Starting to realize why you're not as hesitant to share your secrets with us -- not many are able to drop a grand on a book that may or may not sell! Still facinating to hear behind the scenes. Thanks Adam.
Not sure that is it. One can start with much more modest books and build your way up with same techniques. Most dealers I know started with very little, but hard work, research, intelligence and luck all played a part
I fully understand your philosophy on buying,selling and the availability of price sensitive information on the Internet. I always bought mixed parcels at Auctions and found there were better margins than buying single items. It always paid to sort through the boxes under the tables. I prefer attending auctions in person than online ones, there is always something the Auction House has missed 😀
Some of those lot prices have disappeared. Used to LOVE Swann shelf sales etc but they haven’t had in a while. It’s getting more expensive to buy from smaller houses with clever internet exposure than the big houses.
What a great video! I would LOVE to own the book on coins! I'm lucky enough to live near a thrift store that sells all books for $2.75 hardcover and $1.75 for paperbacks, all children's books and magazines are .75 cents, I have a HUGE collection of antique books on steam-powered technology and pay for my collection by selling books on eBay, my best score recently was a Book of Mormon in the Deseret Alphabet, rebound, for $1,400. Moments like that make me think I can quit my day job, but at the rate I'm going, I'd have to hustle 80 hrs a week to make a living. xD
Interesting. I'm surprised that you didn't mention that shipping materials, credit card fees, website fees, taxes, etc. take another bite out of it :) I don't know about you, but I just did my taxes and this was all on my mind too.
I want to just think about gross margin as business expenses are so variable. Some people work out of an apartment and some have Madison Avenue rent. But yes it all adds up.
Well, yes and no. Whenever customers gripe about a particular margin, I tell them a few expenses and it usually ends the conversation. Most people don’t gripe about paying $23 for an omelette (cost of eggs and veg: $1) in an nyc restaurant or $18 for a $2 glass of wine in a wine bar -but if you treat book seller costs like storage, insurance, employees, fairs, advertising, web services etc as incidental, it gives a very unrealistic picture. Indeed I’d go so far as to say the markup of a book has no meaning at all if the rest isn’t taken into consideration as part of the total cost. No pitchfork here but I do think it’s unrealistic to propose that there is some sort of fixed “fair” margin on books which doesn’t account for the true total cost of an item. My 2 cents…
@@RareBookBuyer Sorry it has taken me so long to respond I've been traveling quite heavily lately. Very kind of you to offer me that, thank you very much! I absolutely would if I wasn't going to be in Tennessee during the show. I'd love to get there and check it out! I will reach out this summer and try to come down for a visit. Good luck at the show, hope you do well! We'll talk later - Phil
Less than a year ago you could pick up an 1818 contemporary bound edition of Frankenstein for less than £150,000. Today, dealers are charging up to £500,000!
Great video. I sometimes imagine that when I retire my collection will become the starting inventory for my own dealership to give me something to spend my time on. I have the impression that more individual collectors are bidding in rare book auctions these days and I guess that must make it harder to achieve those 100% markups because the collectors don't need to leave headroom for a profit margin in their bid. Have you found that it's getting harder to snag auction bargains?
hi adam. do you make a living selling/buying rare books? or is it a hobby? i used to sell postal history and made a good living out of it . . . . but along came the internet and lost the closeness of dealing.
@@RareBookBuyer Adam do you collect as well? I have always thought that it would be especially hard to do both as the natural inclination would be to keep the best material for your own collection.
@@nashvillain171 I get it though, I watch a gaming podcast and one of the guys worked in the retail business for the better part of 2 decades and would point out that when you are surrounded by it day in and day out, collecting can lose its charm. Plus if you were a collector it would be hard to detach from good finds that pay the bills. ✌️
