Book price sillyness

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

I bought a book at a little used bookstore in Albuquerque NM when on holiday a couple of months ago.

I paid $8 for a copy of The History of US Electronic Warfare Volume I. Yes it’s bit of an odd one but I’ve been interested in EW since my teens. So I thought I’d look for volumes II and III. Got a bit of a shock.
Both are available on ABE Books. I thought Volume II was bad at £86 but Volume III is at £764!

The books are “self published” by The Association of Old Crows (AOC) and just on the off-chance I checked their website. A very pleasant surprise. Vol. II $25, Vol. III $35 and $15 shipping. The total order was £60. Where do these people on ABE books get their prices from?

Robert.

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9789991416892/History-Electronic-Warfare-Vol-Renaissance-9991416897/plp

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/History-Electronic-Warfare-Volume-III-Rolling/31935227888/bd

Home

https://shopaoc.myshopify.com/

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Same as anywhere: the on-line retailers don’t have the high overheads a real shop has.

[Stuart Smith 5Participant @stuartsmith5]

Nigel

Abebooks is an online retailer. Owned by Amazon.

 

[Andy StopfordParticipant @andystopford50521]

It’s because some booksellers use an automated pricing system.

Suppose Retailer A doesn’t actually have a copy of a book. They can set their software to search for advertised prices for the book in question and then display a price a few percent higher than anyone else’s , then if a punter actually orders the book, they can buy it from one of the others, and still make a modest profit (determined by the percentage markup).

Retailer B, who actually has a copy of the book and wants to ensure a sale by undercutting the competition, advertises it at a little below the top asking price (which of course is Retailer A).

If B’s offer comes in within the range that A has decided would provide insufficient profit, A’s software responds by increasing its price to restore the desired profit; B’s software then increments its price…. and the price for some obscure book reaches the realms of astronomy.

This mostly seems to happen with unusual books where there is no clear idea of likely demand and therefore no way of actually determining a realistic clearing price (short of the intuition and experience of an old-school bookseller).

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Another industry that doesn’t actually produce anything

[bernard towers]

On bernard towers Said:

Another industry that doesn’t actually produce anything

But is profitable!

Actually, the output is information, which Robert can convert into knowledge.  Given his occupation, understanding EW could be very valuable.

Bad mistake to believe that making physical objects is the only proper way of earning a living. Knocking out tin trays that no-one wants is a disaster.  Most physical items are only enablers, for example the real value of a spade is what’s produced by using it.

Dave

[Graham MeekParticipant @grahammeek88282]

I have seen this sort of pricing on books that I have been searching for in the past. They remain on the shelf for 3 figure sums. For some time I have thought that books were being purchased from other vendors. As the senders name and address on the package does not match the sellers, and Andy’s explanation settles it.

Regards

Gray,

 

 

[Andrew TinsleyParticipant @andrewtinsley63637]

When searching for books on the internet, I NEVER even look at ABE books, Their pricing is always ludicrous!

Andrew.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Two other possibilities to add to Andy’s post:

• It costs more to take adverts on and off the web than it does to simply alter the price.  When an item is out of stock the vendor puts a temporary ridiculously high price on it just to discourage anyone from ordering it.  The price is corrected when new stock arrives.
• Ordering a copy might trigger a book search service.  Teams of real people hunt for it in second-hand bookshops and collections etc.  An expensive service mostly used by collectors.

Dave

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

RDG uses / used place keeping for out of stock tools on ebay with silly prices, faster just to put the proper price in later than load a new sale item.

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