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Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

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Re: Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

#41

Post by angusgr »

tjr wrote: post #18

Semi-related: a few days ago I took two boxes of old computer and math books to a local Half-Price Book store. They don't usually offer a whole lot of money for such things, and I had been thinking of donating the books to the public library, but the library didn't seem interested in what I had. I figured I might as well get a few dollars rather than just throw them out. As expected, after about ten minutes of sortin…

I have a vaguely similar story. A few years ago my parents found a box of Apple II books from when I was a kid. I saved a few favourites (my extremely-worn AppleSoft Basic reference manual, and a great circuit-level description of the entire Apple I system.) What to do with the rest?

I spent 4 years working at a second hand bookstore, and I knew that computer books were generally treated as unsellable. Especially old ones.

So I put the box on ebay for $1, with a full list of the books inside. Knowing that this way a wide audience would see them, and presumably I would reach a vintage computer enthusiast who would come, pick them up, and take them away. I wasn't looking to make money, I figured $10 or so would be the price - and a guarantee that the person actually wanted the books.

The box sold for close to $300. The winning bidder was after a ProDOS reference book that I barely realised I even had. I have no idea what the second bidder was after.

Re: Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

#42

Post by ritonlajoie »

hugh3 wrote: post #2

He never explains why he feels bad about it. It seems like a perfectly respectable profession to me, bringing books from ignored corners of dank bookstores to the hands of those who really want them.

Have you read page 2 ? Because he explains exactly his 'shame' feeling in a particular story.

Re: Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

#43

Post by angusgr »

asmithmd1 wrote: post #29

If the goal of sales that ban scanners is to get the book into the hands of someone who wants to read it they could do what the Baltimore Book Thing does when they give away free books -- stamp the title page as a free book, not for resale. Kind of like the viral effect of GPL. Once a book has been through the Baltimore Book thing's hands it is always free http://www.bookthing.org

This is an admirable idea, but I can't help but think of the number of CDs I've bought at used record stores with "Not For Resale" stickers still affixed. Label review samples that had gone into the second hand channel just fine.

Also I know from experience that used book sellers will often quite happily clip or black out portions of the frontispiece or half-title page if they need/want to.

Collectible book dealers are also quite happy selling galley proofs of classic books, in fact some people collect them. They're also usually marked "not for sale".

Re: Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

#44

Post by angusgr »

Used book dealers are a strange lot. I never heard or saw of scanners, but when I worked at one we'd certainly look online for any book that we thought might be valuable. I think, especially at that time (2001-2004), the internet was inflating rather than devaluing used book prices in Australia.

The strangest people are dealers/collectors who would spend hours of their saturday in the store, eventually buying a cheap book so they could smugly inform you, the seller, that it was a collectible edition, worth much more than they paid. Or that they would be swapping the dust jacket from this copy onto their copy, thereby improving its condition, even though this jacket was from the second printing not the first. Or dozens of other strange obscure tricks.

Those are the people who don't need scanners, and presumably would resent them as a poor substitute for their encyclopedic knowledge.

Re: Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

#45

Post by jbarham »

SageRaven wrote: post #28
edfrtghjkjh wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's actually of benefit - there is a book out there that I want but it's hidden in a library or garage sale in a city 1000mi away. This guy makes it available for me to buy at a price I set on Amazon - rather than the book ending up in the trash and me not having what I want.

Depends on perspective, I suppose. It can be a detriment to the local market. I frequent a local thrift store (Deseret Industries, run by the LDS church), where I always quickly scan all 6 book shelves. Every morning (that I've been there that early), there's one dude that rushes his way to the "new" book shelves (the ones that were just rolled out of the back and not yet sorted onto the shelves), towing a cart, and…

Given that the writer says he works up to 80 hours a week and "with diligence, someone working alone can make $1,000 per week" (i.e., ~$50k annually) I wouldn't call that a "quick buck".

I've also donated a lot of used technical books to thrift stores and library sales, and if they're picked up and re-sold by guys like this that's fine by me.

Re: Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

#46

Post by lionhearted »

I respect this guy a lot. There's been enough times I wanted to get an obscure out of print book and I can only find copies that cost $60 or even $200+. Taking a book off the shelf, paying the used bookseller and freeing up their cash/space, and stocking the inventory in his home for the whole world to be able to buy the book online - man, the guy's almost a saint in my book.

Some people are upset he's making a profit. This is crazy to me - the guy's making by his own numbers $4000 per month for 80 hour workweeks and amazing customer service, and he's making 10,000+ titles available online that might otherwise not be. If I ever see someone with the book scanner thing, I'm going to thank them and tell them I think they're doing a great thing for the world.

Re: Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

#47

Post by ryanpetrich »

angusgr wrote: post #43
asmithmd1 wrote: post #29

If the goal of sales that ban scanners is to get the book into the hands of someone who wants to read it they could do what the Baltimore Book Thing does when they give away free books -- stamp the title page as a free book, not for resale. Kind of like the viral effect of GPL. Once a book has been through the Baltimore Book thing's hands it is always free http://www.bookthing.org

This is an admirable idea, but I can't help but think of the number of CDs I've bought at used record stores with "Not For Resale" stickers still affixed. Label review samples that had gone into the second hand channel just fine. Also I know from experience that used book sellers will often quite happily clip or black out portions of the frontispiece or half-title page if they need/want to. Collectible book dealers a…

I think the first-sale doctrine might make that sticker a mere suggestion.

Re: Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

#48

Post by waivej »

To me he seemed like a primitive cyborg. I'm having fun imagining what we'll see in 20-30 years.

Also it's the hidden the gold makes panning fun. These guys are using fancy tools to strip it out and leave thrift stores with piles of leftover dirt.

Re: Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

#49

Post by bluesnowmonkey »

edfrtghjkjh wrote: post #16
shalmanese wrote: post #13

This seems like kind of a weird arbitrage opportunity. Why don't bookshop owners use the exact same setup to price books when they buy them in the first place?

Most bookshops do, in fact since Amazon/abebooks/etc most used bookstores do This guys trawls library sales, thrift stores etc. Library sales are normally run for charity and everything is 50c, the librarians have already selected the books to go into the sale so there isn't much chance of a $100 book being found. The aim of 'friends of the library' group of little old lady volunteers isn't really to invest $1000s in…

Sounds like a business opportunity. If someone wants to sell a bunch of books, they hire you to come scan it for valuable ones, sell them on Amazon and split the revenue. Then they can donate the rest or sell them for 50c. It benefits the seller, because they get into the Amazon market without investing in learning/equipment. It benefits you the arbiter because you get exclusive rights to the books, shutting out your competitors.

Re: Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

#50

Post by gjm11 »

lionhearted wrote: post #46

I respect this guy a lot. There's been enough times I wanted to get an obscure out of print book and I can only find copies that cost $60 or even $200+. Taking a book off the shelf, paying the used bookseller and freeing up their cash/space, and stocking the inventory in his home for the whole world to be able to buy the book online - man, the guy's almost a saint in my book. Some people are upset he's making a profi…

> Some people are upset he's making a profit.

Is that really what "some people" are upset about? That's not the impression I get either from the article or from comments here. Some people are upset that he, and others like him, are making it harder or less pleasant for them to buy used books. Some people are (something rather less than) upset because what he's doing displeases them aesthetically -- books are meant to be treated with reverence, bought and sold by people who love them, etc. But I don't see anyone saying "He's making a profit, and that's bad".

As to whether what he's doing is, on balance, beneficial or harmful, I don't think we have enough information to know for sure.

Scenario 1. A small minority of particularly good used-book shops, which would otherwise have had real trouble selling their merchandise, are visited by people like this; the result is that lots of books from their shelves are made available to people who want them, and that the booksellers stay in business. Everyone wins.

Scenario 2. All the world's used-book shops are deluged with people like this. As soon as any new books arrive they pounce on them. The result is that all the books anyone wants are sold at higher prices, reducing their availability to people with less money; and that the used-book shops no longer get any "normal" customers because most of the interesting books disappear as soon as they hit the shelves, and that after a while the booksellers give up in disgust. Everyone loses.

Presumably the truth is somewhere in between. I'd guess it's much closer to Scenario 1. But fearing Scenario 2 isn't really all that crazy.

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