Rare Book Monthly
Exit Strategies - Getting Out (A Bad News - Good News Story)
His sentiments were echoed by an equally respected West Coast dealer who with his partner recently sold over 15,000 volumes. They shopped the auction houses carefully and were able to negotiate a favorable contract because of the reputation and value of their inventory. Their holdings brought top dollar from buyers around the world. They donated their reference collection consisting of another 10,000 books and catalogs to a major university which resulted in a significant personal tax treatment as well.
But their experience is not typical. When it comes to giving books away, or donating them as a collection, unless they are exceptional and arrangements for the gift have been made well in advance, the would-be donor may find that libraries and special collections are not interested, or only interested if the gift comes with funds to care for them.
Consignment can be Win/Win
Perhaps the only win/win ending we found that might work for the average collector or dealer is some form of consignment arrangement. When the fit is good, consignment can have advantages for both sides.
Typically the person going out consigns some or all of the stock to someone continuing in the business. There is a written contract that spells out the terms. The consignee takes physical possession of the books, and the consignor sets the selling price and receives a stipulated percentage as the books sell.
This kind of an arrangement can be a good fit for both sides. Since the books are typically sold individually at retail, the consignor gets a much larger percentage of the selling price than might be the case if sold as a lot or at wholesale. The consignor is also relieved of chores like listing, shelving, packing, insuring, advertising and other costs. In exchange the consignee gets good quality inventory that is paid for only when it sells.
This was the one situation where AE found two parties who were willing to discuss how the process worked and allow their names to be used.
David Strang of Dimension Books was an Arizona based collector and dealer of first edition literary fiction as well as mystery, crime and suspense. He also had substantial retail bookstore experience. When the time came to sell he sent a letter of inquiry to many of the advertisers in Firsts Magazine. The most appealing response he received came from Joachim Koch of Books Tell You Why. The company, an ABAA member based in South Carolina, is an aggressive and technology savvy marketer.
The two discussed the books, the time frame and agreed on an open ended plan that was beneficial to both. After about eight months Strang said he is pleased with the results. He has received a monthly income from his books at very close to the prices he would have gotten if he'd sold them himself at retail without any of the associated costs.
Koch is also happy with the arrangement as the books he took on consignment enhance his inventory and his ability to offer his customers good value without having to purchase the books until they sell.
In generic terms Koch said that these are some of the key points that their consignment agreement includes:
"We offer a 'full service' package for selling books, i.e., we catalog, take images, store, market online and offline, list on 10+ platforms, sell, complete transaction with customers, ship, worry about returns, etc.
While we suggest a price, the seller can adjust the price, he/she 'owns' the price and, as long as it is within ethical reason, we comply with the request.
Our consignment fee is based on list price (on our site), i.e., We swallow any discounts by dealers and provide clear pricing/payment terms.
A consignor can end the agreement at any time, no questions asked. Only in the first three years we charge a termination fee to avoid that we go through all the listing effort and the consignor wants their books back the day after. While we'd be returning the books, we're charging a modest fee to at least cover some of the cataloging/listing efforts."
Though this kind of an arrangement may not work in every situation, it is definitely worth considering when high value individual items are involved and a suitable match can be found.
