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Make Money Tearing Up Old Books and Magazines

publication date: Apr 18, 2007
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***
**Editorial
 
**Make Money Tearing Up Old Books and Magazines and
Selling Them on eBay by Avril Harper
 
**A Problem of Perception by Avril Harper
 
**Auction Titles: Keywords to Bigger eBay Profits by Mason
Hipp
 
**How To Deal With Nonpaying Bidders On eBay by Jason
Griffith
 
***
 
 
Hello,
 
For the past few years I've been tearing up old books and
magazines and selling them on eBay and generating very good
profits.
 
I started with a book I already owned (It was a huge book about
dogs and packed with pictures, text and diagrams) and a few
pounds for eBay advertisements and see-through bags and
backing board for presenting my stock. As you might expect it is
these latter accessories that actually turn pages from old and
sometimes modern publications into valuable collectors' pieces.
 
These are the sort of things you can sell from vintage (and
sometimes modern) publications: prints; advertisements; knitting;
sewing and other craftwork patterns; free gifts such as blotters,
calendars, tape measures; puzzles; recipes; historical articles,
music scores, etc.
 
***
Product Tips
***
 
* eBay is one of the best places to find publications to use in
your business. I buy all my old dog prints on eBay in the form of
books by popular artists like Lucy Dawson, Cecil Aldin, Nina
Scott Langley. Few people bid on these books other than to
read or collect them and they will bid up to the actual market
value of the book which is often way below the possible eBay
value for one item from the publication later turned into a print.
 
* At the turn of the 19th / 20th centuries many newspapers and
magazines began replacing hand drawn and engraved
illustrations in their publications with photographic images which
are also highly collectable in their own right. My most profitable
sources for early photographs include Illustrated London News,
Graphic, Sphere, but there are many others you'll usually find
selling at low prices at local auction or on eBay itself
 
* It isn't just text and illustrations many books contain. You'll
often find books used as places to store small flat collectibles,
like separate prints, funeral cards, newspaper clippings, and
these items can be immensely valuable in their own right, such
as an in memoriam card I recently found in an early history book.
At first glance it looked like any early In Memoriam card, but it
transpired to be a valuable piece of local history interest and also
of import to collectors of mining memorabilia and detailed the
death of several miners killed due to an avalanche of coal falling
on them at a local north eastern coal mine.
 
* Early advertising posters and prints are hugely popular on
eBay and full-page advertisements found in great profusion in
very early publications.   Their value can be increased
significantly by adding a mount ready for the print to be framed.
 
* Posters are hot sellers on eBay and many are just pages out
of early and more recent magazines. Some early publications,
larger ones, had double centre page spreads that make great
posters and prints. They can fetch bids of £320 and more. At
online and offline auctions and other suppliers, look for special
interest magazines, targeting a specific audience, say dog
lovers, train enthusiasts, classic car owners, and so on. This
way you will be able to buy huge bundles of similar titles. Most
are from once avid collectors who have given up their interest or
maybe died and consequently their entire collection will almost
certainly be available as one lot at local auctions.
 
Maps represent one of the very best moneymakers of all. Most
atlases contain maps from all over the world, from well-known
and sometimes out of the way locations, and therefore fit very
tight niche markets on eBay. They can often be purchased very
inexpensively especially at smaller, not so well advertised
auctions.
 
***
Tips to Help You Make More Money from Your Vintage
Magazine and Newspaper Finds
***
 
* Most paper items with just light stains can be left as they are
and still attract eager bidders. People expect items aged 100
years or so to show signs of age, it shows they are more likely to
be genuine than other items in pristine condition. But grime and
dust, scribbles and pencil notes do not look good and can detract
from the appearance of the item and its selling potential. Most
such blemishes can be removed with a light eraser or piece of
dry bread. Rub the eraser or dry bread carefully across the
problem area, in one direction not back and forwards or you
could cause the item to crinkle or tear.
 
* Some items naturally attract more people in their country of
origin, especially collectibles such as vintage prints of New York
City (they'll attract more interest on eBay.com), and others from
Melbourne, Australia (best on eBay.com.au), and Berlin,
Germany (ebay.de). In reality, enthusiastic bidders check the
entire eBay marketplace through the 'Search' facility, but you can
never be sure, so consider your market carefully for every new
listing ('new' meaning untested items which can be obtained
again later if listings go well).
 
***
Further Reading
***
     
Anyone interested in making money selling items taken from
vintage magazines and newspapers on eBay, will be pleased to
know my book on the subject, MAKE MONEY TEARING UP
OLD BOOKS AND MAGAZINES AND SELLING THEM ON
EBAY is available for instant download at:
 
 
***
A Problem of Perception
***
Here's a strange tale with very definite meaning for people
selling unusual items on eBay, which are highly collectable, often
very expensive, but their value is sometimes grossly
misunderstood.
 
To add fun to the story, I read a while back about a man offering
$5 notes free to anyone caring to take them off his hands. I think
it was in New York that this man had recently enjoyed a stroke of
good fortune, moneywise, and wanted to share it with others.
But few people took him up on the offer, they thought it was fake
money, they expected it might be a con, he never did get round
to giving his money away.
 
Translated to eBay, the fact is many people see what they
WANT to see in your eBay listing, and will often read into your
description something you didn't intend to say and never would
have said. The problem crops up regularly in my eBay business.
For example, a short while back a couple had just bought a
postcard from me, not an old one, but from around the mid-
1960s. The card was lightly curled and the couple wrote back
saying they thought it was a brand new reproduction postcard
fresh off the printing wheel, the wheel being the reason it was
lightly curled. I wrote back, explaining that many old paper
items, kept in storage for decades, react to their sometimes
warm surroundings which causes them to dry a little and curl.
Photographs, too, especially one hundred years plus, were
actually processed using the white from chicken's eggs, again
causing the surface to curl but more drastically than my earlier
example.
 
The explanation sorted the problem, my buyers went away
happy, but misconceptions like this are not rare, and you'll find
much the same examples cropping up several times and
meaning you have to provide the explanation all over again. So
it makes sense to highlight question and answer to similar
questions in your eBay listings or add a FAQs (Frequently Asked
Questions) section to your listings or in your About Me page.
Here's another example I encountered quite often before adding
a problem-solving explanation to my listings. It comes from the
fact that for many people the word 'print' means an expensive,
limited production, very rare paper item. Sometimes they are
right. But they are more often wrong because 'print' is also the
actual process of preparing a printed item, it does not always
refer to the item itself.
 
So, because you say you are listing a 'print by Cecil Aldin', for
example, some people will think you are offering an illustration
that may be one of just a few created from an original of Aldin's
work. But they would not accept the terminology applied to a
page illustration 'printed' in a rare vintage book which you have
dismantled to resell individually on eBay.
 
This problem was eventually solved by very carefully wording my
eBay listing and describing the item like this:
 
'Original book plate / print from one of (artist's name) spectacular
books published in (year date). Genuine item, not a copy or
reprint, guaranteed (number of years since published) years old.
Matted ready to frame. Overall size in mount (number of inches
width) inches by (number of inches height) inches. Would make
a wonderful present.'
 
Happy eBaying!
 
Until next time,
 
Avril
 
***
Auction Titles: Keywords to Bigger eBay Profits by Mason
Hipp
***
 
In the world of online auctions, the title is the only way to get
more traffic. Traffic equals more bids, more bids equals more
money. Sellers who want the most money from eBay will need to
learn how to write a good title.
 
Statistically speaking, the vast majority of bidders will find your
auction by searching for it. The search is the primary interface on
eBay, and the first step to getting customers. When a user
searches for an item, say xyz, all auctions with xyz in the title will
show up. Keep in mind that auctions with yzx or x y z will not be
there. Each term the users puts in the search (xyz for example)
should therefore be included in our title if we want to get the
most bidders. More bidders make for a higher final sale price,
and that is what we are aiming for.
 
This means that you must, no matter what, include as many
potential keywords as possible. In order to perfect these
keywords we need to first pretend we are a buyer. Particularly, a
buyer who would be interested in your auction. You should
decide what search terms you would use to find the item. Start
writing down a list of all potential search terms. When you feel
that this list is fairly complete, we can move on to picking which
terms to include in the title.
 
eBay limits the length of the title to 55 characters, so we have to
choose each word very carefully. Deciding which keywords, or
search terms, to include can be a daunting process. Luckily for
us, there are probably a lot of other people who have sold the
exact same item. Why is this a good thing? Because we can
search for completed auctions.
 
Pick a keyword that describes your item and search for it on
eBay: you will be presented with a list of items. Now, on the
lower left navigation bar select 'Search Completed Items.' This
will bring up a new list of auctions that have already ended.
There will most likely be a lot of different items showing up, so
you now want to refine your search to the point that only the
exact product that you are selling shows up. Once that is
finished, go to the top of the results. Click on the button that will
sort items by price - with the highest prices at the top. What
you've just done is created yourself a list of titles, with the ones
that work best on the top. Compare the best titles with your
keywords, and information about your item specifically (e.g.
condition, color), and combine it all into a single line of keywords.
 
Undoubtedly, there will be more words than space to type them
in. This is a challenge that happens with nearly every product or
item that is listed on eBay. The key to winning out over the other
auctions, and making more money, is to check your keywords
over and over again. Keep looking at completed auctions, you
must learn to pick the 'hot' or 'best' keywords for your item. If you
have narrowed your title down to the best search terms and it is
all under 55 characters - then you are finished! Post your item for
sale and watch as the price magically surpasses all of the other
items in the category.
 
Mason Hipp is an eBay PowerSeller and a regular contributor to
http://www.selladeal.com To read more articles by Mason,
 
***
How To Deal With Nonpaying Bidders On eBay by Jason
Griffith
***
 
Even though it is more a nuisance than anything else, every
eBay seller should know how to properly deal with nonpaying
bidders.
 
Once an eBay buyer has placed and won a bid on your item or
clicked on the Buy It Now button and went through the checkout
process, they have entered a legally binding transaction with
you.
 
You are legally obligated to deliver the goods as advertised to
them and they are legally obligated to fulfill their financial
obligations in terms of the purchase transaction.
 
In rare cases some buyers take a long time to pay or do not pay
you at all.
 
Often these are people who have been taken away by life
circumstances such as dealing with a crisis. Sometimes people
get buyer's remorse and do not want to go through with the
transaction. Some people run into adverse financial
circumstances that are outside their control. Lastly, some people
are just jokers who troll around on eBay and frivolously bid on
things they have no intention of buying.
 
None of these circumstances excuse bidders from their
obligations to complete their financial transaction with you.
 
The first action you should take is to give the bidder the benefit
of the doubt.
 
Malicious bidders are in such a small minority that you would
alienate valuable customers if you treated every nonpaying
bidder as a malicious bidder by default.
 
Contact the bidder by e-mail or telephone and politely remind
them of the outstanding payment.
 
Remember, you are a business person, so always remain
professional, courteous, and polite in your communication with
the bidder, and always stick to the facts. Do not get emotional
about the transaction and do not allow emotions to impair your
judgment.
 
Give the person a reasonable amount of time to respond to your
request for payment.
 
If the person simply forgot about the transaction then it is no big
deal. Those people usually pay promptly once reminded.
 
If the bidder has buyer's remorse you need to use your best
judgment. You could force a person to go through with the
transaction, but they are likely to activate your refund policies or
give you some grief in the future. Usually these people are
willing to defray your costs and cancel the transaction.
 
For people who have run into financial circumstances that make
it difficult for them to pay for the item, you could talk to them
about payment terms or other arrangements that would be
suitable to you both.
 
As a last resort for the people mentioned above, as well as for
the frivolous bidders, you could follow the Non-Paying Buyer
process that eBay has put at your disposal.
 
If a person gets three nonpaying strikes against their eBay ID
they are automatically suspended from the eBay site.
 
Golden rule: Never send the merchandise to the buyer until you
have received payment in full.
 
Jason Griffith recommends that you review this very helpful tool
to enhance your eBay selling success. Jason also writes eBay
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