DO YOU HAVE A BOOK QUESTION?

[manor_house_books]

Hi all, pippy_oak here, posting under my brand new user name. Hopefully, Richard will pin this thread, as it seems a nice tidy place to pose specific questions about a book (Is it a 1st edition, what's it worth, where to find it etc. etc.) Don't just come here with a question. If you think you have the answer, then let's hear it.

Or we could just mooch around and learn a few things.

Cheers

Paul

[applefrommars]

Hi Roger  🙂

Trade-in values seem to be a bit bizarre, = no direct correlation with current selling prices = an opportunity if you get the timing right.  The business model might be interesting.

[starbuysforlittleones_sophie]

I ♥♥♥♥♥♥ HAY ON WYE!!!!!!!

Used to live in Wales and LOVED my trips there.

Went to the Guardian lit festival one year. FANTASTIC!

Although my favourite author at the time (Jhumpa Lahiri) was a real disappointment as a person (really stuck up) and refused to sign the book I had been carrying with me all day!!!!

[ataribornagain]

....refused to sign the book I had been carrying with me all day!!!!

I'd have torn it into little pieces in front of him/her.

[lucyshouse]

Hello all, I haven't been on ebay for some time but my New Years resolution was to have a purge on all of hubbys unread books !

One book l picked up and have checked against a seller on Ebay and it is on at an unbelievable  £1298.91  which is rather a strange starting price l must say.  How do you find the value of such things as there are no completed auctions.

[lucyshouse]

Whoops l forgot the book name

Jaguar s-type and 420 The complete story by James Taylor

[haggytina]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Penguin-Book-of-English-Verse-First-Edition-1956-with-21yrs-Commemorative-...

Do you think this book is worth much due to its commemorative sleeve? I cannot find any such book with sleeve on the internet. I thought it might appeal to a Publisher collector. Do such people exist?

[taylor-books]

lucyshouse

That book is on Amazon at the moment for £749.97 (used) and has had three offers.

[jeffbrg23]

Lucyshouse:

The book is also on Ebay for a much lower but still a high price of £349.99, being sold by an automobilia book specialist

Item number: 350629342306

If you put the details in bookfinder.com then prices across the internet range between £472.57 and £1348.17

So the book certainly has a value but you need to bear in mind these are prices people are asking not prices that have been achieved.

The only real way to determine its value is to list and to see if anyone buys it.

[lucyshouse]

Just had a look thank you.  Guess the question l am asking is l can see that sellers are offering it for whatever price. but where can l see if anyone has actually sold one ?

[jeffbrg23]

Ebay is the only site where you can see past sales achieved and if a book has been sold recently enough to show up in the advanced search then all you can do is make an educated guess based on the the prices other people are asking.

[jeffbrg23]

Ebay is the only site where you can see past sales achieved and if a book hasn't been sold recently enough to show up in the advanced search then all you can do is make an educated guess based on the the prices other people are asking.

[lucyshouse]

Thank you for your imput.  I am still amazed that a book we found at jumble is worth more than a fiver lol.  Will watch ebay with interest....

[jeffbrg23]

haggytina:

There is certainly a market for first edition penguin books and they are quite widely collected and wherever there are people collecting books based on their publisher some of them will be very interested in any associated ephemera from the publisher.

The book your offering is quite common and only worth £2/3 in very good condition as a first edition.

I would suspect the sleeve would added fairly significantly to the value as its likely very few have survived in comparison to the the number of books produced in 1956. But without a comparison its impossible to say how much the value is increased.

I would have a look at your listing and change the title to provide more details about sleeve rather than the book, such as including the phrase "penguins come of age" in the title

[rogersbooks32]

I have sold crowood autoclassics in the past and I cant see why that one would be worth so much, I would assume someone priced one high and others have followed suit. I may be wrong the only way to find value is to list it here and see if you get any bites.

[haggytina]

Thank you for your advice.

[lucyshouse]

Roger I think that was my understanding of it too but why list a book that is not going to fetch that kind of money ?

Anyway l listed it this morning with a start price of £29.99 a saving of at least £300 on the lowest priced book.....and ta da, not one view, never mind watcher or bidder or even will you take £30 emailer lol

[rogersbooks32]

Hi i am lead to think automatic pricing software may be used but I am not sure. Some of the mega expensive listers on amazon get feedback so someone buys at their prices possibly they don't even have the book but dropship it from another seller.

 On a different note as a collector of observer's books you may want to add to your discription  and or picture  on your copy of automobiles saying or showing how bright the spine lettering is as this can make a  difference to the price you may for it.

regards Roger. 

[kylielovesonlyme!]

I,ve 10,000 books listed on Amazon, is there anyone on here who knows how to use that list to get all the books selling on ebay easily ? Willing to pay for time and service.

[rogersbooks32]

 Is this what you are after Kylieetc http://pages.ebay.co.uk/file_exchange/

On another note I see the Jaguar book sold for £37.00 so not quite the money other sellers were after but not bad at all.

[lucyshouse]

Roger I beleive you are right concerning the automatic pricing thing.  The book only attracted four watchers and not many more views !  Hopefully the price the book ended up at will reflect in the price of the others listed.....well l can hope.

Meanwhile l am amazed at how much the Observer book fetched....will keep my eyes pealed for some more of those !