Reseller Retrospective: Books that have sold in the last month

 

My wife's book pricing system on her desk. 

     So it's been about five weeks since I announced that I was going to promote a proper eBay store and not just sell the occasional book here and there. It's been really tough holding back on selling some of them, and then ready to move on with selling some others. It turned out I have a ton more books than I thought, but then also less at the same time. Sooo many damn hard covers.. so heavy and take up so much space. I wish I could get rid of them all. For this quick post, I though I would go over what sold, for how much, and how much we made. The amount listed of each sale is before shipping (I charge $5 for PB and $6 for HC) and includes estimated eBay fees.

• $18 - The Origin of Crabs - Guy Smith - First PB
• $17 - The Shadow of the Torturer - Gene Wolfe - First Timescape PB
• $30 - The Black Horde - Richard Lewis - First PB
• $20 - Chapterhouse Dune - Frank Herbert - First/First HC
• $25 - Children of Dune - Frank Herbert - BCE HC
• $16 - God Emperor of Dune - Frank Herbert - BCE HC
• $25 - And The Put out the Light - ECR Lorac - First PB
• $15 - God Emperor Dune - Frank Herbert - 1983 PB
• $10 - Dragon in the Sea - Frank Herbert - 1956 HC no DJ
• $12 - Dune Messiah - Frank Herbert - 1980 PB
• $75 - Encyclopedia of Fairies - Kathrine Briggs - First/First HC
• $12 - Alone Against Tomorrow - Harlan Ellison - BCE HC
• $10 - Dune Messiah - Frank Herbert - 1970 PB
• $15 - Starship Troopers - Robert A. Heinlein - 1968 PB
• $13 - The Belgariad Part One - David Eddings - BCE HC
• $11 - Children of Dune - Frank Herbert - 1984 PB 22nd Printing
• $32 - Chapterhouse Dune/Heretics of Dune - Frank Herbert - 1980's PB lot
• $12 - Conan The Treasure of the Tranicos - Robert E. Howard - Ace First PB
• $15 - Shadows Linger - Glen Cook - First PB
• $10 - Count Zero - William Gibson - 1987 PB
• $10 - 25th Spc Ed. Dune - Frank Herbert - 1990 PB
• $15 - Children of Dune - Frank Herbert - Ace 1987 PB
• $12 - Brazen Gambit - Lynn Abbey - First Dark Sun 1994
• $15 - God Emperor Dune - Frank Herbert - BCE HC
• $15 - Witch World - Andre Norton - First PB 1963
• $50 - Heretics of Dune - Frank Herbert - First/First HC

Cute little custom bookmark and stamp

     Total amount earned: $721.37, 26 sold, currently sitting at 162 active listings. Almost selling a book a day, but I noticed that people wait until the weekend to shop, so we always have a few to mail on Monday mornings. I pack the books and my wife lists them, we have a good system. We bought a cute little stamp pad and our talented son drew us a custom logo; I stamp each bubble mailer, and the custom book marks that are library cards we put with each order, and of course everything comes in a protective bag with some cardboard backing. In the time that we have sold 26 books, I have been to three book stores and found at least another 25 books that would count as listable, I.e.: Books with a high rate of sale over $10 in sold auction value. 13 of the books sold were Dune books, which I have a ton of, doubles, different printings, you name it. I've read the books and don't have a crazy attachment to them, and I see and have found a few out in the wild already to replace the ones sold for one or two dollars each. In short, this is something we could keep up for a long time with the current inventory.

The goals of this project are: 

1. Learn how to run a small retail business with my wife without killing each other
2. Learn more about books and what sells (It's Dune, at the moment, but these Choose your own adventure books are interesting and rare)
3. Make money and pay down some bills
4. Use what I know about marketing and sales to be successful
5. Manage a target inventory of 500 books
6. Have fun

     So far we're having a blast, posting more books, and making new memories. I love seeing and touching and opening boxes of books that have not seen the light of day for over 10 years, researching and planning, and of course reading some of them again. 

Click here to visit the eBay store 

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The Book Rescuers - Giant Used Book Warehouse in Pinellas Park

 

The Book Rescuers boasts over a mile of book shelves. 

     See for yourself on their facebook page, The Book Rescuers in Pinellas Park claims over a mile of book shelves, and I would say that is not an exaggeration. There is no parking or AC, but the fans down the many aisles of books are blowing away the dust and heat from outside and keeping the customers and the books cool. Tucked away in an industrial complex in Cross Bayou Industrial Park between paint shops and car repair places is a huge warehouse with what can only be described as mountains upon mountains of books.

She didn't catch me taking pictures. I swear.

     No shortage of customers. The pictures on their Facebook don't do it justice, and they have since added DVD's, VHS tapes, old media, records, banned books.. you name it. Their aisle of Fantasy and Sci-Fi was amazing, but the books I saw online that they took in a few weeks ago, were no longer available. Their pricing system is based on little colored stickers, but 99% of the books are yellow-dot, which are $2 each, and those are the only books I grabbed. 

It was hard to get a picture of how large this place is.

     I would say this has the largest selection of vintage Science Fiction I've ever seen in person. Older books were wrapped in plastic, and still $2. Looking for Ace Doubles? 100's of them for $2. 50's and 60's pulp paperback? Fill a whole shopping cart. This is not the store you will complete your Dragonlance collection at like the last store I went to, but holy crap can you find some really old cool stuff for cheap. I did notice a lot of books have seen better days, covers tattered and dirty, some missing whole pieces. Some books I was really excited to see by popular authors were in such poor condition, I had to frown and move on. I was easily able to find 20 books for $40 that have a much greater value; some to add to the collection, and some to list. The Dune books are eBay fodder, Laser books are always awesome and have unique covers, tons of Gibson there I passed on..

     I'll be coming back to this place when I can make it down there, at least once a month. Lot's of good scores, and I left tons on the shelf that I wanted to take. I spent about a half hour, and could have easily spent a couple of hours and really found some gems. Great place overall. Awesome staff, just a really cool find if you are in the Tampa area. 

**Edit** - I visited here again two Saturday's later with my wife, on April 6th and we walked out with 5 books that were worth listing, and my son bought some cool old VHS tapes. They gave my wife a teacher discount! Super cool place and we plan on going back often. 

Until the next adventure..

Endless Quest: Crimson Crystal Adventure Series

    What was really popular in the early 80's and through the 90's was Choose Your Own Adventure books. Dungeons and Dragons and TSR, not be left out of the action, made their own series called Endless Quest. They were printed on acid free heavy card stock paper, had great illustrations from the great artists who also contributed to Dragon Magazine. They were short little adventures with character sheets inside to keep track of your stats and faux predetermined inventory. 

     How do you make it more fun, bring in some science fiction, and skew a little younger? You bring in those same artists and tell them to paint in red over the art, and include a "Crimson Crystal" in each book, essentially just a small red see-through piece of plastic so you can reveal the secret imagery. The pages that have red printing on them are also printed on that same heavy card stock that the Endless Quest books are printed on. At the time, this was a huge level up from the normal Choose Your Own Adventure, and made it much more interactive. For the same $2.00 you would normally spend on a book, now you get little puzzles and more action for your buck.

    TOR, not to be outdone by the masters of roleplaying, licensed very popular fantasy series of the day, and created their own Adventure books, Crossroads. They were longer, had more options, and you could run into the characters you know and love from your favorite authors. I have the two Xanth ones, written by Jody Lynn Nye, signed by her and purchased at a convention in person. All the books I've mentioned in this little article are pretty rare... 

• Crossroads books, any, are around $15 each, from ebay sold auctions
• D&D Endless Quest books are $10 to $20 each, ebay sold auctions, and are always in great condition
• Crimson Crystal books are the rarest of the bunch at $50-$100, more if they have the "Crimson Crystal" intact

    CYOA did their own version called Time Machine, and Archway licensed Star Trek and made Which Way Books. The list goes on and on, all actually pretty rare with single print runs. Famously, the most rare and expensive and is really considered the first Multiplayer Book Game ever, which uses the most complicated tables and algorithms and requires both books to play: Combat Heroes. See the video below to learn more about that unique book series. 

The Book Swap in Palm Harbor - Insane Selection

 

It's not the best, but it has what any new collector needs.

     The Book Swap in Palm Harbor was not what I thought, and I think that's a good thing. It's a true paperback exchange: you return the books and get half as credit towards your next purchase. The shelves were lined with books, and the Fantasy and Science fiction shelves were brimming with great classics, completed trilogies, and all the series you could shake a stick at. If you are looking to complete.. let's say, your Dragonlance collection, come here, they are all in perfect order, alphabetized, and even sometimes banded together for a bundle price.

Science Fiction Section

Huge Fantasy Section

Speaking of prices, they are marked on the cover with an easily removeable grease pencil that leaves no mark behind. They do use sharpie to black out the prices on the covers, which is super frustrating. The prices are a mixed bag; if they are popular, the books are around $4 each. Older less known books, no matter the rarity or printing, are around $2. I was able to use this to grab 6 books for pretty cheap, and have enough cash leftover to hit the Rita's Italian ice up next door. For all the organization, selection, and decent prices, I do have a few gripes:

• No air conditioning. It was 60 degrees outside and I was wearing a sweater. When I walked in, it was easily 85 degrees.
• They do not take credit cards. When I inquired, they mentioned the fees, and that they had been open for 40 years, and have no intention to change. I had to hit an ATM and come back to pay for my books, which took 15 minutes and a $2 ATM fee. I did notice when I was looking, two customers left their books and did not come back to get them because of the payment issue.
• The prices of known rare books or things that sell online are high-ebay list prices, not sold prices. 
• Aforementioned sharpie over the prices
• They have little online presence.. just a facebook, but no ebay store, landing page, nothing. 
• It's picked over. Someone got to this store and took anything of value over $10 out of it. I was lucky to get what I got. 

The Take

Dune anything is selling right now. Whatever old and beat up crusty Frank Herbert books hanging around are selling in less than a day after we put them in the ebay store. I always pick up Fritz Leiber and William Gibson.. Gibson is an awesome read, and bundles well. The other books were rare enough to grab and in decent shape with is a good combo. I have not seen two of these books in the wild, ever. It's worth mentioning if you are a fan of Piers Anthony like me, they have damn near 100 of them, all series, ready to go for an early collection.

**Edit** - I went back here today on 4/12 and the AC was working. I found a couple books I missed the last time, and noticed some hard to find series fantasy books that I would be interested in, but passed on. The lady working the front and I had a nice conversation, and she told showed me some rare books they had, and right away I noticed a Dune Messiah BCE in the stack, which had a price of $125 firm on it. The condition was.. passable, but for a BCE $10 would be all it is worth on eBay. I let her know, showed her how you could tell, and urged her to sell it for $8 with the other BCE stuff they had. 

Thanks for reading. 

Ebay Store & More! (Life Update)

 Our new puppy, Gizmo

Where has the time gone? Hard to believe it is March already, and I've been super busy with work, as it's Tampa Bay Beer Week. I've been sick since Wednesday, so been doing light duty at work, catching up paperwork and attending events in the evenings. We got a new puppy! He is about 8 months old and now and his name is Gizmo, and is a Shi-Poo, so he will stay tiny like Ollie. 

Ebay Purgatory

    I decided to let go of a few of my books, and we have always sold a few here and there when we needed some money.. even if I did just spend it all on more books. It's getting to the point where I have 2-3 copies of different books, multiple printings and editions of the same title. Truth be told, the book cases are overflowing and the closets are full with boxes of more of the same. I picked up over 500 books last year alone! My wife is going to head up this project by listing and researching, and I'll support her by continuing the hobby and finding more rare books out in the wild. Don't worry, I'll still be holding on to the real valuable stuff, and things that are near and dear to me. I'm not selling out, just thinning the herd. 

   Why now? Dune 2 is coming out, and had me thinking about how popular my Dune Price Guide post does around the release of movies, and new books at the store or online cost more and more. I have more Dune books than I can count.. Why not list a few? My wife was looking for a hobby on the side, so it made sense. Hobbit and Lord of the Rings is another hot button, there is NO shortage of old and vintage Hobbit and LOTR books out there, I pick up some all the time. 

Click the picture above to see what's currently for sale. Just a heads up, some of the books are pretty rare, so will go fast!

Indoor Flea Market - Exploring Treasure Marts in Hudson Florida

 

I'm sure this could be considered another episode in the Flea Market Adventures series.. 

     My son wanted to go out thrifting last Saturday, and who am I to argue about that? He collects rare and unusual VHS tapes and different kinds of film media. Tapes are increasingly hard to find, but when you get outside of the big city, you can find some good stuff in the smaller thrift stores. This was NOT one of those small stores.

     Located in the center of Hudson Florida, just north of where we live in Tampa, is a massive Wal-Mart sized indoor flea market that takes hours to just to walk through called Treasure Marts. Each booth specializes in it's own brand of junk, and as these people are paying for spaces, each unique space is merchandised with some care. That being said, most of the spaces only have so much room to work with, so there is just shit piled up really high, bookcases on top of each other, stuff just hiding everywhere. There was no way we could see it all, but we gave it the best hour of our lives before we got hungry.

It was endless.

     My son found a small cache of VHS tapes under some tables. There was a strict rule, if it did not have a QR code with the price on the back, they could not sell it to you at the register. Of course, we did find some cool stuff that had no stickers, so it was left at the front. It was 50% off day, so every booth was discounted, which was nice, but hugely stressful because of the amount of people and little room to walk. We found books and tapes, it just took so long to take turns looking at things with other customers, we only got to see a small percentage of the store. That's my son in the picture if you recognize him from old posts. He is now 6'3" and 15 years old.. being a couple of big boys in a small space is not really our thing. 

One person at a time.

Artax the book cat giving his approval

     I have to go back. I know there are all kinds of books that need to be bought. There was a section that was all books from the 40's and back, but it was swarmed with older people with a purpose and no where for me to stand. All the books I bought were ones I do not own, and the Shadow Hawk from 1960 was a welcome little score. Everything was 50 cents, and half off of that, so the prices are right in there! I think I'm going to start hitting the Flea Markets again.. and on that note.. what makes a blog post part of the Flea Market Adventures series? I looked backed at the old posts, and every one of them I was with my son, and I always found a beer to drink, so those will be the qualifying agents. 

Thanks for reading. 

Life's Treasures Pick-ups, Part Deux

Two posts in one week!? Must be a full moon. 

     I stopped by Life's Treasures again in Port Richey, the same place I found this epic hardcover score. They had a lot of new books out, the same ones from last time, and also a huge Star Wars book and comic collection that I had no interest in. It was all newer stuff, and new editions of old books and graphic novels... I'm sure someone will grab it. I found these four new books among the new stuff:

     All book club editions, but the quality is really good and the books have very few issues. I could not be happier with this little score for $2 each, and I will have to go back soon and see what else is being put out on the shelves.

See you next time. 

$50 fill a bag - Small Business Saturday Returns

 

The Paperback Exchange Bookstore is my kind of place.

     The Paperback Exchange Bookstore has been a once a year visit for me since I moved to the Tampa area. They don't get much new in the way of Science Fiction and Fantasy, and heavily rely on the donations from their frequent customers. Once the owner told me they had so many books dropped off during covid to keep them in business and the shelves full for 10 more years. Books are priced by Ebay sold value when the tags were put on them years ago, which is fair to today's market being the prices of everything went up. Condition of the books I would consider.. fair. Items that are labeled as "rare" almost always have pretty bad condition issues and are essentially worth just a fraction of what they are listed at. I did not get to take any pictures inside today as it was very crowded and the aisles are VERY close together; if you want to bend over and look at the bottom shelf, you have to take a knee so you don't hit the case behind you. Walking past someone requires them to leave the aisle you are in, and then you take their place. For those following along, I did the fill-a-bag deal with them two years ago today, the post is here.

The rules are a little different this year:

• Nothing newer than 3 years old
• Price has doubled to $50 - $45 if you brought your old bag
• No "rare" stickered books
• No store credits
• 20% off New and Rare books
• 10% Merch

     White tag books are no longer a dollar each, rare books are no longer BOGO which is fine, there was not that many rare books left in the sections I was in to speak of. A tent was located out back Garage Sale style with boxes of books and movies, and those you could fill a bag for $20. I feel bad for the poor owner, every person that came in was explained the rules and regulations of sale. Details are a little foggy, and the only thing I could find on their facebook referenced a Swag Bag sale, which people have no idea what that means when she talked about. Just call it Fill a bag for $50? Either way, I understood as I've been coming for a little while. 

     All said, I put 51 qualifying books in my bag, I could have fit some more, and she told me to top it off before I left, which I tried to do, but I could not really find anything else that I wanted to take home. At this point in my collection, 75% of it is in boxes and I can't even look at it, so anything that goes in the bag may not see the light of day anytime soon.

Here is the take, a good few little stacks, more than worth the average of $1.00 a book. I think there was a lot more value last time at half the price, but I digress. 

The final small stack is some books I set aside as being better condition, worth more, or just stood out to me initially when I took them out of the bag. 

     Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers was in great shape, and was not considered rare, but I have never seen one in the wild, not even in specialty stores or on Instagram. Phillip K Dick and Zelazny collab really stuck out, and was mixed in with the ton of Zelazny stuff they have piled up. I should mention that if you are looking to complete a series, this store has a ton of those books, all organized by alpha and series. It's really great, and I took advantage of that with a few books today.

     I spotted these really interesting compilation books mixed in, and married them up for a little impromptu reunion. I noticed Piers Anthony on the cover of one, and some of my other favorites mixed in, and those covers! I had to grab them and make them part of the collection. These Anthology books to me are kind of crazy in how many there actually are. I've been collecting for 25 years, and I keep finding new and interesting ones, hardcover, paperback, different themes.. you name it. They keep coming. 

Thanks for stopping by.