Tip #3: Show Many Photos

Not every seller knows the antiquarian terminology or bibliographic citations, but any seller can take adequate pictures, and any prospective buyer can decide by looking at those pictures if they'd like to make a purchase.

The real advantage of eBay is that the seller can put up to a maximum of 12 photos with each description. That means the seller can show not only the condition of the binding, but also the copyright page, the edition and number line, examples of illustrations or photos, any signatures or limited edition notations, any special features that would distinguish this copy from other copies. The seller can also show any defects or imperfections that might be difficult to accurately describe in words. It also means that the seller's copy actually exists and that it exists the way it is shown.

You'd be surprised how many serious book buyers use eBay on a regular basis. These are often the same people who have given up buying on Abe or Amazon or Alibris because the description and the photos, and in some cases even the very existence of the books listed, are unreliable. On eBay the buyer knows the item is actually for sale and with photos the buyer can see what the seller has to offer and can make his/her own evaluation if it's worth the price.

Tip #4: Bibliophilegroup.com is the best venue of all

The eBay site is a good place for a mass audience; however if you're selling books on the internet and not subscribing to the Bibliophilegroup.com list you're missing the best bet of all. The biblio list is a by-subscription listserve. It costs $30/per year. Currently it has about 1,000 members who daily list books wanted, books for sale and links to books for auction. Members also exchange news, information and discuss topics of general bookish interest. The annual $30 subscription is the entire cost. There are no other additional fees or commissions charged.

I've been a member of this list for more than a decade. In my experience it is the most cost effective place to list and sell better books and ephemera because it is read and browsed by people with wide and diverse interests who are serious buyers of books. The owner of this list is Lynn DeWeese-Parkinson, a fellow bookseller based in Mexico. He offers a two-week free trial subscription, so prospective subscribers can easily decide if this is a suitable venue.

Be warned you'll get a lot of emails and they may not all be of interest, but if you're looking for a place to sell at practically no cost and where you will find other like-minded people with bookish interests this is the best deal of all.

Contact lynn@bibliophilegroup.com to ask for the trial subscription, and tell him you read about it in AE Monthly.

AE writer Susan Halas can be reached at halas@hawaii.rr.com