|
|
Collectible Children's Books on eBay
Prices realized on eBay auctions tend to be closer to wholesale than retail, so perhaps 30%-50% below a 'book store' price. Often first edition books sell at eBay auctions which do not surface regularly in the regular book market (ABE , Alibris, Amazon, Bookfinder, live auctions, etc...), therefore it's difficult to make an analogy from an 'eBay price' to 'market value'. Many booksellers and book collectors do not seriously consider eBay a venue for collectible books. On the other hand, many do. We know of several ABAA booksellers who source some of their inventory from eBay auctions, including some of the premier childrens booksellers in the country.
We have been active book buyers on eBay for over a decade, and have purchased 100's of first edition
childrens books, often at very good prices relative to the market. In addition, the knowledge we have
gained is invaluable through the thousands of collective hours searching and investigating possible
first edition books. We do have a fair idea of the frequency with which certain first edition books
surface on eBay, providing a barometer for the book's scarcity. eBay Booksellers ForumThe Booksellers Forum on eBay is one of the better learning centers for experienced and new booksellers, and contains valuable information for book collectors. The non-moderated forum does have its share of political and various ranting threads, but the concentrated book related information is unmatched on the internet. Some helpful threads:
If you do not want to take the time to page through the thread on the eBay Booksellers Forum, you can download a PDF of the thread from our website. Completed eBay Childrens Book AuctionsThe following is a list of some completed eBay auctions for first edition children's picturebooks. From our experience, the eBay auctions tends toward wholesale prices rather than retail prices. Tends toward; every auction is different with a different group of bidders, so this is not a hard and fast rule. This list is dominated by Dr. Seuss books. Notice the recent activity in Little Golden Books, complete with punch outs. We will update this list monthly with completed auctions we think you might find of interest.
© Stan Zielinski |
We started a thread on the eBay Bookseller's Forum to identify higher value children's books sold on
eBay, with $300 being the 'bottom' threshold. The thread can be found here: Attribution
© Stan Zielinski. Author of the Children's Picturebook Price Guide
This work
by Stan Zielinski is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.
In layman's terms, that means you may excerpt, share, and use this material as long as you credit Stan as the author and provide a link back to the specific content page. And do not sell it or use it for commercial purposes.
The information offered on 1stedition.net and the blog is offered free of charge. Any uses, references, and or copies of this website in whole or in part must include the bibliographic citation, including author attribution, article title, date (in the case of blog posts) and link to the URL 1stedition.net. Include the copyright notice.
In no event shall a Creative Commons Attribution License or Stan Zielinski be liable for any damages of any kind arising out of or in connection with the use of the articles on this website. This website is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. Descriptions of, or references to, persons, websites, or businesses does not imply endorsement of that person, website or business.