You may worry that an unscrupulous dealer will use their superior knowledge to undercut you. But in fact, as a great amount of business is done via word-of-mouth in the trade, offering a reasonable price is in the dealer’s interest as it will help to preserve their reputation and also encourage people to bring more books to them. Unlike at auctions, dealers are happy to buy books on any day of the week. If you want to dispose of books quickly and without fuss, going to a dealer is an excellent option. As Frew says, “To sell a book on one’s own you have to be in command of the language of book description. It is laborious, time consuming and not totally successful – you won’t always sell all your books. If you sell to a dealer he’s more likely to take all your books.”

To sell a book on one’s own you have to be in command of the language of book description. It is laborious,time consuming and not totally successful

relationship. Get into a seller’s good books, pay attention to the market, see which dealers are buying books at auction.” In order to ensure that you are getting a fair price he recommends that you go along to the auctions and fairs. “Fairs are a very good way of getting an overview because you can get to see a lot of dealers all under one roof. You get an idea of how the trade is actually functioning, the different levels of it.”

THE INTERNET

The internet has revolutionised book selling and sites such as e-Bay have helped to open up the market to the novice. With a digital camera and little knowledge of computers and the

web, a UK seller on e-Bay has access to a staggering 11.5 million potential customers. Specialist book websites facilitate many tens of thousands of books sales each day. The value of books sold in 2005 on Abebooks was more than $150 million. Sadly, although such figures suggest a potential goldmine, these sites are probably not the best place for a beginner to start selling. Indeed the major sites such as Abebooks and Biblio.com actively discourage private individuals from uploading their books by charging subscriptions or listing fees. Abebooks charge booksellers a monthly subscription fee of £17 to list up to 500 books, and commissions of eight per cent on each book sold. Biblio.com offer sellers a choice: either a flat commission of 15 per cent with no listing fees, or a small listing fee and seven and half per cent on each sale. They do this to ensure that the

As with the long established auction houses, the best dealers are steeped in book history and have decades of knowledge and trade know-how. “Most firms have been in operation for a long time,” says Frew. “They’ve done their apprenticeships, these are solid and knowledgeable people who understand books well.” If you intend to sell books regularly then building a good relationship with a sympathetic dealer is key. It is important to do your research: check them out in one of the trade titles such as the Antiques Trade Gazette, look at the adverts in Rare, and also online to suss out a dealer’s prices and stock, and most crucially whether they belong to one of the book selling associations – the ABA or PBFA in the UK, the ABAA in the US, for example. All member dealers have codes of practice and also guarantee right of return if books are poorly described or fakes. According to Julian MacKenzie at Shapero Books, you’ll get the best results if you build up a trusting relationship. “The thing about coming to dealers is that you’ve got to know who you are dealing with,” he says. “You can’t take a rare book to any old dealer and expect them to make an offer. You need to work with dealers, get to know them and establish a

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WHICH IS BEST FOR YOU?

The Auction House Dr David GoldthorpeSotheby’s

The Dealer Robert Frew

A Beginner’s Guide

The Internet Richard DaviesAbebooks

Auction houses make the selling process easier for private individuals. If you’re sitting alone on the internet you are relying on people searching out your book whereas we can search out the right buyers for you. The key advantage to using auction houses, however, and the principle factor in getting high prices is the drama of the auction room on the day of a sale. It sometimes makes people pay more than they normally would. Finally, if you sell through an auction house it is in both the interest of the auction house and the seller to achieve the highest price possible. If you go through a dealer, the dealer has other costs to consider, and on balance it is not in his interest to pay the top whack.

Many firms have been in operation for a long time. They’ve done their apprenticeships, these are solid, knowledgeable people who understand books. Within a specialist field you can do much better selling to specialist book dealer who has a specialist clientele. He will also offer a higher price than an auction house can obtain. Of course, the trouble with trying to sell a book on one’s own is that you have to be in command of the language of book description. The internet offers bargains but also huge dangers; there is so much bad book selling going on, so much misinformation. You can waste a lot of time if you don’t know what you’re doing.

At Abebooks we try and keep off private sellers, so we only attract professionals. We have a monthly subscription fee; you have to put on a decent number of books to make some money. That means we don’t get the eBay sellers. We don’t make it worth their time. We only want professionals but there are all types of professionals with different levels of knowledge. As a seller you might have more knowledge than someone else; you may see a trend coming where there is a strong demand for a certain author or genre. There will be other sellers who don’t see that trend and they will price the books cheaper. So there’s an opportunity to make a profit.

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quality of books offered on the site is not compromised and that books are professionally described. Of course, this does not stop you buying books to sell on. Prices are transparent; there is no commission to pay for the buyer, and you will find a book very easily and can compare prices with a host of other sellers. “The thing that makes us different is the speed and ability to find something specific,” says Richard Davies at Abebooks. “The best thing is that if I want, say, a first edition, fifth printing of Great Expectations, I know I’m going to find it.” There are now 13,500 sellers on Abebooks. That number is increasing all the time so prices are coming down owing to the competition. But you have to know what you are buying. Davies explains: “You may see a trend coming where there is a strong demand for a certain author or genre. There will be other dealers out there who don’t see that trend and they will price the books

cheaper. So there’s an opportunity to make a profit later on.” For dealer Robert Frew such a strategy is fraught with risk for the novice. “The internet offers bargains but also huge dangers. One hears a lot of scare stories. There is so much misinformation. You can waste a lot of time if you don’t know what you’re doing.” Ironically, the specialist book sites have been of most benefit to the smaller booksellers, the very people who feared being rendered obsolete by the net, says Crispin Jackson at Christie’s. “It means they can sell to people in New York even if they’re in darkest Cornwall.” The clued-up local sellers have harnessed their bricks and mortar businesses with the net as a selling tool says Kevin Donaldson at Biblio. “We are an addendum to their business and not overtaking it.” For the time being, however, the best advice for the novice is to stick to e-Bay or hold a car boot sale. R

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