Rare Book Monthly
Articles - December - 2006 Issue
Google/Froogle: Is This Any Place To Sell Books?
Antbo is one of many not as well known websites selling books.
Additionally, there is Froogle. Froogle is Google's dedicated selling site. It is not like Abe nor even like Amazon (though, like Amazon, it sells everything under the sun). It is a search engine of items for sale, but rather than selling anything itself, it leads people to the vendor's site (come to think of it, it is more like Books For Sale). You can search everything on Froogle, or limit your searches to specific fields, such as books. We find Froogle also brings traffic to our site, perhaps only 10% of what Google brings, but traffic nonetheless. When you're selling books, every piece helps. However, for your books to show up on Froogle, they must be separately submitted to them through "Google Base" (sort of like the way you submit your listings to book sites).
Since Books For Sale directs the prospect to the bookseller, rather than making the sale itself, we do not know how many of these prospects become buyers or their average order size. BFS does provide an email form to send dealers, and we would presume most who make such as inquiry are at minimum a serious prospect. Roughly 1%-2% of the people who access a listing send either an email inquiry or an offer to buy. We do not know how many others contact the seller by phone instead.
These are not huge numbers. Neither are they insignificant. Here is something to know about listings found through Google searches. Google is not likely to send a customer for your used copy of Tom Sawyer. Google finds over 2 million matches for the terms "Tom Sawyer." No one is going to see your listing among all of those. It is going to be the obscure title, or the book about niche fields or with unusual imprints which are going to be found. It is the phrase that only finds five matches in Google, rather than 2 million, which will lead a searcher to click the link to your listing. The good news is that this book is likely to be more valuable than your $2 used copy of Tom Sawyer. In other words, it is the obscure, and likely more valuable material, that is most likely to be found in a Google search. While we do not have any hard numbers on average order size, from talking to those who list on Books For Sale, we find orders are typically substantial, some reaching into several thousands of dollars. People are finding the rarities they might never have thought they could find through internet searches. What's more, when the listing is on a site that encourages direct customer-bookseller contact, such as AE's Books For Sale, ILAB, ABAA, Tom Folio, or your own site, you may be starting a long-term relationship with a serious buyer. Being seen on Google, Froogle, and other search sites can be an important part of your strategy after all.
