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Articles - May - 2020 Issue

eBay is not another Abe or Biblio

- by Bruce E. McKinney

The book listing sites have been around for more than two decades and once upon a time there were many.  But not so.  eBay saw the number of listing sites shrinking and shifted, in books anyway, to mimicking Abe and Amazon with different pricing and discount features.  It remains to be seen how these pricing models will coexist.

 

eBay’s formula originally was primarily as an auction but lost faith in their business model and fell in love with Abe’s.  That was pathetic!   Instead they split their old and used book business into twin unequal options, retaining their now anemic auction site while building up their fixed price service to encourage higher listing prices with a mechanism to create faux bargain hunting by offering regulated discounts.  Their prices even so seem very full.  This is basically a phony discount strategy.  It’s a Potemkin village.

 

What’s lacking are references to reality such as: 

 

When was a listing first posted?  What and when were changes in the listing made such as:

 

  1. Listing date, price and description including number of days listed
  2. A complete history of all changes and dates
  3. A record of all inquiries and/or sales of this item [if more than one] on eBay

 

In other words prospective buyers would pour over the listing history, become informed, become interested or perhaps disinterested if they saw something like “this listing has been posted for 3,491 days.”

 

And I understand that eBay wants to keep their sellers’ identities secret because they don’t want buyers to get into open conversations with their sellers.  That’s understandable given that their only real interest is to earn a sales commission.  But let’s remember the primary motivation for listing is to sell.

 

At first glance the Abe platform seems better.

 

At some point Abe, eBay or Biblio will become dynamic because the listings are essentially inert and do not entice interest, and at some time their financial people are going to ask what they need to do.

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Posted On: 2020-05-01 09:32
User Name: jea888

Hello Bruce

Objectively - your points 1,2 and 3 aren’t available on abe either. I can’t speak for Biblio.

Actually no 2 - a list of all revisions is available on ebay - under the Description tab (not on mobile) there is a link “View all revisions”
And at the bottom of every listing where the seller owns a shop - there are full contact details - telephone number and email address under the heading “Business details”
I agree that both sites could do with improving. I list on abe and ebay and I wish abe would give better photo options and longer description boxes as well as (for a seller) the ability to get paid right away rather than a week later!
I know a lot of people hate ebay but - having sold on both - ebay is better for me overall.
J

Posted On: 2020-05-01 14:13
User Name: papapossum

eBay’s greatest weakness is its lack of traffic. Otherwise, its flexibility in constructing listings, with multiple photos, enhanced graphics, and almost limitless space to describe and “sell” an item, is a real boon for dealers.

However, auction-style listings are simply going away, not because of a decision eBay made, but because for the most part, consumers don’t feel that they have time to deal with them. And indeed, from the seller’s perspective, they are a loser’s game. I set my “Buy It Now” prices to what I think the market can bear, based on how the item has sold in the past on eBay – information, which of course, is available under “Sold” listings. (This very close to “3.” on your list of desiderata, although it only goes back a few months.)

If someone wants to pay my price, good. If not, they can move on. I will sometimes knock off 15%, sometimes not. I don’t have time for extended negotiations with low-ballers, and I do not include the “Best Offer” option with my eBay listings. If the book has value, what’s it to me if it sits around for three or five years? It’s not in a dusty shop depending on foot traffic – it is for sale in front of the entire country.

With the decline of auction listings, and the increased availability of information educating sellers on what they have and what it’s worth, bargains are not as common on eBay as they once were. Based on this article and the one you posted back in the fall concerning eBay, it sounds like you’re dealing with some degree of bitterness about this fact.

Posted On: 2020-05-06 20:16
User Name: zbooks

Hi Bruce, I was recently offered a 30% discount on a buy-it-now item in my watch list. I happily purchased it but was interested to see the sale was recorded by Ebay at the regular price, with no mention of the discount. If this is standard procedure, the sales records need to be taken with a big grain of salt. Stay safe and sanitized. Kurt Zimmerman

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026
    25 March 2026
    Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- Andrews (H.C.) Coloured Engravings of Heaths, 4 vol. in 2, first edition, [1710,--94]-1802-1809-[1830]. £10,000 - £15,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Butterflies.- Cramer (Pierre) and Caspar Stoll. De Uitlandsche Kapellen voorkomende in de drie Waereld-Deelen…,, 5 vol., Amsterdam & Utrecht, 1779-91. £8,000 - £12,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Voyages.- Darwin (Charles) and others. Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle, 3 vol. in 4, including Appendix to vol.2, first edition, 1839. £8,000 - £12,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Butterflies.- de Graaf (Willem Diederik Vincent). [Inlandsche Kapellen in beeld], 170 fine original watercolours, [Enkhuizen], [1800-40]. £8,000 - £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026
    25 March 2026
    Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Dresser (Henry Eeles). A History of the Birds of Europe, 9 vol., including supplement, first edition, by the author, 1871-96. £6,000 - £8,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Zoology.- Felines.- Elliot (Daniel Giraud). A Monograph of the Felidæ or Family of the Cats, first edition, for the Subscribers, by the Author, [1878]-1883. £25,000 - £30,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Frisch (Johann Leonard). Vorstellung der Vögel Deutschlandes, 2 vol., first edition, Berlin, Friedr. Wilhelm Birnsteil, [1736]-1763. £40,000 - £60,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Gould (John). The Birds of Great Britain, 5 vol., first edition, by the author, 1862-1873. £30,000 - £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026
    25 March 2026
    Forum, Mar. 25: Pomology.- France.- Poiteau (A.) Pomologie Française. Recueil des Plus Beaux Fruits cultivés en France, 4 vol., Paris, 1846. £30,000 - £40,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- [Robin (Jean)]. Histoire des Plantes, nouvellement trouvées en l'Isle Virgine…,, 1620; with Geoffrey Linocier L'Histoire des plantes, second edition, 1619-20. £3,000 - £4,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Asia.- Japan.- Siebold (P.F. von). Nippon. Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan, 7 parts in 6 vol., first edition, Leyden, [1832]-1852. £35,000 - £45,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Asia.- Valentijn (Francois). Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën..., 5 vol. in 8, first edition, Dordrecht [&] Amsterdam, 1724-26. £8,000 - £12,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- Australia.- Redouté (P.J.).- Ventenat (Étienne Pierre). Jardin de la Malmaison, 2 vol.,, Paris, 1803-04[-05]. £30,000 - £40,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    26th March 2026
    Forum, Mar. 26: Book of Hours.- Heures a lusaige de Romme, printed on vellum, with 14 full-page illuminated miniatures, Paris, N. Higman for J. de Brie, [c.1521]. £20,000-30,000
    Forum, Mar. 26: France.- Book of Hours, perhaps Use of the Abbey of Saint-Gildas de Rhuys, with thirteen miniatures surviving from an original cycle of at least twenty, [c. 1430]. £15,000-20,000
    Forum, Mar. 26: Milton (John). Paradise lost. A Poem in Ten Books, first edition, Pforzheimer's sixth state, S. Simmons, 1669. £8,000-12,000
    Forum, Mar. 26: Blake (William). Illustrations of the Book of Job, one of 215 first issue "Proof" copies, this one of 65 copies on "French" paper, Published by the Author, March 8, 1825 [but March, 1826]. £15,000-20,000
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    26th March 2026
    Forum, Mar. 26: Christie (Agatha). The ABC Murders, first edition, The Crime Club, 1936. £15,000-20,000
    Forum, Mar. 26: Halley (Edmund). Astronomiae Cometicae Synopsis, in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, no. 297, pp.1882-99, March 1705. £10,000-15,000
    Forum, Mar. 26: Haytham (Ibn al) [known as Alhazen]. Opticae Thesaurus...Item Vitellonis Thuringopoloni libri X..., first edition, Basel, August, 1572. £20,000-30,000
    Forum, Mar. 26: Kepler (Johannes). Dioptrice seu demonstratio eorum quae visui & visibilibus propter conspicilla non ita pridem inventa accidunt, first edition, Augsburg, David Frank, 1611. £12,000-18,000
  • Books & Autographs
    Wednesday 25 March
    Koller, Mar. 25: KAFKA, FRANZ, SCHRIFTSTELLER. Eigenh. Brief mit Unterschrift. Prag, 20. Oktober [19]15. CHF 30,000-40,000.
    Koller, Mar. 25: EINSTEIN, ALBERT. Zwei eigenhändige Briefe an Ernst Gabor Straus, unterschrieben "A.E" bzw. "A. Einstein". [Princeton], [19]45. und [1950]. CHF 30,000-40,000.
    Koller, Mar. 25: HORTENSE DE BEAUHARNAIS, MUTTER VON NAPOLEON III. Album aus ihrem Besitz mit 69 Aquarellen und Pinselzeichnungen in Sepia oder Grau… CHF 14,000-18,000.
    Koller, Mar. 25: ZOOLOGIE - ORNITHOLOGIE - Seligmann, Johann Michael. Verzameling van uitlandsche en zeldzaame Vogelen. Teile 1-8 (von 9) in 2 Bänden. Mit 421 prächtig altkolorierten Kupfertafeln. CHF 14,000-20,000
    Koller, Mar. 25: BOTANIK - Berlèse, Lorenzo und Johann Jakob Jung. Iconographie du genre camellia... 3 Bände. Mit 300 Farbstichtafeln "a la poupée.” Paris, [1839-]1841-1843. CHF 12,000-18,000.

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