Not Prudential Kindness, Honestly
Archive: Used Bookdealer
A regular customer brought three old LPs to the counter this afternoon. I told him he could have them and handed him $25.00.
I bought a big stack of books from him a couple of months ago. They proved to be worth more (mostly o.p., scarce scholarly stuff) than I'd anticipated.
He was so delighted with surprise you'd thought I'd shot a jolt of heroin into his veins. Someone sour and doubtful might call it merely prudential honesty. He'll sell me more books. He works at a university press and may mention it to his colleagues who’d later sell me more books.
I’ve only done this twice before. The first time was for a Playgirl paperback, <em>Zippers</em>. A guy on eBay bid lots more than I’d expected. So I sent a fair slice of the winning bid to my friend Marcus from whom I’d bought it.
In the used book traded normal practice (as is mine) is to figure the books you pay too little for balance out the ones you paid $2.00 for only to discover you’ll be lucky to get $3.00. That pretty much holds through during the normal month’s buying and selling. It isn’t that often you make the happy discover that you paid $2.00 for a $50.00 book.
You also never know how long it’ll take you to get that $50.00. Some uncommon books have even less common buyers. Fifteen years may pass. Investing too much money in stock is an easy path to the poorhouse.
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My thanks,
Richard