Selling  “Acceptable” Condition Books.

Acceptable condition books can be a hassle to move. This is due to the reason books graded under acceptable conditions are just the last offer or option available for buyers.

 There are no other listing conditions after “acceptable” conditions which indicate buyers will only get the “poorest” or least of offers. Since the “available” option of sales condition exists, then there must be some ways on how to sell your acceptable condition books.

Humans as rational beings will always want to get the best for their money spent. This means buyers will always measure the value they get to the dollar amount. They will always visit the best offers available and only downgrade when their purchasing power is limited

Being the last grade or condition doesn’t mean “acceptable” condition books don’t sell or will not sell. This is a limiting belief for some booksellers. The same as people are willing to pay higher for a “very good” condition book is exactly the same as some buyers are willing to pay less for acceptable condition books.

Seller’s concerns here are the fact that acceptable condition books will take longer to sell as buyers will have to consider your offer only when there are no other favorable options left to choose from.

On the other hand, the “acceptable” condition is a whole market on its own. With its own set of customers who will only want to buy just the acceptable offers available.

Amazons Guideline For Used-Acceptable Conditions

For books, all pages and the cover of the book need to be intact. The dust cover or jacket may be missing. Pages may have some limited notes and highlighting that may not obscure the text or cause it to be unreadable. The book may have some shelf wear and aesthetic issues such as scratches, creases, markings.

When describing your “acceptable” condition books it is important to even go beyond Amazon description to prepare or create awareness of what the buyer will be getting. In the place of “limited note and highlighting” you can rather say “moderate to heavy notes and highlighting”. This already prepares the buyer’s expectation.

Reasons why newbies should stay away from selling acceptable condition books

As a beginner in the book business, it is advisable to avoid acceptable condition books.  But this doesn’t mean “acceptable” conditions don’t sell. But you must be an experienced seller to play around with “acceptable” condition books.

Lack of Experience

Experienced sellers have a high level of mastery and know what they are doing. As an experienced seller, I am able to sight books that can be sold under “acceptable” conditions without worrying about any of the disadvantages of selling acceptable conditions.

Probably because I have sold them numerous times before with no issues and concerns. The same applies to books that will stay in your inventory for months under the “acceptable” condition and no sales. This is the primary concern why many sellers avoid selling books under acceptable conditions.

Acceptable condition books are slow to move

As a beginner, your main objective in this business is to build inventory as fast as you can. You can only achieve this goal with constant sales and re-investment. This is very important especially when you are working on a budget. They can be slow to move if you do not know the strategy for selling “acceptable” conditions. This will impact the growth of your inventory and slows your profits.

Low-Profit Margins

As a beginner in the bookselling business, high profits are very essential to grow your book business. “Acceptable” conditions books will never command the same profit margins as a “good” or “very good” condition book in almost every sales setting. As a beginner, you need to be very aggressive and raise the required profits to re-invest and grow your business. How aggressive can you be if you are selling the poorest least quality?

Poor feedback and reviews

Feedback and reviews are very essential for your competitiveness and growth in the bookselling business. Selling “acceptable” condition books will not always meet the buyer’s expectation and limit buyer-seller experience. This can lead to negative seller feedbacks which can greatly hamper your sales. Buyers will always choose sellers they are comfortable with and with whom they can get a guaranteed positive seller experience.

Now let’s look at some conditions to consider when selling acceptable condition books.

Create A Huge Price Gap

The most important aspect of selling “acceptable” condition books is the price gap you create between the next best offers. The difference in the price you are willing to give up will greatly help in determining buyer’s decisions. The price between the “acceptable” price and the “good” condition price or the next best condition offer.  The minimum price difference I can give up is $15 from the next best condition offer, especially if I am looking for a quick sale.

 For example, If I am selling an “acceptable” book and the next best offer (good condition) is being sold for about $40, then I can price my acceptable condition book for about $25. $15 price difference is a reasonable amount for a buyer to have a second thought.

A buyer might be willing to save up $15 from a purchase of a book with the same content and deal with the increase high lighting, underlining and other aesthetical issues an acceptable book can come with. Some buyers are even more interested with highlighted books as the previous owner has already indicated the important sections of the book.

“Acceptable” condition books should only compete with “acceptable” condition books and never with “good” or “very good” condition books as you will never make a sale. Before selling an acceptable condition book, it must be worth it and keep your “acceptable” condition books below 10% of your inventory.

Know your competition

You have to understand your competition when selling acceptable condition books. Your competition is other acceptable condition offers and not good or very good offers. If your acceptable condition price is higher than good condition offers or worst still very good condition offers, you are literally shooting yourself on the foot. No buyer will give up a low priced good offer to buy a high priced acceptable offer. Not in our world or anyone with their right mind.

If you are using automated pricing, set the highest price for your acceptable condition book differently from your “good’ and “very good” condition books.

Never Buy An Acceptable Condition books at the wrong price.

If you ever want to buy an acceptable condition book for re-sell then make sure it is the lowest price ever for the history of the book and you are sure that such offers are rare to find. Those are the kind of offers you fear if it is real or not. Offers which will make you wonder if the seller is in his right mind or not. I find such offers as I source books almost all the time but some of the orders are canceled as the majority of the time the seller discovers a mistake in pricing.

Textbooks

From my experience, I have realized acceptable textbooks sell faster than other books. My belief is students don’t care about the book condition since they are only using the book for a few months and for a specific class. Another reason can be a huge saving as students are always on a budget. Buying an acceptable condition book can get you to save up some extra funds for a few bottles of beer or for a date night.

Books that are rare to find

Some books which are rare to find or scarce can push my hand to get an acceptable copy especially if it is the only available option. In such cases, you can even price high if you are the only seller.  This can be the case with limited edition books and old popular books still pulling the market.

EndNote

Despite the fact that acceptable condition books can still sell, it is very important to limit the percentage of “acceptable” condition offers in your inventory. Before you think of taking the opportunity of selling an “acceptable” condition book, it must be worth it. I strive to keep my acceptable condition offers below 10% at all times. Please, share your experience in dealing with “acceptable” condition books and your opinion about selling them.