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Old February 16th 07, 07:07 PM posted to rec.collecting.books
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Default Unscrupulous Dealers and Price Gouging in Seattle?

On Feb 10, 7:18 am, "Stone Mirror (the Great and Terrible)"
wrote:
I own a pristine copy of a volume titled "The Picatrix", published by
Ourobouros Press in 2001 in a limited edition of 1000 copies (mine is
#331). I'm doing an appraisal of the current value of this book, so I
searched Bookfinder to see what was listed there.

There are several copies listed, ranging in price from a low of $204
to a high of over $500 (the latter from a Seattle brick and mortar
store for a copy with a scuff on the cover!) One of the outliers,
pricing a copy at $430, was an outfit called "seattle_bookseller". I
wrote and asked why the price was so high, and got an amazingly
vituperative and abusive response, stating that this "WAS HOW THE RARE
BOOK BUSINESS WORKED" and that I "NEED A COURSE IN REMEDIAL ECONOMICS"
and so on.


Well, he sounds like a grouch. Smart dealers
have a civil and positive-sounding reply for any
question. He should have told you what a
wonderful deal he was offering. Maybe there
is some satisfaction in saying "That's my price,
like it or lump it," but all that does is ensure
that customers don't come back. Some
dealers have that small shopkeeper mentality
where they think it is more important to put
customers in their place with thngs like,
"It is my shop and I'll do as I please blah
blah blah," while to better business people
the trick is to keep people happy and keep
them coming back. That does not mean
letting people walk on you, but it means
explaining things in a positive way when
at all possible.

There is dealer in my area who got exercised
because I simply ask him if a paperback
was new or used. His store is basically a
used bookstore, so it looked to me like he
was pricing "used like-new" p.b.'s at cover
price, and I simply asked him if a paperback
was new or used. (I am not referring to
rare, out-of-print p.b.'s, but just trade-
sized p.b.'s that many used book dealers
around here price at fifty-percent of cover.)
It just so happens thatthis dealer
does not like that question, probably
because he hears it all the time. He insisted
that the book was brand new, not used.
Actually, I believe the guy, because there
other things about his business which
suggests he is a person of some integrity.
He is just an oddball type who does order
new books and mixes them in with his used
books, which most used-book dealers do
not do. Even so, I suspect he has driven
off a lot of customers by getting hot under
the collar regarding a very sensible
question. All things considered, he has
one of the better used bookstores in the
San Diego area, so I still patronize the
guy, but you have to walk on eggshells
in his shop because he will fly off the
handle if you ask the wrong question.

[Memo from the upstairs office.]


I was a little surprised at this, but a little research turned up the
even more surprising information that this seller is one "Luis M.
Arsupial", the same person who was doing business (kinda) as
"texas_bookseller" up until about six months ago, and who previously
created a huge stink in this group over some questionable
transactions!

This kind of pricing seems like nothing more than gouging to me. I
could buy two copies of this book for what this yoyo is asking for it.
I can only assume that he's doing business on a basis of relying on
his customers being ignorant and not doing their research. Based on
the listings on Bookfinder, I'd estimate the value of this book at
$225 to $250, certainly nowhere close to $430.

Is this a usual practice? Do a lot of booksellers price their wares in
the hopes that their buyers will be too stupid to know that they're
being asked to pay twice what a book is worth?


You can't blame dealers for trying to get what the
traffic will bear. In no way is that "price gouging."
On the other hand, many listings show that dealers
like to use "fantasy pricing." That is, when someone
has the only copy of a book of obviously some value
for sale on the entire internet, and he prices it at $400,
that may be very sensible. On the other hand, if he
prices his book at $400 and four other equally
reputable dealers are offering what looks like an
identical copy at prices between $30 and $50,
then the first dealer is not price gouging, he is
dreaming. Or, since you assume he is trying
to sell his book, you might say he is "pricing
stupid." But, I completely agree with the other
posters who say that "price gouging" is not a
correct term to use regarding the pricing of
rare collectibles.

[Memo from the upstairs office.}

(Apparently this "Luis M. Arsupial"--"marsupial"...?--was once known
as "Jason Christopher Hughes", a name which turns up a wide variety of
odd and amazing postings on USENET...)



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