Goodwill Pricing

At my local Goodwill the lady in charge of pricing books has promoted
herself to "book expert" They have taken to the practice of looking books
up on ABE taking the highest priced listing (and I think we all know how
prices range on ABE), printing it out and placing it in the book and then
pricing that book just under the ABE price. Never taking into account such
little facts like, Does the book have a dust jacket? Is it the same
publisher? Just the other day they had a book priced at $65.00. The print
out in the book had a price of $400.00. I went home and looked it up You
could get the same book for $20.00. When I questioned them about it they
said "people buy them" So some old lady who doesn't know a thing about
books sees this little print out and thinks she saving a bundle. .

Thoughts?

"krik999" wrote in message
...
At my local Goodwill the lady in charge of pricing books has promoted
herself to "book expert" They have taken to the practice of looking books
up on ABE taking the highest priced listing (and I think we all know how
prices range on ABE), printing it out and placing it in the book and then
pricing that book just under the ABE price. Never taking into account
such little facts like, Does the book have a dust jacket? Is it the same
publisher? Just the other day they had a book priced at $65.00. The
print out in the book had a price of $400.00. I went home and looked it
up You could get the same book for $20.00. When I questioned them about
it they said "people buy them" So some old lady who doesn't know a thing
about books sees this little print out and thinks she saving a bundle. .

Thoughts?


A little learning is a dangerous thing...the "book experts" at my local
thrift scotch tape their higher prices to the books that they plan to sell
at more than fifty cents. A good way to lose material from a paper or
leather cover, but they don't understand that they are destroying the value
by the mere fact of marking the book in that way. Fortunately, except for
gilt edged, leather bound books, they have no clue as to what is really
valuable. They've got dampstained ex-library copies on their "expensive"
shelf, and signed modern firsts in the fifty-cent shelf. Who am I to educate
them?

Alice

At my local Goodwill the lady in charge of pricing books has promoted
herself to "book expert" They have taken to the practice of looking books
up on ABE taking the highest priced listing (and I think we all know how
prices range on ABE), printing it out and placing it in the book and then
pricing that book just under the ABE price. Never taking into account such
little facts like, Does the book have a dust jacket? Is it the same
publisher?

I see this a lot in charity shops round here. Usually they get a clue
after a couple of years.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

"krik999" wrote in message
...

At my local Goodwill the lady in charge of pricing books has promoted
herself to "book expert" They have taken to the practice of looking books
up on ABE taking the highest priced listing (and I think we all know how
prices range on ABE), printing it out and placing it in the book and then
pricing that book just under the ABE price.

This is probably illegal. Most jurisdictions have by
now formal legislation concerning "reduced sale
prices." The general theme of these laws is that
it is a crime to price anything as "$15 reduced from
$20" unless the same vendor has actually sold at
least one item at $20.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

At my local Goodwill the lady in charge of pricing books has promoted
herself to "book expert" They have taken to the practice of looking books
up on ABE taking the highest priced listing (and I think we all know how
prices range on ABE), printing it out and placing it in the book and then
pricing that book just under the ABE price.
This is probably illegal. Most jurisdictions have by now formal
legislation concerning "reduced sale prices." The general theme of
these laws is that it is a crime to price anything as "$15 reduced
from $20" unless the same vendor has actually sold at least one item
at $20.

The post didn't imply that - just that the offered price was listed in
comparison with the Abebooks top. What usually happens here is just
that they'll tell you verbally the reason for their silly prices is
"that's the Internet price", they don't even put it in writing. Most
of the customers must just think they're nuts.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

On Mar 18, 12:07 pm, "Don Phillipson"
wrote:
"krik999" wrote in message

...

At my local Goodwill the lady in charge of pricing books has promoted
herself to "book expert" They have taken to the practice of looking books
up on ABE taking the highest priced listing (and I think we all know how
prices range on ABE), printing it out and placing it in the book and then
pricing that book just under the ABE price.

This is probably illegal. Most jurisdictions have by
now formal legislation concerning "reduced sale
prices." The general theme of these laws is that
it is a crime to price anything as "$15 reduced from
$20" unless the same vendor has actually sold at
least one item at $20.

But there is no indication that the thrift shop has done anything
like that. There is nothing illegal about pointing out that one's
price is lower than some other vendor's price, though one might argue
that it would be deceptive if the "book expert" actually knew that she
was comparing the store's copy to a different edition or to a copy in
such different condition that the values could not be comparable.
While the cliche about "ignorance of the law" and "no excuse" is
usually true, ignorance of the facts and general cluelessness can be a
defense when intent is an issue.

chiwito

On Mar 18, 2:30 pm, "
wrote:
On Mar 18, 12:07 pm, "Don Phillipson"
wrote:



"krik999" wrote in message

...

At my local Goodwill the lady in charge of pricing books has promoted
herself to "book expert" They have taken to the practice of looking books
up on ABE taking the highest priced listing (and I think we all know how
prices range on ABE), printing it out and placing it in the book and then
pricing that book just under the ABE price.

This is probably illegal. Most jurisdictions have by
now formal legislation concerning "reduced sale
prices." The general theme of these laws is that
it is a crime to price anything as "$15 reduced from
$20" unless the same vendor has actually sold at
least one item at $20.

But there is no indication that the thrift shop has done anything
like that. There is nothing illegal about pointing out that one's
price is lower than some other vendor's price, though one might argue
that it would be deceptive if the "book expert" actually knew that she
was comparing the store's copy to a different edition or to a copy in
such different condition that the values could not be comparable.
While the cliche about "ignorance of the law" and "no excuse" is
usually true, ignorance of the facts and general cluelessness can be a
defense when intent is an issue.

I can't help wondering why certain thrifts and
library donation store managers have such a
hard time grasping the fact that their business
depends on their prices being considerably lower
than those of typical used or rare book stores.
After all, the selection found in a thrift or library
donation store will never be comparable to that
of a good used book store. People don't patronize
thrift shops and donation stores because
they have a "great selection." People patronize
them to get books at bargain prices, meaning
prices considerably lower than those of a for-
profit used book store. So, when thrifts stupidly
raise their prices to the used book store level, then
they simply become run-of-the-mill used
book stores with lousy selections: not at
all places worth patronizing. Low prices bring
people to thrifts and donation stores, so their
managers should keep the prices as low as
possible, not try to raise them as high as
possible. (And, I certainly agree that when
those doing the pricing show they know
nothing about book values, the situation
becomes risible as well as annoying.)

Another pet peeve of mine is when the volunteer
or clerk at the thrift or donation store starts grumbling
that they have priced something too low when
I purchase it. They or one of the other volunteers
priced the item, after all. Why grumble that
something should have been priced higher?
Instead of trying to jack their prices up as high as
they can, they should keep their prices low and
work on getting more book donations. They
are not doing their organizations any favors
by driving away paying customers. It is
like cetain thrift volunteers get "sellers remorse"
when it dawns on them that someone is getting
a great deal They should be delighted because
if someone is buying a book it means more money
is flowing into their organization and it probably
means the customer will return and buy more
books.

[Memo from the upstairs office.]

chiwito- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

On Mar 18, 2:30 pm, "
wrote:
On Mar 18, 12:07 pm, "Don Phillipson"
wrote:



"krik999" wrote in message

...

At my local Goodwill the lady in charge of pricing books has promoted
herself to "book expert" They have taken to the practice of looking books
up on ABE taking the highest priced listing (and I think we all know how
prices range on ABE), printing it out and placing it in the book and then
pricing that book just under the ABE price.

This is probably illegal. Most jurisdictions have by
now formal legislation concerning "reduced sale
prices." The general theme of these laws is that
it is a crime to price anything as "$15 reduced from
$20" unless the same vendor has actually sold at
least one item at $20.

But there is no indication that the thrift shop has done anything
like that. There is nothing illegal about pointing out that one's
price is lower than some other vendor's price, though one might argue
that it would be deceptive if the "book expert" actually knew that she
was comparing the store's copy to a different edition or to a copy in
such different condition that the values could not be comparable.
While the cliche about "ignorance of the law" and "no excuse" is
usually true, ignorance of the facts and general cluelessness can be a
defense when intent is an issue.

I think it is more like "a little learning is a dangerous thing."
The person has learned how to look up book on the net,
but has not learned how to use the information intelligently,
with regard to pricing low enough to keep bargain-hunting
thrift customers coming back.

[Memo from the upstairs office.]

chiwito- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

On Mar 21, 3:58 am, wrote:

I think it is more like "a little learning is a dangerous thing."

You ought to know palmjob!

On Mar 22, 4:54 am, "RF" wrote:
On Mar 21, 3:58 am, wrote:

I think it is more like "a little learning is a dangerous thing."

You ought to know palmjob!

As expected. Another wet-noodle attack
from Spankard Finnan. Give it up, Bob.
You look pretty silly wriggling around on your
belly while flailing those wet noodles at me.
You are close to becoming another famous
spankard like 'Louse-monkey" Hausmann,
"The Dumpster Rodent," "Lousy" McLemon,
and a few hundred others. Actually, your
pathetic "lames" belong in alt.flame, but as
you well know, you would readily be toasted
to a humiliated crisp over there too. Cheers.

[Memo from the upstairs office.]