Book Links

Basic HTML For eBay and Other Places

Posted by hughlh

If you sell on eBay, have your own website or just want to post in your favorite web forum, it helps to know some HTML.

Most of what I know about HTML, I learned by cutting and pasting. Here is a good list of cut and paste HTML tags.

If you want to write your own, here is a practice board where you can try your code.

If, however, you are too lazy or just can’t be bothered, you can always use this online HTML editor to write your own code.

Book Terms, or Learning Proper Terminology

Posted by hughlh

It matters what you call things, especially at the higher levels. Your customers expect you to know the difference between a hinge and a joint, between unopened and uncut.

If you do not know, or you are not sure, now would be a good time to brush up on your terminology. Two good links are:

http://www.ioba.org/terms.html

http://www.abaa.org/cgi-bin/abaa/abaapages/glossary

The best all around book on the subject is Carter’s ABC for Book Collectors. Currently in it’s 8th edition, it is still the best in the business.

How To Ship Books You Have Sold

Posted by hughlh

I think the time has come to talk about shipping books. We booksellers seem given to debate naturally, and hardly any subject is debated more. All of us tend to believe that our way is correct, and the most often touted defense is “that we have never had any complaints”.

That is somewhat akin to a doctor saying bleeding the patient works because nobody has complained when his patient died. Read the rest of this entry »

How To Pack And Ship Ephemera and Paper

Posted by hughlh

The hardest thing to ship, in my opinion, is ephemera. It is tempting to just throw that postcard or flyer in a flat envelope and sent it on, or to place a piece of cardboard in the envelope with it and send it out. Obviously, each piece is different, but I think we can keep our objectives we covered in part 1 in mind as we go. Read the rest of this entry »

Shipping Books Safely- How To Pack The Book You Have Sold

Posted by hughlh

Packaging books is simplicity itself.

1. Wrap the book in tissue paper

There are several reasons for doing this:

- It looks nice.
- It keeps the book tight, that is, it does not let the book come open, slide around, and so on
-It provides an initial layer of protection against dust and grime getting to the book Read the rest of this entry »

How To Ship More Than One Book (Multiple Volumes)

Posted by hughlh

A reader wrote in and asked the following question:I have a set of Harvard Classics I intend to sell soon. It is roughly 50 volumes. When shipping a set, do you follow the same procedure you already discussed for wrapping each individual volume? Is it any more or less safe to wrap the books in small groups? Should I try to ship this many books in one big box, or am I better off shipping in two or three (or more) smaller boxes? For discussion purposes, assume I am sending the set of books within the U.S.

Well, the only way I know to answer this is to tell you what I would do and have done in the past.
Read the rest of this entry »

How To Buy Books Online Safely

Posted by hughlh

If you do not know books, you had better know your bookseller (Hugh Hollowell, with apologies to Warren Buffett)

In the Used Book marketplace, there have always been Antiquarians, Shysters, General Shops, Specialty Dealers, Hobbyists, Part-timers, and Crooks. These days, the problem is now we are all in the same room. You have a listing from the most excellent Heritage Bookshop sitting right next to MeeMaw’s Book Nook. Now, MeeMaw might be just as professional as Heritage or she may not, but that is precisely my point. You do not know.

So, how do you avoid being screwed over by a fraudulent bookseller? Read the rest of this entry »

Using B-Flute To Ship Books, Pro’s and Cons

Posted by hughlh

Over at Craig Stark’s bookthink.com there is a set of articles (1 & 2) extolling the virtues of shipping books wrapped in B-flute in lieu of using boxes. For the uninitiated among you, B-Flute is basically corrugated cardboard with paper on only one side. Read the rest of this entry »

How To Build A Database Of Past Customers

Posted by hughlh

There have been several inquiries, both in the comments as well as via private email, about the wisdom, viability, and even legality(!) of contacting your past customers. I hope to clear up some of this here, however, keep in mind I am not a lawyer (to my Mother’s never-ending disappointment) and so if you are at all concerned, please seek your own legal counsel. Read the rest of this entry »

First Edition, First Printing, With The Numberline Intact?

Posted by hughlh

A person new to book collecting wrote the IOBA asking what the above meant when seen in a catalogue entry. As many book buyers read this site, I thought I would share my reply with all of you. As I told him, however, this is a rule of thumb, and if you are serious about your book collecting, I recommend you find a dealer you trust and give him as much of your business as is humanly possible. Read the rest of this entry »

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