5 ms·
I was searching for a copy of an out-of-print book that I wanted to read but all were $150+, which was more than I wanted to pay. Somehow I stumbled on an eBay
by briankelly 9y ago
I was searching for a copy of an out-of-print book that I wanted to read but all were $150+, which was more than I wanted to pay. Somehow I stumbled on an eBay link that had the book for ~$40, but the item was removed yet not sold. I clicked on the seller and it turns out they relisted it in the $150 range, in line with the rest of the "market". The book was sitting there for over a year. It was sitting there for over a year at the cheaper price, too. If it wasn't selling at the low price, why would it sell higher? Even with "arbitrageurs" surely looking for those opportunities.
Maybe not the most relevant, but I'm willing to bet most collector markets are pretty irrational.
- eli 9y agoMaybe that was an arbitrage: someone who didn't have the book but was betting they could obtain it for less than the cost.
- thaumasiotes 9y agoThat would just be a bet. It's not an arbitrage if you don't know it will work.
- briankelly 9y agoDoes the relisting fit into that scheme (other than indicating that it failed)?
- GuiA 9y agoI buy a lot of old books that aren't that easy to find anymore. In such situations in the past, I have managed to buy the book by contacting the seller directly and telling them I'll buy it right away for some percentage of the price (50-80%). It has worked a few times.
- briankelly 9y agoI thought about trying that; good to know that it can work, thank you.
- ikeboy 9y agoMuch of the used book market is about buying a ton of books for cheap and only selling a small fraction of them for a lot. If you buy 100 books for $3 each and sell 5 of them over 5 years for $100 each and another 5 for $50 each you make decent money (idk exact numbers but I have several friends in the industry doing 6-7 figs). A lot of it depends on who has the most accurate data. If you know something has sold for $50+ say 5 times in the last 3 years you can pay more for it than an unknown. The long tail is interesting and tough to work.