Book Buying On eBay

[J T]

I regularly buy books of various sorts. I get a few off of eBay, out of print books I can't find anywhere else. Mostly I just cruise eBay to get titles of books I'd be interested in buying, then check my list of on-line sellers to see if I can find what I want.

Recently I found two books on eBay I was really interested in. I was tempted to bit on them, until I saw who the seller was. I've dealt with this seller before, with unhappy results. Long story.

Anyway, the first book was one I was very interested in, so started looking thru the on-line sellers. Finally found the book. Took awhile, because the eBay seller did not use the actual title of the book. I bought the book on-line, new, and paid about $15 less than the guy's starting bid, and the price I paid included postage. The guy was asking a substantial amount for postage over what media mail would cost. The kicker is, apparently the guy is drop-shipping.

The other book I wanted was offerred by the same seller, same tactics. Title he was using is totally not like the actual title. Took me awhile to run down that one. I ordered a copy of that one for about half what the guy's opening bid wa for, and my price was including postage. Little weasel apparently drop-shipping - again.

I think that particular seller, and probably more, are just drop-shipping. That's irritating as Hell. But, I did get put onto two books I wouldn't have kown about otherwise. I wound up paying close to $40 total, including postage, for these two books. Which is about half the price the weasel was wantingfor opening bids, not including shipping.

Both books are on marine steam. Haven't got the second one yet, but the first one does also cover several really neat wooden models too. There's the wood connection.

I also got a book on wooden boa building the other day - used, for around $7-8, including postage. Just gotta shop around. I love books, you can flip back a few pages and take another look at a paragraph, or a picture, maybe stick a bookmark in place. Don't have to have electric to read it either, just a decent light source. Try that with a 'puter during a power outage.

eBay is fine for a lot of things, but you've got to watch what you're buying, and got to watch what they're charging for shipping.

You've got to check the current selling prices of book too (or whatever) before y9u bid on eBay. Recently I just lost out on a two volume set of books on steam. If I'd have bid a few $ more I'd have gotten them for about $50 for the two, not including shipping. I checked a bit too late and found out the lowest price for the two with the on-line sellers was about $80 for the pair - and up. Ah well. But quite awhile back I got a book on-line about woodworking jigs for about $5 - including shipping.

JOAT Bugrit. Millennium hand AND shrimp.

[Gerald Ross]

J T wrote: There's the wood connection.

And I thought they were made of feathers. Little did I know. Yeah, I know what you meant, just couldn't resist.

[efgh]

Pardon my ignorance but what is drop-shipping?

[Swingman]

[B A R R Y]

Ever check half.com?

[Andrew Hartung]

Check the following likns out when looking for books. They both search several sellers and give a list of prices.

[J T]

Tue, Jan 23, 2007, 5:56pm (EST+5) [e-mail] (B=A0A=A0R=A0R=A0Y) doth query: Ever check half.com?

Matter of fact, that's where I ordered my latest book from. My most frequently used on-line seller link had it as the lowest priced seller.

JOAT Bugrit. Millennium hand AND shrimp.

[J T]

Tue, Jan 23, 2007, 6:18pm (EST+5) [e-mail] (Andrew=A0Hartung) doth sayeth: Check the following likns out when looking for books. They both search several sellers and give a list of prices.

Thanks anyway, but as of today I've got 31 on-line seller links saved, and most of them do the same - but 99% of the time I only use the same link.

On an extend search I sometimes use every link. But that's usually just for something out-of-print, often with a low printing. Most of the time my usual link does it. Or, occassionally, eBay is the only place to get what I'm after - but that's a last resort, the total cost usually works out higher on eBay.

JOAT Bugrit. Millennium hand AND shrimp.

[Warren Weber]

JT...I also buy a lot of books on all types of things. Sounds like you do many things. I have bought a lot from Lindsay Publications. A lot of out publication reprints. Low prices and cheap shipping. I have purchased on Metal working, electronics, technical, They only have one book on woodworking , it is for making woodworking tools. You can check at

They have an interesting catalog they send out. Warren

[Larry Blanchard]

[J T]

Tue, Jan 23, 2007, 4:43pm (EST-2) [e-mail] (Warren=A0Weber) doth sayeth: I have bought a lot from Lindsay Publications.

You "really" need to learn to snip.

You're a bit late. I started buying from Lindsay Publications many years ago.

JOAT Bugrit. Millennium hand AND shrimp.

[J T]

Tue, Jan 23, 2007, 3:56pm (EST-3) [e-mail] (Larry=A0Blanchard) did posted: Also

They've been on my saved list a lonnng time.

JOAT Bugrit. Millennium hand AND shrimp.

[J T]

Forgot to say this before. At times an extended search pays off. I wanted an out-of-print book, that I think had a limited printing to begin with. Problem was, it was priced high, mostly in about the $150 range going up to $375,. But, a lot of searching, over a week or so, and I got a copy for about $35, not including postage. You just gotta keep looking, sometimes you get a good deal, sometimes not.

JOAT Bugrit. Millennium hand AND shrimp.

[sweet sawdust]

[Lobby Dosser]

And has been in use for decades sans computer, if not longer. I'm thinking around the time of the first mail order catalog in the US - 1744.

[J T]

Thu, Jan 25, 2007, 9:46pm (EST-1) [e-mail] (sweet=A0sawdust) doth sayeth

[Lobby Dosser]

Try the used copies on Amazon. Usually fairly good prices and the shipping fee is Fixed at $3.49 for all books and all sellers - media rate. You Can get faster shipping for a higher but similarly fixed rate. I've bought and sold used on Amazon and I'm pretty satisfied.

[J T]

Fri, Jan 26, 2007, 6:48am (EST+5) [e-mail] (Lobby=A0Dosser) doth sayeth: Try the used copies on Amazon. Usually fairly good prices and the shipping fee is Fixed at $3.49 for all books and all sellers - media rate. You Can get faster shipping for a higher but similarly fixed rate. I've bought and sold used on Amazon and I'm pretty satisfied.

Amazon is already among the sellers I check. If I've got a choice I'll usually opt for a used bok, rather than new, because of the price difference. But at imes a new book is a better deal, often because it's less costly simply because of lower shipping. My latest purchase would have been about $5 more on Amazon. I've also found a lot of places want to ship priority mail, but want to charge more than priority mail would actually cost - a lot of them do the same even with media mail. You sell your books? Shame on you.

JOAT Bugrit. Millennium hand AND shrimp.

[Markem]

Yes, one can justify more woodworking tools to build homes for those books, I know I married a booknut. She also does the runs the process of taking an edited manuscript to a finished book.

Mark (sixoneeight) = 618

[bf]

I agree that scrambling the title of the book is unethical. But if the guy wants to pad his shipping and charge twice what the book goes for at alibris.. then more power to him if he can get away with it. Some people are willing to pay for the convience of just logging on to ebay and grabbing it, rather than spending a couple weeks hunting it down. I'm not one of those people either, but some are.

That weasal probably has a lot of auctions that aren't bid on if they are overpriced. Since he has to pay a listing fee to sell on ebay, it's ultimately hurting him if he prices his stuff too high.