Yes, as Anne and Kevin note, the prices can be very fluid indeed!
And obviously the prices being cited online cannot necessarily be
considered to represent what the books are "selling for," as no
one may be buying them. Consequently, it is not a reliable method for
determining the actual market value or replacement cost of a given book.
One bookseller who operates under various names routinely lists art books
on Alibris, Abebooks, etc. at ridiculously inflated prices. At one point
they copied electronically thousands of our bibliographic records (which
contain certain unique elements, including descriptive comments written
by our staff) and loaded the records onto various online book sites,
offering the titles at several times our own prices. (We ourselves list
only a small portion of our inventory on sites other than our own Web
site, so the unsuspecting buyer might not have known that copies of these
titles could easily be found elsewhere at reasonable prices.)
Just as Kevin speculated, that seller of course did not actually have
copies of the books they were advertising, but would place rush orders
with us if they happened to receive any orders. When we realized what
they were doing, we closed down their account, but similar opportunists
continue to plague us with new schemes and creative deceptions. One even
went so far as to set up a fake Web page to try to convince us they were
an art research library to whom we might be willing to sell our last
copies of certain out-of-print and hard-to-find titles that we had priced
very modestly for the benefit of our library clients. Once they deplete
their competitor's inventory, they can more freely charge whatever they
wish.
And once one copy becomes listed at an inflated price, other booksellers
unfamiliar with the material may start listing their copies at prices
somewhat more reasonable but still very inflated, assuming that if
someone is "selling" a copy for $800, then they might be able
to sell their copy for a $400. In the meantime, we might still have three
copies of the title in stock, still in the publisher's shrink wrap, being
offered at the original list price of $50.00. But if no is buying any of
these copies, what is the real commercial value of the book? Certainly
not what it is "selling for" on Abebooks.
Kelly Fiske
Worldwide Books
Mr. Kelly M. Fiske, President
Worldwide Books
1001 West Seneca Street
Ithaca, NY 14850 USA
Phone 607-272-9200 ext. 16
Fax 607-272-0239
US & Canadian orders 1-800-473-8146
1962-2012
::
Celebrating 50
Years!
Find us on the Web:
http://www.worldwide-artbooks.com
http://www.facebook.com/WorldwideBooks
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