Rare Book Monthly
The More Things Change the More They Remain the Same
Adjust or rust.
The listing sites do not release precise sales data in part because sellers often aren't willing to say what they accepted. A second reason is that those who list might not like what they saw if they could see and this probably makes listing sites hesitate to push the issue. The loser no matter what the reasons is the buyer who faces a wall of asking prices and absolutely no help in figuring out if the asking prices make sense. They are simply asked to "take my word for it" and respond by looking to eBay where prices are unmistakably lower and determined through open bidding.
Everyone also understands that attractively priced material should sell quickly and it's correspondingly obvious that material that sells slowly is probably overpriced. As the theory goes, if it's a good deal someone will buy it. If they don't, it isn't. Many dealers posting to listing sites say there aren't enough buyers but eBay is proving this isn't true. It's simply that prices are too high. The new buyer is simply smarter than the sellers who insist on above-market prices. These new buyers buy books. In fact they buy hundreds of thousands of them but increasingly buy them in the more efficient markets.
Thus it is too bad for a spectacular site like Abe which finds itself wedded to a market approach that in my opinion is going to fail if it is not adjusted. The market is moving into the bid and ask format, as confirmed by the increasing sales on eBay and at traditional auctions. Sites that provide only asking prices aren't going to make the cut because the tools to parse auction flow exist and work well. In the old model of book buying you chose from among the items offered. Today book buyers screen auction flow and regularly find interesting if unpredictable material. For many collectors this discovery is a turning point. [See AE's free traditional auction search and eBay's lot search to confirm this yourself].
Of the thirty million old and used books listed on the web that will sell this year eBay will handle a remarkable 40 to 45% of them and their share seems to be increasing 5% a year. Today they are encouraging traditional auctions to list their sales on eBay and are aggressively working to co-opt the unprotected middle of the market that the listing sites occupy. To do this they offer a variation of the listing site they call Buy it Now and integrate it into their auction flow. The listing sites should be happy that eBay hasn't yet figured out how to make this listing service fully effective. In the meantime they should develop options to compete in what will soon be an efficient bid and ask market. The listing sites may not win the battle but they should fight the fight. They are a major asset to collectors but their relevance diminishes as the market transforms. There are interesting options for them to consider and now is the time to figure them out.
