures. These days I try very hard to keep my listings at around 600 items, as that number just seems to work. As a general rule, I try to only list very collectible books, with at least a value of R250 ($18) unless they seem exceptionally interesting.
Sometimes people think books have to be old to be valuable. This is not true at all, it is desirability and rarity that count. This book sold very quickly for R500 ($37).
The variety I find from attending auctions is endless, from art books to Freemasonry in South Africa and a collection of vintage flight instruction manuals!
This heavy Afrikaans language book on Johannesburg is also pretty valuable. I have it listed for R750 ($55), and I try to keep my prices at least a third to half of the average going rate, so my books sell first!!!
This book is a good example of what happens if I presume a book is valuable. After many photos, which must be sorted and edited, I checked the book value and saw it would never sell online. I put it in the shop for R39 ($3)! Looks mean nothing when it comes to books!
I find some really valuable books sometimes, but they can also be very obscure. I have had cases where I have had books listed for years before they sell. Unless I know the book is exceptional, I will eventually remove the listing. This makes me sad as it is quite a lot of work to list books. They require more photos, and a more detailed description than most items.
@onetree
Thanks for th elittle glimpse to your bookie world!
Hahaha, it's a pleasure :)
If I were in a musty old book shop I'd be the one looking at that top book, the plunderers!
That first book looks like a serious downer. Interesting, though. I can see why it sold so quickly!
It does look interesting, but it sold more fore its collectibility than subject matter. It's a rare title.