Tips for Buying Collectible Books on Ebay
This is the last of our posts under the general heading of How to Buy Collectible Books on eBay.
Once you have set up your sniper program, learned how to set up your eBay search page, and done your research, you are only a few steps away from becoming a successful eBay bidder.
Do you still have any questions about the book that you are looking at in the auction? Go ahead and contact the seller. Every eBay auction has a link to do this. It is to the right of the current bid price, marked “Ask seller a question.” It is always better to do this than to assume something. If you have done proper research you will know how many pages, plates, maps, &c. are supposed to be in the book. You might even know what the printing year should be, or who the printer should be. In order to firm up your sense of the value of a book you might want to know that everything that belongs in the volume is present. Ask the seller. Ask far enough ahead so that the seller has time to respond to your question.
How much should you bid? Remember, if you have your sniper set up and working, you only need to bid once. As a general rule, eBay items, including collectible books, sell at 30% of high retail. At least that is what we find from 10 years of experience. You can check high retail at addall.com. Do not bid what you can already purchase the book for elsewhere. Use the auction to get a bargain. (Now, if no other copies are for sale elsewhere, that’s a different story). If you are bidding to pick up something for resale, don’t go over the 30% amount. If you are bidding to fill out your collection, put in what you are willing to pay. The amount of bargain pricing that you want is up to you. Figure somewhere between 30% and 80% of retail.
You can pay by PayPal, check, or money order. Recently eBay has begun to put a damper on check and money order purchases. They now do not allow sellers to mention this option in their listings. But you can still pay that way if the seller agrees. Contact them after the auction closes and see if they will take your check. We actually prefer checks and money orders (saves us the PayPal fee) and have had very little trouble with them in over 10 years of selling on eBay.
The last tip for this topic is to write a simple note to the seller and request careful packaging. A brief note with your check or message with your PayPal payment will suffice. “Please package carefully for shipping” lets them know that you are paying attention and that this is important to you. A lot of eBay sellers know absolutely nothing about rare books and do not prepare them properly for the mail. A gentle prodding in this regard will normally result in a more securely packaged book.
We hope that this series has been helpful to you and that it will aid your quest for the collectible book!
