Purchasing a Bargain Book, Part One
October 18th 2006 06:23
As I said in the last part of this series, the best place to get a book you’re not planning on keeping is the local public library, or by doing an interlibrary loan. My focus today is for when you decide you need a book.
How long to wait to purchase a book is key to getting the best deal and it’s going to depend on what type of book you’re trying to buy.
Let’s start with the popular novel. By popular novel, I mean. a national best-seller. These books you should always buy used. Here’s a clear reason why. Mitch Albom’s “For One More Day,” the #1 national best-seller, retails at $21.95, but is now available on Half.com in “Like New” condition for $6.95. What happens with these popular fiction releases is that they fly off bookshelves and end up in book clubs. People buy them, read them, and then decide to sell them. Novels are less likely to be collections because novels aren’t reference materials. If you wait six months to a year, most popular novels drop in value even more. John Grisham’s “The Broker” was the top-selling novel of 2005, but currently available for 75 cents on Half.com. So with popular novels, you check half.com, ebay, and then check Amazon marketplace.
Remember when doing this search that Amazon Marketplace charges $3.49 for shipping compared to half.com, which charges $2.69 for shipping, so you’re comparing Apples to Apples.
When it comes to non-fiction books, the drop will not be as pronounced. Pop self-help authors like Dr. Phil or Joel Osteen tend to see their books depreciate quite a bit. Same thing goes for diet books. It’s a flavor of the month thing. People read the book for self-improvement, but don’t keep it. While the depreciation is not as much as you’ll see on a novel, most of the best-sellers from 2005 in this category are available at a great discount. For these, I think you’re again looking at Half.com or Amazon Marketplace as your best bets. You might also try E-bay. One thing that is nice about the Half.com-Ebay relationship is that from Half.com you can see the top items on Ebay for what you’re looking at on half.com.
Tomorrow, we’ll turn to other types of books.
How long to wait to purchase a book is key to getting the best deal and it’s going to depend on what type of book you’re trying to buy.
Let’s start with the popular novel. By popular novel, I mean. a national best-seller. These books you should always buy used. Here’s a clear reason why. Mitch Albom’s “For One More Day,” the #1 national best-seller, retails at $21.95, but is now available on Half.com in “Like New” condition for $6.95. What happens with these popular fiction releases is that they fly off bookshelves and end up in book clubs. People buy them, read them, and then decide to sell them. Novels are less likely to be collections because novels aren’t reference materials. If you wait six months to a year, most popular novels drop in value even more. John Grisham’s “The Broker” was the top-selling novel of 2005, but currently available for 75 cents on Half.com. So with popular novels, you check half.com, ebay, and then check Amazon marketplace.
Remember when doing this search that Amazon Marketplace charges $3.49 for shipping compared to half.com, which charges $2.69 for shipping, so you’re comparing Apples to Apples.
When it comes to non-fiction books, the drop will not be as pronounced. Pop self-help authors like Dr. Phil or Joel Osteen tend to see their books depreciate quite a bit. Same thing goes for diet books. It’s a flavor of the month thing. People read the book for self-improvement, but don’t keep it. While the depreciation is not as much as you’ll see on a novel, most of the best-sellers from 2005 in this category are available at a great discount. For these, I think you’re again looking at Half.com or Amazon Marketplace as your best bets. You might also try E-bay. One thing that is nice about the Half.com-Ebay relationship is that from Half.com you can see the top items on Ebay for what you’re looking at on half.com.
Tomorrow, we’ll turn to other types of books.
| 48 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
