Friday, January 18, 2008

Dr. Suess

How many times have you seen The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss at a garage sale? I don't think a weekend garage sale shopping or trip to the thrift store goes by without me seeing at least one of them. Did you ever think how much a lot of Dr. Seuss books would sell for on Ebay?

What I mean is a lot of those Beginner Books or Bright & Early Books with the Cat in the Hat Logo on the spine. If you have at least 25 of them, you can do well on Ebay. Based on my research 25+ books in a lot sell the best.

So here are my tips regarding this type of listing:

1) You need at least 25 books to get a good return on your time and investment.

2) Take a picture of them showing the spine, so the Ebayer can easily see what titles you are selling.

3) Make sure you quote a media mail postal rate. This will help your listing stand out from others quoting the more expensive parcel post or priority mail rates. You can get an idea of how much it will cost to mail your books by using the USPS website's "calculate postage" page.

I have done this type of listing a few times. The first time, I listed 22 books and made $27.08. My investment cost for that particular auction was $1.00! Sorry, but I can't remember how I got them all so cheaply. It may have been when one of my favorite thrift stores had "bag of books for $1.00". You can cram a lot of books in a bag.

The second time I listed 25 books and made $35.03. My investment cost was $3.00.

The third time I listed 30 books and made $55.00. My investment cost was $5.00.

So, pick them up when you see them. Be patient and wait till you have at least 25 of them. In the meantime, if your kids are gentle with books they will enjoy reading or looking at them.