Mike McGill February 01, 2008

Hello Bruce,



Just a note to let you know I really enjoy reading your AE Monthly. The article about ebay must have hit a nerve with ebay, they are in the process of restructuring their feedback system. Sellers will no longer be able to leave anything but positive feedback. I have been selling online for four years now, mostly on Abebooks, Alibris, B/N, Biblio, and Amazon, but also a few on ebay (10 -12 a month). In four years I've only received one negative feedback, which was the Postal Service's fault.




Sincerely,

Mike McGill

Joanne Hoefer February 01, 2008

re: Ebay Article

I read with interest. Like you I have purchased several items and so far knock on wood the only ones that were less than expected were as you said I failed to really read the descriptions.
However, that said, I have had several problems with books from ABE. The latest this past month. This seller had a 5 star rating. The book was listed as "Description: 300 p. Illus. 22 cm. Includes Illustrations. Great Value. Prompt
delivery with tracking. Satisfaction guaranteed. Author's autograph
presentation copy, no.7. Book seller's advertisement laid in. Bibliography:
p.295-296."

What I got was an exlib copy with pocket ripped out, title page stamped all over, not signed, not a presentation copy shipped in a brown paper sack duct taped. It arrived with a broken spine. I have no idea if it was that way prior to shipping or after. I contacted the seller and received no response. This went on for a week when I turned it over to ABE with photos of the book, sales listing, shipping material etc.
They did issue a refund but as in your case the so called 5 star seller never did respond.



I think an interesting article would be on the use of scanners and the phone services. Everyone talks about them ripping off the average seller at FOL sales etc. but no one really says how they use them and if its a worthwhile investment vrs good old fashion knowing your business. Just a thought.

Editor's Note: Abe's ratings pertain only to the sellers' fulfillment rates, not to factors, such as accuracy of listings, quality of customer service, etc., that most people think determines whether a seller is honest and good.

Henry Lewis February 01, 2008

Hi Bruce,


Just received and read the Feb. 1 issue. It's terrific. Especially enjoyed your eBay experience. By the way, we're going to do the Santa Fe Book Fair again this year. Keep up the good fight!


Henry Lewis

Gunstock Hill Books

Santa Fe

. February 01, 2008

Hi Bruce,

Another good issue of AE Monthly.

This caught my attention:

What happens when a deal goes sour on eBay? Do you dare leave negative feedback, knowing there will be retaliation?

If you had been bidding on AuctionExplorerBooks.com none of these horrors
would have happened.

As all our sellers are vetted dealers the description would have been properly done.
Hopefullly a book in this condition would never have been listed.

If a book proved unsatisfactory each dealer would be expected to take it back
for a full refund without question.

If there was a dispute between you and a dealer we would have been available
to mediate and find a solution.

If the dealer was in any way at fault he would have been immediately removed
from the system and prevented from selling (and buying) in the future.

Quite simple. Solves all the inherent problems of Ebay. As we say, bid with
confidence.

Keep AE Monthly coming.

All the best,

Paul.

Deb February 01, 2008

I read your article about buying on ebay & found it interesting. As a seller who tries to be honest (and who makes almost enough to pay my vet bills by being a 'bottom-feeder' bookseller) I get frustrated with the bad apples. However, an experienced buyer almost never gets shafted - we all know that if you want a free book, all you have to do is say that you never received it (if the book didn't come with tracking info) or just send back an empty mailer, supplying Paypal with proof of mailing. In either event, Paypal will refund your money, all of it. If Paypal is used, the seller has no control over refunds - any 'refund policy' is irrelevant. If a seller can't supply proof of buyer receipt (and emails/messages are not proof) or the buyer can supply proof of mailing something (anything, even maybe a worse copy of the book sold) money back to buyer, no questions asked. The 'dispute' process is impersonal, and does not favor sellers.



Also, beginning Feb. 20, sellers will no longer be able to leave negative feedback for buyers. I assume this means that buyers will be able to say whatever they'd like, without fear of reprisal. The pricing structure is changing also - less listing costs & much higher after sales cost. I assume this is because lots of us list most of our books on Amazon or other places where no fees are paid until the book is sold.



I was glad to see a free search box at Americana Exchange. I have several boxes of books that I cannot find for sale anywhere & so am unable to value & list. I'll try that out soon! Thanks.



P.S. I may be alone in this opinion, but I wish someone would censor Paypal over advertising 'free shipping labels'. Just about every item mailed using Paypal shipping is charged $0.18 over the cost, supposedly for tracking. Yes, the cost of tracking is less than that offered by USPS, but at Paypal, tracking is not an option. If I sell a book for a buck or two, I can't pay $0.18 to create a shipping label, tracking or no tracking....

. February 01, 2008

re: An Unhappy Story: A Deal Gone Bad

Bruce. I found your tale about Ebay very interesting. My experiences with the site
almost exactly correspond.


I have one negative feedback from a bookdealer in Toronto. The tale is as follows:
I bought a folding Marcus Ward card and when it arrived the fold was partly
detached. I e-mailed the seller to tell him and neither asked for a reduction or a
refund or even inferred that I wanted one. I got a grumpy reply stating that it was
fine when sent so I must have done it or it happened in transit.
It would not have been possible to tear in transit so I posted a neutral feedback
and the message 'condition less than description.' I got a negative feedback with the
rebuttal 'item was described photos prove it damage in transit would avoid in the
future.' Apart from the fact that the photos did not show a crack in the hinge as
they were face on, this reply seems excessive for my temerity in mentioning the fault
and posting a neutral on receipt of an arrogant and grouchy response.
The moral of the tale is to be very very careful of the feedback one posts
regardless of how in the right one is.


Jim
JIRI Books

Mariette January 03, 2008

Dear Bruce and Staff:



A Happy New Year to you all for a great job of keeping us informed. It's always a pleasure receiving your monthly newsletter.



Sincerely,

Mariette

Tyson's Old & Rare Books

Thomas Talmadge January 01, 2008

re: Great Homosassa Hassle

Suggest you warn unfortunate against including first class matter with books shipped. Better that be an email form letter. Delivery confirmation is a good idea. Insurance requires a 30 day waiting period. Am more glad now that I quit selling on Alibris.

John Hanzel November 05, 2007

re: Streeter Sale

Hello,

While I do recognize the total of over $3 million as a total, I have a mild comment about it being the "record" auction.

4,000+ lots over 3 years in 1966-69 dollars were indeed impressive, and I did use some of the Streeter catalog references in the 70's.

However, my father, William Hanzel, did sell 373 lots in one two-day auction in September of 1973 for a net (no buyer's premium back then) for $893,000.

I remember carrying 4 Washington letters to the photographer. It was still a trade business back then ~ Newman, Nebenzall, Fleming, Hamill & Barker (now there's a book story), Seven Gables and others.

I do still wonder where Washington's letter Fitzpatrick vol. 28, page 303 ended up ~ it reminds me every now and then to re-read and re-think 3 times before I send a serious email, and I talk about how writing in 1785 could be both well-thought and in good penmanship, since delivery was rather slower than we are used to.

Thanks,

John Hanzel

Clare Murphy November 05, 2007

Ken Leach Obituary

Dear Bruce,

That was a wonderful send-off for Mr. Leach! You have a real gift for writing.

I didn't know Ken Leach personally, but many of my best Americana passed from me to him through a third party and then on to who knows. But these transactions got me through some hard times.

With admiration,

Clare Murphy

Barbara Young November 01, 2007

Dear Bruce,

Surely you know that ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number? When you say "ISBN numbers" you're actually saying "International Standard Book Number Numbers".

This is not the kind of error one expects to see in your publication.

Barbara Young

oldbookshop.com

Clare Van Norman November 01, 2007

Dear Bruce,


Your new monthly newsletter rec'd today is surely one of your most interesting, if not THE most interesting one I've read. I especially liked your Wessen/Ohio article, and your fine description of Ken Leach and his career. There are a number of others that fascinated me also, but I thought I'd inform you of my interest.

Clare Van Norman

Malcolm Kottler November 01, 2007

re: Ken Leach

You write: "Mr. Leach was an outsider of sorts. The Antiquarian Bookseller's Association of America [ABAA] of his era was dominated in New England by George Goodspeed, himself a prickly character, and Ken was never offered membership."

I question your statement "Ken was never offered membership" in ABAA. One is not offered membership in ABAA. Anyone can apply. Ken Leach certainly could have applied. Perhaps what you meant to say was that he was not encouraged to do so (by the likes of a George Goodspeed), or that he did not feel he would be comfortable among the membership. In fact, a considerable number of tributes to Ken Leach have been posted on the ABAA discussion list.

Malcolm Kottler
Scientia Books
member ABAA ILAB


Mr. McKinney's Response:

I only mentioned the ABAA to in part clarify Mr. Leach's embrace of the AAS and this to in turn explain his extraordinary generosity towards them.

Dan Weaver November 01, 2007

Thanks so much for AE Monthly. The changes in the book market over the past few years have been bewildering. It's enlightening and comforting to read how other booksellers are coping with these changes.

Stuart Manley November 01, 2007

Dear Michael,

Your articles are always erudite and worthwhile and your 'Red Stars over ABE' is no exception, but I think you are letting them off the hook somewhat.

Please find below a copy of my article to be published in the next issue of the IOBA 'Standard'.

Best wishes,

Stuart Manley

The ABE Bookseller Ratings Deception

How on earth can it be that that David Brass Rare Books, a well respected ABAA antiquarian book dealer in California of over 40 years experience is rated by ABE as a 'One Star Bookseller', yet obviously inferior re-listers such as Anybook , Best Bargain Books, Bargain Book Stores, etc., with their millions of low-grade boiler plate listings polluting the ABE site are rated as four or even five star booksellers?

The answer, of course, is that they are not bookseller ratings at all, they are simply 'Fulfilment Ratings'. But the presentation and the implication of the wording is that it is an overall quality of the bookseller that is being assessed by a 'caring' ABE.

Anyone from the outside world looking at 'Bookseller Rating' would assume that it meant the overall quality of the bookseller - the quality of stock, the expertise, the quality and honesty of descriptions and the quality of service. Therefore a five star bookseller is better than a three star bookseller and so on. We all know the many reasons why ABE have chosen fulfilment as the criteria and 'Bookseller Rating' as the purposely misleading title - and they are all selfish to ABE, rather than for the good of their customers. Or for you.

Is there anything we can do about it? I think there is.

For a number of years now (i.e. from when ABE started going bad) we have given our customers information on which listing sites do and don't charge commission and how much.



We do it via a give-away leaflet in the bookshop, via a 'tail' on the emails we send out and via the booksearching information page within our website. A number of other bookdealers have joined us in these efforts, which is very helpful.

And it is working. Over the past three years our web-based sales have risen by almost 100%. Direct sales and sales through non-commission sites have risen dramatically over this period, but ABE sales have remained stagnant and have therefore diminished significantly as a proportion of our overall web sales.

So, slowly but surely customers are learning about, and don't like, the extra charges and are beginning to understand that if they go direct to the seller, or through non-commission sites, they will make significant savings.

I believe that the ABE Bookseller Rating needs a similar approach and to this end we have introduced Booklisting Site Ratings to our website:
http://www.barterbooks.co.uk/bb/barterstaticpages.nsf/web%5cstaticpages/booksearch



Just as ABE chose the criteria that suited them (fulfilment) and chose to call it 'Bookseller Rating' rather than 'Fulfilment Rating', we chose the criteria that we felt were most important to us and our customers: quality of listings and amount of commission charged.

The main purpose of this article is to encourage others to follow suit. Feel free to copy or link - you would be doing your customers a service. Your own version can be completely different from ours, with extra sites added and others removed as each bookseller chooses. And with your own criteria and awarding of stars.

If you have a blog, then blog it - Steve Gertz of David Brass Rare Books and friends are already hitting back:
http://www.davidbrassrarebooks.com/?p=59

http://www.bookpatrol.net/2007/08/abebooks-goes-live-with-deceptive.html
and others are on the way.

As I write, I can almost hear the moans:

"What's the point? We'll never beat the big sites."
If that is your attitude, you deserve to be fleeced. Collectively we have the power to force change. True, it cannot be done head on as booksellers are notoriously difficult to gather behind a common policy, but if enough sellers take action of this nature, a slow erosion takes place and one by one customers are weaned away from the high charging sites. And once they leave, they rarely go back. Education, education, education.

"Why pick on ABE? Alibris does the same thing."
True, although they at least have the decency to give it a more honest title. ABE probably get more criticism because they were once the best book listing site on the web and were built up by that quality and the promotion of the participating booksellers. So every adverse change, of which 'Bookseller Ratings' is only the latest, tends to fuel the sense of betrayal that many booksellers feel. In any case, the Booklisting Site Rating is aimed against all the high charging sites, not just ABE.



Get it clear in your head: ABE are a listing site. They own no stock, so are vulnerable to better or more economical listing methods becoming available, be it Google or a new player emerging. They have taken the conscious decision that bookseller loyalty and support is unimportant compared with making money. Like Amazon, eBay and Alibris, they have found that taking a percentage of the stock of someone else, is very profitable.



Make no mistake - they are right. The path ABE have taken is considerably more profitable than the previous model, but the downside is that it includes the seeds of their eventual destruction. As they have no loyalty to the booksellers that helped create them, those booksellers need feel no loyalty to them and if a better listing method comes along, they will desert ABE in droves.

Meantime, the best that the independent bookseller can do is to keep on supporting the independent sites such as ABAA, IOBA and TomFolio, and in the UK, ABA. PBFA and IBookNet. Give them price preference as they don't charge commission (or uplift your prices to the commission charging sites). Give your new listings a two or three week start on their sites. Promote their qualities and integrity whenever and wherever you can.

And keep spreading the word about commission charges and Booklisting Site Ratings!


____________________________________________________________

Stuart Manley, co-owner, Barter Books, Alnwick, Northumberland, England


http://www.barterbooks.co.uk

Nialle Sylvan October 03, 2007

Respected colleagues:

I wish to take a quibbling issue with this month's article about "The Declining Value of Inventory." Notwithstanding my respect for Mr. McKinney, I do feel that there was perhaps a slight excess of gloom prior to the final paragraph, to which I would propose a potential solution.

It is quite true that internet prices are falling everywhere. It is also quite true that this has been caused, in part, by widespread use of what Mr. McKinney kindly calls "triage software." If fifty thousand booksellers use such software to stay a penny below market, all books not on current bestseller call will shortly list for a penny, and the bestsellers will follow sooner than later. Automation is a convenience of our age, but as our friend Aldous Huxley (among others) warned, it is a tyrant when given free rei(g)n. One of the adjustments the market will require is a change to more responsible use of such tools, which will be achieved as the sellers in question discover that they are barely netting pennies per book. Natural selection will follow.

But does this mean that the books themselves are worth only the highest low price? It is true that, for example, James Oliver Curwood novels have a high mass to airfoil ratio, figuratively disabling them from flying off the shelves. Likewise, self-help books more than six months old and unkempt book club editions can do nothing but inflate Abebooks' already misleading listings-available count. But I submit that this is the challenge of our profession: If we find the market flooded with an oversupply of books of true merit, we ourselves must create demand, which we can achieve by selecting our inventory and marketing it as intelligently chosen elements for a discerning reader's collection.

This can mean anything from having a staff picks shelf for recent fiction to printing esteemed, regular catalogues for a select class of buyers; tipping our hands quietly to share bibliographies we have compiled over lifetimes of experience, or simply making time to know our customers' tastes and some appropriate clusters of authors who have similar styles or themes. Mr. McKinney, of course, knows better than I do the value of a well-written catalogue. And every bookseller knows at least as well as I do the importance of having a consistent quality of books to retain a consistent customer base - consistent quality both in terms of the physical objects, books, and in the content thereof. But let us not forget that we, too, are assets of our establishments. Our knowledge is worth more than triage software prices.



Do our customers know this? And are we keeping in mind that collectors are created in the cooperation of willing customers and working booksellers?



In the immediate term, it is true, the average listing price of Curwoods, Psychology 101 2nd Edition (1982), and even the last four Harry Potter novels must fall as low as the listing sites allow. Were postage rates not so ridiculous, this might have allowed those of us with open shops to select some inventory at wholesale or better prices, and indeed, I think it likely that penny listers not already wholesaling to bricks and mortar shops will, of necessity, find ways to do so - even unto aggregation, as unlikely as that may sound - as the individual customer resistance to media mail rates rises. There will also come a point at which the online boom will bust, and only those who are able to market their skills as booksellers will survive that bust, with the eventual result that the survivors won't have to worry quite so much about being underpriced by thrift-shop-to-hall-closet microdealers.

But better yet, I would suggest, there is an incredible opportunity in the marketplace right now for us to demonstrate that we can cater to individual tastes even better than the cola companies with their fifty-nine varieties. Individual tastes will shape the upcoming market, and as we offer that most individual of commodities (okay, with the exception of the latest Jane Austen ripoffs), we have the chance to encourage and perhaps even to shape individual tastes. Are we teaching young people what makes a book worthwhile, inside and out? Are we introducing them to our old friends, Homer, Tolstoy, Alcott, Yeats? And are we helping them to collect, within reasonable budgets? Mr. McKinney's math is quite right; if the ratio of copies to buyers is high, the price will fall, but if we inspire the collectors, this ratio will reverse in proportion to the number of private libraries we help to create. In fact, I rather think that has always been a part of our role in the world.

Respectfully, and with hopes that Mr. McKinney will not much resent my incessant invocation of his name,

Nialle Sylvan

The Haunted Bookshop

Iowa City, Iowa

Len Ainsworth October 01, 2007

Your "I have a dream" article was great. I hope Sony heeds you (and their competitors as well)!

Len Ainsworth

Adobe Book Collection

Farley Katz September 01, 2007

The article on Madeline Kripke's dictionary collection was wonderful. Thanks very much.



Farley Katz

San Antonio, Texas

mrussell August 02, 2007

Dear Bruce McKinney,

Thank you for the series of articles, they are a great source of information to myself, also to my Aunt who has written her doctural dissertation and several books. Keep them coming!

Regards,

Mark Russell

Peter Reynolds August 02, 2007

re: Issue of dates in print-on-demand books

Last year I raised the issue of the date of print-on-demand books here:


http://reynoldsbooks.blog.com/1283390/
br>

Kind regards
br>

Peter Reynolds

Dingwall, Scotland

Joe Linzalone August 01, 2007

re: Abe Listings

I noticed some ABE booksellers listings for literally every search result.

It is extremely unlikely anyone would actually own all these books in stock.

I am informed that some seller listings now replicate others, buying the cloned listing to fulfill the higher priced orders. My enquiry about this to ABE was ignored with form email.

Such listings clog search results and diminish actual book dealers from selling. ABE listings already suffer from poor book descriptions and amateur sellers that offer book club as first editions.

It is becoming harder to sell rare or first editions on ABE as that company focuses on reading copies hoping to rival Amazon. These cloned listings can only annoy alert customers and cloud their confidence in ABE.

Sincerely

Joe Linzalone

Kathryn Ashe August 01, 2007

re: Doctoral Dissertation

As a copyright holder myself, I have great sympathy for Ren? Magriel Roberts.

ABE's arrogant attitude towards almost everyone is the reason I refuse to list there.

If one reads ABE's current seller contract, they state that they are responsible to no one. The only thing ABE's owners are interested in is the fees they collect from both sellers and buyers.

Yours,

Kathryn Ashe Bookseller

bjramer August 01, 2007

Commenting on a New York Times article recently, by Harriet Rubin,
concerning CEOs who collect rare books, one of our colleagues wrote the
following:

A glance at Harriet Rubin's web site is not reassuring: "In her
bestsellers [sic] The Princessa: Machiavelli for Women, Harriet Rubin
defined the tactics by which young women seeking success can get what
they want."

Which returns one to our trade and "publicity." I received in response
to my first posting a very detailed account of the prices asked for
ORIGIN (by Charles Darwin) chronologically, over the last many years,
from a thoughtful colleague. Had that history appeared in Rubin's
article, our trade's daily exercises might have been better understood.

Moral, I suppose: choose your journalist, lest ye be chosen. Customers are so advised also.

Bruce J. Ramer

Experimenta Old and Rare Books

New York, NY 10075

Telephones (212) 772-6211 and 772-6212

Fax (212) 650-9032

E-mail bjramer@mindspring.com

bookphil August 01, 2007

I've often praised you for your tremendous reports. Now I cringe under you undecipherable explanation of eBay...I wonder who gave up after the first 2 paragraphs?

Maybe if you wrote those figures and bids and no showing bids and...IN COLUMNS??? we might understand.
I know I'm not getting senile, but at my peak, I could not have understood how secret bids are secret until the jump over the suckers who are JUST WATCHING THE BIDS SHOWN!

doesn't it sound a little........................
.............?

Incidentally, I used to read every article, but in this moving/selling mode, I haven't the time..just kept noticing you were out WEST. Thought it was a long vocation...so I guess in your many writings you explained why you had left steamy, freezer OHIO!

blessings,

Nelda

Bookphil August 01, 2007

Why on earth did you not ask about the most annoying problems. They cost us today! allowing the $1.00 paperback (whose owner makes 300% on postage. WHY DIDN'T YOU ASK WHY THEY MAKE BUYERS CRAWL THROUGH THESE THOUSANDS..AND..EVEN WORSE, THE books printed by request...worse? maybe not. At least it allows the buyer to see he can have a grand, maybe beautiful volume instead of a crunched facsiila.

I bet millions are screaming ..ABE STOP THIS STUPIDITY. Why waste their time and hours rolling through 200 paperbacks to get to a hardcover/

Solution. Easy. As everything else is parsed..put this as an option...Paper..& facsimila!


HELP..IT KILLS AND TAKES AWAY THE JOY FOR ME TRYING TO FIND A BOOK.

AND DONT SAY THEIR ADVANCED SEARCH DOES THAT..I PUT IN FIRST EDITIONS AND GET PAPER that has no written comment of being a first!

One of their oldest customers...n.bridgeman