Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Ask and ye might receive

A couple of the sales I have made have only occurred because someone was brave enough to ask me a question.

Take the case (mentioned a few days ago) of Sandra in New Zealand. She was brave enough to check with me and see if I would be willing to ship an audiobook to her, even though I had the book labeled "US only". If she hadn't, if she had just seen that and though "oh, well" - then no sale.

Today a gentleman in Texas (heya, Eddie!) emailed me about some Who's Who comics I had up for sale. I had the entire 26-issue set up as 13 2-issue "items", at $8.00 apiece (not a bad profit for a $1 cover price book). The online price guide said they were valued at $4 per issue, and I figured what the heck - if they don't sell, I can always lower them later. Eddie emailed me and said he really needed issues 21-26, but wasn't able (or willing, I suppose) to spend $4 per issue to get them (he had just gotten 1-20 for $0.99 + $7.00 shipping - but he realized that was a helluva deal). Would I go to $2 per issue? So, I did a little market research, seeing what others were asking for them. Mine weren't the priciest (some went up to $6 per issue in fact), but they were above average (many were asking $0.99 per). Now, I think my comics are in extraordinary condition - and I get compliments in feedback all the time about how I am undergrading them when I call them only "Near Mint". But, it seems I could be a tad lower. So I lowered the price of all 13 sets to $5.50 per set (that's $2.75 per issue for those of you who are divisionally challenged) and contacted Eddie letting him know. "Even if it's not low enough for you, thanks for pointing out a place where I could be more competitive."

Well, not only did he buy the three sets he wanted at $5.50 per, he also bought the Who's Who Update '87 issues 1-5 for $15, and the Who's Who Update '88 issues 1-4 for $12. Not a bad order all in all. And all because he was bold enough to ask if I'd be willing to go a little lower on the price.

So, the moral? If you see something you like on eBay (especially if it's from me), but you think it's too high a price, or it doesn't say I'll ship it to you, or maybe you only want one issue out of a set that I have up together...well, just ask! The worst that will happen is I'll say "thanks, but no." And you might just end up getting what you wanted!

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