Ebay vs. Abebooks

I was wondering if some of you would be so kind as to share your opinions and experiences regarding these two sources of fine press books? I've never used Ebay, but recently more and more sellers are requesting extra shipping charges on Abe, making me think about other online sources.

I've used both a lot recently.

Ebay is generally more expensive and also a litle less trustworthy but it's unpredictableness means if you keep your eye out you can get some real bargains.

I generally find abe cheaper if you have something in mind you want and want to order it there and then. Plus everything has arrived as described and other than those occasional 'extra shipping charges' I've never felt ripped off.

On ebay I was recently charged $179 for shipment of a handful of books (from the US to the UK). This when my usual sellers have charged in the region of $50-60 for a similar amount. Then the guy had the cheek of opening an unpaid item dispute without replying first when I asked if he could lower the postage. Lesson learned I think.

Anyway both are great sources, but as with any secondary market source both are a lot riskier than buying direct.

I do tend to find I buy more Folio Society books on ebay and more Easton Press/Franklin Library etc on Abe... this may just be to do with location and postage costs though.

Lola:

The advantage with eBay is that most of the times there is a picture that allows some kind of appreciation as to the condition of the books. Another plus is that you can check what other buyers think about the seller. Some sellers will not ship worldwide and then it's not possible to bid.

With Abebooks one can contact the seller and ask for an image. There is usually a wider choice at any one time in Abebooks, and you can select sellers from the closest location.

Regarding payment, eBay works better with Paypal although you have the other usual methods. But not all sellers have the same policies. Be aware that Abebooks is considered a Canadian company and that credit charges may add a fee. (I know you are not concerned with this aspect.)

When looking for a certain book, I check and compare eBay, Abebooks and Amazon marketplace. One more thing i have found out: books coming from damp places tend to come with mouldy smells. Nothing that can't be corrected.

Hope this helps.

$179!!!

Maybe I should just meekly accept those extra tens and twenties for shipping... :) I'm sure some people overcharge on shipping to compensate for low book prices. But I wish they'd just keep postage honest, so irritating to see shipping more than triple than the asking price for the book...

#3

Ha, damp places... It happened a few times... both from UK and France. At least the air here is so dry, it seems to "cure" books relatively fast.

>4 LolaWalser:

Something crazy I had the other day that very much looked like a seller trying to make up for poor auction prices was a guy who invoiced me combined postage at more than he had quoted separate postage. This was inland postage in the UK too.

I think it was 3 books all with postage of around £4 and he quoted around £20 postage for the 3. I wonder how stupid some of these sellers think we are?

I've never been charged as much as an extra 10 or 20 for shipping on abe, the worst I've been hit with is a £3 increase which I can just about handle :)

You're making me scared that my books smell damp and mouldy now! Damn my London abode! At least I don't smoke I guess.

> 6 "You're making me scared that my books smell damp and mouldy now!"

I, too, am beginning to wonder if that comforting and much-loved smell of old books found in the inner recesses of British second hand bookshops is in fact . . .

I've had the same experience as LipstickAndAviators, generally higher prices on eBay than on Abe. It still amazes me when I see eBay auctions ending substantially higher than multiple copies on Abe. The extra postage that has occasionally been requested on Abe has not seemed excessive to me. I do hate the extra credit card foreign transaction fees that I've been charged because Abe is located in Canada. I've since started doing much more business with Biblio which has many of the same listings. I've avoided Amazon used books because you don't know what version they'll ship and the quality is completely variable (very poor descriptions and rarely pictures).

On the plus side for eBay, you can occasionally pick up real bargains if no one else happens to bid on the book you want.

In my experience, Easton Press books tend to be the most overpriced on eBay.

Yes, I've given up on Amazon marketplace... From what I understand, Amazon and Abe both take a cut based on seller's requested book price, but Amazon enforces a fixed shipping charge, whereas on Abe the sellers set it themselves in a much wider range.

I use Ebay very regularly, and Abebooks occasionally.

For me, the advantage of Ebay is being able to find absolute bargains. There are lots of them, and you just have to sit and wait for them to appear. Yes, occasionally I have not been 100% happy with my purchases, but this has been the exception rather than the rule. You also have to watch out that you are not caught up in any "auction fever" - know how much you are prepared to pay, and stick to it!

But Ebay is not as useful if you are looking for a specific title, in which case I might start with a search on Ebay, but then move swiftly on to Abebooks, or some other seller (such as Ardis). If I am looking for something specific, then I will always check a number of sites before making any offers.

FWIW - Rather than try hunt on Amazon marketplace, then Biblio, then AbeBooks, etc., I just use the AddAll search engine . It searches these and many others in one pretty good interface, and I can exclude sites from the search to focus on the Abebooks, etc., that I prefer. I can then see how the same book will stack up between various used book sites before going to that site for more details.

Os.

How is AddAll vs. bookfinder?

>11 Ealhmund: Very useful, thanks

>12 chase.donaldson: I would also like to know this, I usually use bookfinder.

Doesn't seem that AddAll is all that good at searching Abe.co.uk

Just noticed that bookfinder.co.uk takes you to Waterstones' website. How sneaky.

>12 chase.donaldson: and 15
If I remember right, I think AddAll started with US sites. It may still have bias that way. Being in the US, that works best for me, though I often buy from the UK when US availailability is poor. I've not used Bookfinder, but will check it out now that it's been recommended.

The sites they search are listed (and can be checked/unchecked) at the bottom of the used book search screen. I don't see Abe.co.uk there, so, no, it probably doesn't do them very well. They add to this list fairly often (though not as often as at first). One could suggest a site for them to add via their "Contact Us" page. Don't know what legal, financial, and technical hurdles they have to jumpt to add a new site, but it's worth asking.

Os.

>16 Ealhmund: I meant abebooks.co.uk, which is on there, but when I search for something I know is on there it isn't showing up on addall? So obviously the search functionality for that site isn't working quite right.

I understand that it's a US site so will work better for US people, just wish we had a decent euro equivalent!

I am checking ebay regularly - sometimes you find good deals. And I do not get too upset if I do not win something.

However - for Folio books, I would usually first check Ardis... or at least used to while I was in Europe. The postage to here is a bit of a showstopper just now.

My used UK FS purchases frequently cost more for postage than the book. Unfortunately for me, most used FS books are sold in the UK.

>19 kdweber:

Yes, that's been my experience, and the fact that both Folio books I purchased out of England, Trilby and The Despot and the Slave, both reeked of mildew, added just that extra soupçon of irritation that has made me refrain from buying any more from the UK.

Yep, that's England: home of cricket, warm beer and poor moisture control.

The most unpleasant book I ever bought by mail order in England was riddled with maggots when I opened the parcel (I'm not joking). It smelled all right though, so I didn't feel the need to buy abroad in future unless absolutely necessary. Just in case, though, I now spray all mine with this:

http://smellofbooks.com/aromas/

Classic Musty is the one recommended by the trade.

> 22

Is this a joke? Did you read the warnings?

Methinks boldface likes to be dizzy and hallucinated in his shed.

For some reason I feel the need to stick up for the UK now lol.

I've had much more warm beer abroad, I think we care less about cricket than a lot of countries further East (I don't care about it at all!) and none of my books smell of mildew (to my knowledge)!

Weirdly enough most of my smelly books have come from America, but this is mostly a tobacco smell or a musty old sorta smell rather than a damp one.

>22 boldface: Maggots? Eugh! Did you get your money back? I've just received a book that was 'mint with slight stains to the slipcase' that basically has nothing left of the slipcase or cover from water damage :(

I'll toss in a little love for the UK. I haven't had any problems with orders from sellers there. In fact, I have been most pleased with my purchases coming from the UK.

However, I should admit that I have a particular method. I search Abe because there are more actual bookstores (as opposed to individuals) on there. I find bookshops to be more trustworthy.

If the bookseller wants to charge extra shipping, I have found that some are willing to waive the extra shipping if we deal outside of Abe. (One seller admitted he uses the extra shipping feature to make up for the slice of the sale that Abe takes. I cannot begrudge a small bookseller for trying to make up that loss). If I've never dealt with a bookseller before, a quick Google search will usually turn up a website for them and I can use that to verify the legitimacy of the business. As long as I'm satisfied that they are running a decent operation, I'm fine with transacting via email.

heh! I too feel like I should mention now that one of the best--maybe THE best--Abe experience was a UK seller. What's more, I'll tell you all who it is: M Godding Ltd from Potterne. I got about ten Folios from them, always as described or in better than expected condition, in several orders, super-fast (although I never chose other than standard shipping), AND--this is enough to make Tin Man weep--additional books in a single order weren't charged extra shipping! At the time I ordered, shipping was about 4 dollars per order to Canada (in itself unusually low), and four dollars it was whether I had one or four books in a package.

There, go ahead, raid his stock. :)

(Oh--I'm not connected to the seller by anything other than inexpressed gratitude.)

#26

Great tips. But how do you manage the payment? I suppose one good thing about Abe is protection in case of loss of shipment, you get the money back.

>27 LolaWalser:

When I've "gone around" Abe, I just emailed my credit card info to the seller and let them ring up the sale in the shop, as if I were there. I figure if there's a major problem, I can always dispute the charge via the CC company. And I've never spent more than $50 or so when doing this, so while that's not an insignificant chunk of change, it's not going to leave me starving if I should be swindled and lose out on the money in the long run.

But this is why I check up on the seller's business via Google; I figure if they're a long-established business with a good stock and plenty of details on their site (both in regards to book descriptions and business policies), my risk is likely minimal.

Lost shipments could be an issue, but if I was that concerned (i.e. I spent a lot of money), I might request an upgrade FedEx or UPS anyway. I'm also not too worried about my CC number being stolen because I have a fraud alert on my credit (my identity was stolen a few years ago), so a true thief wouldn't get too far.

28: Me, too. I only circumvent ABE once I've already established a relationship with the bookseller--meaning, after I've ordered from the seller more than once, and have a good feeling for their reliability and inventory. The cut that ABE takes is something like 10%-15%, so the booksellers have an incentive for developing loyalty from customers who've found them via ABE.

I don't think I've ever used ABE. It was cost prohibitive when I was back in Bulgaria and now I know who can find me the books I want so I will either send a mail or hit their sites automatically...