At the same time you are attracting an audience to specific listings you are also conveying a broader
impression about what and how you list. To the extent eBayers find your listings interesting they'll
add you to their favorite searches and choose to receive daily emails of your new postings. Think of
this as a variation of Sally Field's Academy Award speech, "You like me. You really, really like me."
Yup, that's what it means. Experienced sellers work hard to build a following.
If of course you are in a pure liquidation mode you start out prepared to get what you get and don't
care if you sell cheap. For you victory is a clean house and eBay will help you do this.
There are two parts to your listing. At the top there is a header and subheader. On book listing
sites books are listed by title and author. Not here. On eBay they are listed by hooks or search
terms that you believe will bring buyers to your listing. So "A History of George Washington" in an
eBay header might be "Washington History Inscribed Boards Levenger." This translates to the subject
WASHINGTON, the type of material, HISTORY, a signed copy, INSCRIBED, the binding, BOARDS, and a past
owner named LEVENGER. Think of this as chess, not checkers. This is all about hits or clicks on the
listing.
In preparing the second part of the listing, the description, we now have the chance to create
opportunities for searchers to find the listing. In doing this we need to be honest and complete while
relentlessly answering the age old question: why should I buy this book? Show the title, author, date
and place printed. Then look on listing sites for other copies to see how it's described. Look
carefully at how book condition is evaluated. Now describe your book in appropriate terms. Is your
copy in any way special? Has it been signed by the author or owned by someone? In every case mention
this. Books that have been signed by their authors are always worth some premium but no, don't start
practicing forged signatures. George Washington died in 1799 so he didn't sign your book that was
printed in 1924. If your book has a jacket, mention this. They were uncommon before 1900. Condition
is VERY important so be conservative.
Many people selling on eBay quit right here. Serious sellers go on. List the table of contents,
perhaps the preface and book reviews if you can track them down. You are building a mountain of
material that will create matches for buyers searching the eBay anthill. Consider using a scanner and
optical character reader if you decide to get serious. You can scan pages of material in a few minutes
that would take hours if you type it. Of course you may only be increasing the realized price by $10
so be realistic.
Setting the Price
Here we find out if you really want to sell. Again let's look on the listing sites for a sense of
what the asking prices are. Let's say there are 4 copies. Three sound like yours and they are priced
at $40, $60 and $75. There is also a signed copy [by the author] for $150. Yours is not signed so
ignore the $150 copy. The average of the others is $58. Start the bidding at $15 or about 25%. You
want bidders when they see the listing to say "this is interesting" and add it to the items they are
following. You'll probably get about $30 for your copy. Chances are that if you look on the listing
sites in three months all four copies that you used for price comparison will still be available while
you have already converted the proceeds into baseball tickets.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.