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Post by William Ager on Oct 18, 2013 15:21:32 GMT
I've meaning to read some R. Chetwynd Hayes since I first saw From Beyond the Grave (which was years ago) and finally got hold of a few of his collections over the last couple of weeks. I've managed to pick them up relatively cheaply, the most inexpensive being a copy of Terror by Night (pictured below) which was delivered this morning. As you can see it's in decent enough condition for its age. I paid £1.21 for it through Abebooks. However, on Ebay a copy was on offer for just over £100 and there are a couple on Amazon with similarly crazy price tags. I was just wondering what's the most you've paid for an old paperback and what you think of some of these seemingly insane prices that are being charged by online secondhand booksellers.
I suppose simple availability dictates the prices sellers attach to their books but in many cases lack of availability doesn't necessarily mean an item is "rare". I think booksellers have to a bit more realistic and bear in mind what they're actually dealing with. Too many seem to be putting unaffordable prices on books that simply aren't worth it. Anyway, that's my humble opinion.
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Post by jamesdoig on Oct 19, 2013 0:44:03 GMT
I was just wondering what's the most you've paid for an old paperback and what you think of some of these seemingly insane prices that are being charged by online secondhand booksellers. If you're prepared to wait you can invariably find paperbacks you're after for under $10, and in most cases under $5. I can't recall paying more than $10 for a paperback, but once you add postage for online purchases it ends up being between $15 and $20 - that would have to be something really special! Prices on abebooks etc are no guide - they're the prices of books that haven't sold, and most of them never will sell. |
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Post by dem bones on Oct 19, 2013 5:55:51 GMT
I was just wondering what's the most you've paid for an old paperback and what you think of some of these seemingly insane prices that are being charged by online secondhand booksellers. If you're prepared to wait you can invariably find paperbacks you're after for under $10, and in most cases under $5. I can't recall paying more than $10 for a paperback, but once you add postage for online purchases it ends up being between $15 and $20 - that would have to be something really special! Prices on abebooks etc are no guide - they're the prices of books that haven't sold, and most of them never will sell. Exactly. The seller can pluck any old price out of the air and if people are mug enough to spend a £100 on a ratty old paperback which may or may not turn up for 20p at the next car boot sale they attend, that's their business. I got this thing that, if i was meant to have it, it will show up somewhere, if not, it won't and it doesn't really matter as there's no shortage of interesting stuff to read. We've had at least one comedian join purely to try flog his books and he "knew" what each of them was "worth" because he's seen what people were asking for this or that title on Abe. There have been instances of people asking grossly inflated prices for pod's, when you only have to approach the publisher to get 'em brand new at cost price. And as for "competitively priced", "collectable small press leather-bound, numbered, vacuum sealed limited editions that fold out into a model of the author's fridge or something (free silk bookmark with first five) ... well, you know. "Thanks, but no thanks" is being charitable. |
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Oct 19, 2013 7:09:21 GMT
If you're prepared to wait you can invariably find paperbacks you're after for under $10, and in most cases under $5. I can't recall paying more than $10 for a paperback, but once you add postage for online purchases it ends up being between $15 and $20 - that would have to be something really special! Prices on abebooks etc are no guide - they're the prices of books that haven't sold, and most of them never will sell. Exactly. The seller can pluck any old price out of the air and if people are mug enough to spend a £100 on a ratty old paperback which may or may not turn up for 20p at the next car boot sale they attend, that's their business. I got this thing that, if i was meant to have it, it will show up somewhere, if not, it won't and it doesn't really matter as there's no shortage of interesting stuff to read. We've had at least one comedian join purely to try flog his books and he "knew" what each of them was "worth" because he's seen what people were asking for this or that title on Abe. There have been instances of people asking grossly inflated prices for pod's, when you only have to approach the publisher to get 'em brand new at cost price. And as for "competitively priced", "collectable small press leather-bound, numbered, vacuum sealed limited editions that fold out into a model of the author's fridge or something (free silk bookmark with first five) ... well, you know. "Thanks, but no thanks." As a man who was once a collector, but is now 95% a reader and 5% a 'these look really good on the shelf' type, I couldn't agree more. There are a few guidelines - the most basic is ignore prices on abebook/Barnes and Noble etc. The market dictates the price. The price is volatile. The moment you see more than ten copies of one book on sale online the first few will be overinflated, later editions by the same author or publisher (reprints and later published works) are never worth much. "collectable small press leather-bound, numbered, vacuum sealed limited editions that fold out into a model of the author's fridge' are probably worth something to the author and his sole friend but no one else. Condition is everything. First editions of the first book he/she wrote are probably valuable. If an author is extremely successful anything peripheral he did will become valuable later - hand written letters, the off genre book written by him. Case in Point -PG Wodehouse's children's book is worth about 800 quid at least. Final rule - if something was cheap when it was first sold (say a despicable paperback in the horror genre) no amount of hyping will make that cheap thing very expensive. If something was more expensive originally - a leather bound original edition of Francis Drake's notes on cannibalism - then it will be more expensive. Final rule - there are exceptions but unless you become a geeky obsessive loner you are unlikely to either know what they are or if you do, find the particular exception that is worth a million. Dem's rule of 'if i was meant to have it, it will show up somewhere, if not...' is probably best practice in the pulp genre. |
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Post by William Ager on Oct 19, 2013 13:42:50 GMT
I couldn't agree more with your replies. As you say, some of these sellers really are plucking prices out of thin air. I've been buying my books online for over ten years now and the biggest change in that time has to be the increase of businesses with enormous inventories that seemingly hoover up their stock from libraries and recycling depots. The only drawback is that they have such a huge stock that they can't give accurate descriptions of what they're selling which leads to generic phrases like " may contain notes and highlighting" or " seems to be complete", which really isn't good enough, especially if they're charging some fancy price. You can't beat the personal touch and you only seem to get that from the smaller scale dealers who describe their stock accurately. I'm not overly fussy when it comes to condition but I don't want any unpleasant surprises when I receive the book especially if I've paid over, say, a tenner for it. The funny thing about the Terror by Night purchase is that the company I bought it from (World of Books) were listing the same book on Ebay, - here's the actual listing, just scroll down a bit - for £100.91p yet offering it on Abebooks for £1.21p. It had to be the same copy because it was taken down an hour or so after I completed the transaction on Abe. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, chaps - and the useful advice. |
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Oct 19, 2013 14:58:42 GMT
I couldn't agree more with your replies. As you say, some of these sellers really are plucking prices out of thin air. I've been buying my books online for over ten years now and the biggest change in that time has to be the increase of businesses with enormous inventories that seemingly hoover up their stock from libraries and recycling depots. The only drawback is that they have such a huge stock that they can't give accurate descriptions of what they're selling which leads to generic phrases like " may contain notes and highlighting" or " seems to be complete", which really isn't good enough, especially if they're charging some fancy price. You can't beat the personal touch and you only seem to get that from the smaller scale dealers who describe their stock accurately. I'm not overly fussy when it comes to condition but I don't want any unpleasant surprises when I receive the book especially if I've paid over, say, a tenner for it. The funny thing about the Terror by Night purchase is that the company I bought it from (World of Books) were listing the same book on Ebay, - here's the actual listing, just scroll down a bit - for £100.91p yet offering it on Abebooks for £1.21p. It had to be the same copy because it was taken down an hour or so after I completed the transaction on Abe. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, chaps - and the useful advice. yeah it all went downhill years ago. Globalisation, multinationals. There is only one secondhand bookshop in Dublin now. How bad is that. I'm lucky my hometown still has a few. Sure Dem won't mind me plugging an old friend who has integrity, knows his books and sells them at reasonable price. sites.google.com/site/dreamberrywine/ |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Oct 19, 2013 16:12:53 GMT
On rare occasions I've paid as much as $25US for a paperback that I really wanted--for example, I think I paid around that much for Donald Wandrei's The Web of Easter Island and J.U. Nicolson's Fingers of Fear. Generally speaking, I wouldn't want to pay more than that because I don't buy books that I don't intend to read. I would probably go over my limit a bit for a copy of Jean Ray's Ghouls in My Grave (1965 Berkley Medallion), but I haven't seen a copy that even comes close to my price range. |
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Post by dem bones on Oct 19, 2013 16:26:54 GMT
The funny thing about the Terror by Night purchase is that the company I bought it from (World of Books) were listing the same book on Ebay, - here's the actual listing, just scroll down a bit - for £100.91p yet offering it on Abebooks for £1.21p. It had to be the same copy because it was taken down an hour or so after I completed the transaction on Abe. Hope you enjoy the book and would be very interested to hear what you make of it. We've a thread for Terror By Night but best not go there, at least not until you've finished the book. RCH's early work is generally well regarded by certain of our regulars (this one among them) and I think you landed yourself a bargain. |
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Post by William Ager on Oct 19, 2013 20:03:16 GMT
The funny thing about the Terror by Night purchase is that the company I bought it from (World of Books) were listing the same book on Ebay, - here's the actual listing, just scroll down a bit - for £100.91p yet offering it on Abebooks for £1.21p. It had to be the same copy because it was taken down an hour or so after I completed the transaction on Abe. Hope you enjoy the book and would be very interested to hear what you make of it. We've a thread for Terror By Night but best not go there, at least not until you've finished the book. RCH's early work is generally well regarded by certain of our regulars (this one among them) and I think you landed yourself a bargain. Thanks. Amongst other things, in the last couple of weeks I've read The Elemental and I've got a couple more to go in Cold Terror. I'll be starting on Terror by Night next and I've got The Unbidden in the post. I've only had a quick skim through the relevant threads as I've been a bit wary of possible spoilers, but I can say that my overall impression of the tales I've read so far is very favourable. Admittedly, some are better than others, but he seems to be an author who's incapable of writing badly which compensates for the apparent lack of inspiration evident in the weaker stories. I think I read somewhere that he stumbled in to horror writing because that's where the money was back then which in a way makes the sub-standard stories easier to overlook. If these first two collections are anything to go by and the generally high quality is maintained in the two I've got lined up, I would say that a very creditable "Best of RCH" anthology could be culled from these four volumes alone. I'll save my further musings for the relevant threads. |
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Post by jamesdoig on Oct 20, 2013 3:45:47 GMT
I would probably go over my limit a bit for a copy of Jean Ray's Ghouls in My Grave (1965 Berkley Medallion), but I haven't seen a copy that even comes close to my price range. Me too! There are lots of copies being flogged online, but I'm stuffed if I'm paying $60 for a paperback. |
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Post by David A. Riley on Oct 20, 2013 8:46:09 GMT
We're currently in the process of selling a paperback for £95. A first edition copy of The Clockwork Orange, published by Pan in 1964.
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droogie
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 100
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Post by droogie on Oct 20, 2013 14:32:05 GMT
There certainly are many, many paperbacks that are worth 100 Quid or higher. These would be legitimately rare books in high grade (or sometimes any grade at VG or better). PBO's (paperback originals) by Jim Thompson ( The Killer Inside Me, for example), William Burroughs (Junkie), a couple by Richard Matheson & Robert Bloch and almost anything by Ed Wood Jr.
Even some movie tie-ins are worth 3-figures : Orgy of the Dead by Ed Wood Jr. and the (4) NOVEL paperbacks of the Hershell Gordon Lewis films Blood Feast, 2000 Maniacs, Color Me Blood Red and Moonshine Mountain.
As far as the most money paid? That all depends on the collector & how badly they want the book to fill-in those gaps. Again, only for those truly rare pieces (Not Terror By Night, of course).
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Post by jackball74 on Mar 23, 2014 10:40:46 GMT
About three years ago I paid roughly $30 U.S. for Bob Forrest-Webb's WW 3 novel Chieftains, a book that had had one relatively small print run in the '80s and often would fetch $100 online. But it's a great read, and I justified the purchase knowing that some new hardcovers will set you back the same price. It's been turned into a much cheaper e-book, but paperback copies still go for between $10 and $20.
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Post by jamesdoig on Mar 24, 2014 8:49:52 GMT
I would probably go over my limit a bit for a copy of Jean Ray's Ghouls in My Grave (1965 Berkley Medallion), but I haven't seen a copy that even comes close to my price range. Me too! There are lots of copies being flogged online, but I'm stuffed if I'm paying $60 for a paperback. Ashamed to report I recently paid $30 Aus for a copy of this.  |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Mar 24, 2014 14:39:36 GMT
Ashamed to report I recently paid $30 Aus for a copy of this. No shame in that. I'm jealous! Ghouls in My Grave ranks near the top my wish list. |
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