Which will give you the most money for selling your books? Ebay and Half.com compared and contrasted for the seller.
On-line auctioning of your books on eBay is a genuinely good method for making the most money in a short period time. It does have a few draw backs, now more so than in the golden era of books of just a few years ago. On eBay:
* You pay a listing fee whether the book sells or not. The listing fee has to be paid again each time you list the unsold book. While possibly a small amount, these fees will continue to eat into your profit margin.
* You have a narrow window of opportunity to attract any potential buyers. The longest auction listing is for just 10 days. And when the 10 days are over, you may not have achieved the price you hoped for – or may have no sale at all.
* Deadbeat bidders or non-paying bidders (NPBs) take up your time and your money. Some bidders require you to stay on top of them just to get your payment. If the bidder doesn't pay you, you don't get your listing fee refunded.
A good alternative, especially for books, is HALF.COM (HDC or Half Dot Com). HDC is a fixed price venue where you set the price that you want for your book. The Shipping and Handling allowances, however, are fixed by this site regardless of the size or weight of the book.
The positive points for listing books on HDC are:
* The entire listing process can take less than 2 minutes per book since there are few choices to make beyond condition and price. A bulk up loader is available for businesses with larger inventories.
* You get paid by HDC since the buyer has to pay HDC immediately with a credit card upon ordering. Thus, you don't have to worry about non-paying buyers.
* Your listing is free and remains active until the book is sold or you remove it from your HDC inventory.
Of course, there are some drawbacks to listing books on HDC as compared to eBay. Since on HDC:
* Any book not having an ISBN number is difficult to list. It is possible, but it presents a challenge.
* You must confirm orders with 48 hours and then ship within 24 hours of confirmation (or at least the next regular postal business day).
* The final value fee (FVF) feels steep at 15% of the selling price. However, note that you don't have to worry about paying PayPal or other on line payment fees.
While neither place is absolutely perfect every time for your books, you would do well to consider a judicious mix of the two. A bit of research and time working with both sites will give you enough information and a good feel for which book should go where.
And, if a book parked on HDC becomes a hot item on eBay, you simply pull it from HDC inventory and list it on eBay. If it doesn't go at eBay auction, it's easy enough to put it back into HDC again.
While some sellers try listing the same books on both venues at the same time, this could results in problems. Think carefully before doing this and consider the consequences of negative feedback if you fail to produce the book for a serious buyer on either site due to simultaneous sales or poor inventory control.
There are other possibilities beyond HDC for selling books at a fixed price, but that will be a topic left for future consideration.
Lastly consider the old admonition – don't put all your eggs in one basket...
About the Author
madorman is a veteran of on-line auctioning who specializes in books, martial arts gear and business and industrial equipment.