Selling to Half Price Books
On my recent visit to Dallas, I carried with me a box of books. In this box were ten copies each of five different graphic novels that I had published. Now that I'm no longer publishing, sales are slow enough that I'm warehousing many boxes of books I don't need. And yes, on these particular books I'd checked with the writers/artists whether they wanted copies.
The reason I loaded myself down with a thirty-plus pound box? I love used bookstores, so I knew I'd be visiting quite a few locations of Half Price Books (which is headquartered there). I had friends and family there in Dallas, who I hoped might want to drive around with me. As it turned out, I had plenty of company: Guy and Jeff on Saturday, my old roommate Bobb on Sunday, and my brother Ron on Monday.
And lest it sound like all I did was drive around the city… oh, wait, yeah, that's about it, though Monday was actually a lot more laid back.
Anyway, I took to each of the stores I visited exactly the same stack of five graphic novels. It was interesting, at least me to me, to see how the offers would differ. The cover prices added up to $66 retail. HPB sells everything that's not nostalgic or in print at a higher price at half of the retail price or less, so I figured they'd price the lot for between $25 and $33. Since the graphic novels all had b/w interiors, I figured there was a good chance their initial price might be more than half the cover price. Also, if a title didn't sell, most stores in the chain are aggressive at marking books down for clearance-although graphic novels tend to be a faster sell than most sections of the store.
HPB buys books at 20% or less of what they'll sell it for, based on how quickly they think it'll sell. They might offer a higher amount for something on the bestseller list that they don't have, for something they've been asked for a lot, or something they know is on their wish list, but in general a generic seller can expect to make 10-15% of HPB selling price for what they bring in, assuming it's not excess. ('Excess' = things the store has in great quantity with little chance of selling, like book club editions, serial romances, or out-of-date textbooks.) Since graphic novels are a hot section, I figured I'd make about 15% of the higher selling price, or $4.95. Stores usually round their offer to the nearest 25 cents, so I wouldn't be surprised at offers of $4.75 or $5.00. Outliers always happen, so I'd expect possible offers of a dollar less or a dollar more. Back when I was working there, I'd have offered $6 or 7, so you can see I was trying to keep my expectations low.
How'd I do?
For those who've followed this thus far, here's a chart.
Store Location Offer
Richardson $9.00
McKinney 3.00
Plano 3.50
Preston Road 4.00
Cedar Hill 6.00
Mesquite 6.00
Northwest Hwy 3.75
Irving 8.50
Bedford 5.00
North Arlington 12.00
Mean: $6.08
Mode: $6.00
Median: $5.50
Analysis: It was pleasant to see the on average my books were valued. You can tell at an HPB what sections are the faster selling ones by seeing which ones have room. If a section is packed, chances are books in that subject area sell well (other possibilities: a) the section was allotted too much room in the first place; b) there have not been large shipments from the central warehouse in that subject for a while (HPB also buys hurt and remaindered titles)).
I was thrilled to see an offer of $9 at the very first place I visited, then crushed to see very low offers at the next three. I'd expected a higher offer at Northwest Highway, the main location (50,000 square feet of sales space!), which is perennially understocked with good used merchandise since so many people shop there. North Arlington was a true outlier, with by far the largest offer, but also the best-looking graphic novel section. Cedar Hill was pristine, by the way; every shelf looked so orderly I was almost scared to take anything down.
I also kept track of the gender of the buyer, their approximate age, how professionally they acted, and how busy there were. The only correlation with the offer was on the last factor. If the buyer was busy, I got a lower offer; if the buyer was not busy, I got a higher one. I listed McKinney, Plano, Preston, and Northwest Hwy as particularly busy, and Richardson, Mesquite, Irving, and Bedford as light. The average of the offers from the busy stores was $3.56 and from the light ones was $7.13. North Arlington was on the lighter side of moderately busy.
There are ways to 'play' selling items to HPB. One is only to take one item at a time. A book they might only offer a dime for if it was part of a large purchase they might offer a quarter for all by itself. Some people try to game the system by taking in a few items, getting an offer, then bringing in more items from their car on that same trip. Few things annoy a buyer more. It's also possible to bargain a little, but only if you're bringing in something the buyer thinks would turn quickly, like popular DVDs.
As you can see, it's not really worthwhile if you're hoping to make a killing. But I hadn't expected such a close match between the offer and how much time the buyer had to look at the items for sale.
[Disclosure: I am an ex-employee of Half Price Books, and still buy from them very often.]
The reason I loaded myself down with a thirty-plus pound box? I love used bookstores, so I knew I'd be visiting quite a few locations of Half Price Books (which is headquartered there). I had friends and family there in Dallas, who I hoped might want to drive around with me. As it turned out, I had plenty of company: Guy and Jeff on Saturday, my old roommate Bobb on Sunday, and my brother Ron on Monday.
And lest it sound like all I did was drive around the city… oh, wait, yeah, that's about it, though Monday was actually a lot more laid back.
Anyway, I took to each of the stores I visited exactly the same stack of five graphic novels. It was interesting, at least me to me, to see how the offers would differ. The cover prices added up to $66 retail. HPB sells everything that's not nostalgic or in print at a higher price at half of the retail price or less, so I figured they'd price the lot for between $25 and $33. Since the graphic novels all had b/w interiors, I figured there was a good chance their initial price might be more than half the cover price. Also, if a title didn't sell, most stores in the chain are aggressive at marking books down for clearance-although graphic novels tend to be a faster sell than most sections of the store.
HPB buys books at 20% or less of what they'll sell it for, based on how quickly they think it'll sell. They might offer a higher amount for something on the bestseller list that they don't have, for something they've been asked for a lot, or something they know is on their wish list, but in general a generic seller can expect to make 10-15% of HPB selling price for what they bring in, assuming it's not excess. ('Excess' = things the store has in great quantity with little chance of selling, like book club editions, serial romances, or out-of-date textbooks.) Since graphic novels are a hot section, I figured I'd make about 15% of the higher selling price, or $4.95. Stores usually round their offer to the nearest 25 cents, so I wouldn't be surprised at offers of $4.75 or $5.00. Outliers always happen, so I'd expect possible offers of a dollar less or a dollar more. Back when I was working there, I'd have offered $6 or 7, so you can see I was trying to keep my expectations low.
How'd I do?
For those who've followed this thus far, here's a chart.
Store Location Offer
Richardson $9.00
McKinney 3.00
Plano 3.50
Preston Road 4.00
Cedar Hill 6.00
Mesquite 6.00
Northwest Hwy 3.75
Irving 8.50
Bedford 5.00
North Arlington 12.00
Mean: $6.08
Mode: $6.00
Median: $5.50
Analysis: It was pleasant to see the on average my books were valued. You can tell at an HPB what sections are the faster selling ones by seeing which ones have room. If a section is packed, chances are books in that subject area sell well (other possibilities: a) the section was allotted too much room in the first place; b) there have not been large shipments from the central warehouse in that subject for a while (HPB also buys hurt and remaindered titles)).
I was thrilled to see an offer of $9 at the very first place I visited, then crushed to see very low offers at the next three. I'd expected a higher offer at Northwest Highway, the main location (50,000 square feet of sales space!), which is perennially understocked with good used merchandise since so many people shop there. North Arlington was a true outlier, with by far the largest offer, but also the best-looking graphic novel section. Cedar Hill was pristine, by the way; every shelf looked so orderly I was almost scared to take anything down.
I also kept track of the gender of the buyer, their approximate age, how professionally they acted, and how busy there were. The only correlation with the offer was on the last factor. If the buyer was busy, I got a lower offer; if the buyer was not busy, I got a higher one. I listed McKinney, Plano, Preston, and Northwest Hwy as particularly busy, and Richardson, Mesquite, Irving, and Bedford as light. The average of the offers from the busy stores was $3.56 and from the light ones was $7.13. North Arlington was on the lighter side of moderately busy.
There are ways to 'play' selling items to HPB. One is only to take one item at a time. A book they might only offer a dime for if it was part of a large purchase they might offer a quarter for all by itself. Some people try to game the system by taking in a few items, getting an offer, then bringing in more items from their car on that same trip. Few things annoy a buyer more. It's also possible to bargain a little, but only if you're bringing in something the buyer thinks would turn quickly, like popular DVDs.
As you can see, it's not really worthwhile if you're hoping to make a killing. But I hadn't expected such a close match between the offer and how much time the buyer had to look at the items for sale.
[Disclosure: I am an ex-employee of Half Price Books, and still buy from them very often.]