book prices and daylight robbery.

[behblc]

I checked out the availability of "Hitler's Jewish Soldiers" on Amazon .co.uk ,it is amazing the price differential betwen sellers, take a look.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-lis...1520311&sr=1-2

Best price new , in hardback in the Uk is £12.08 -good price I will have that.

Most expensive a whopping £110.19 almost £100 clear total and absolute profit , or do I read it wrong ?

How in God's name can any reasonable seller demand such an insane price and better still , who would pay it ?

I really would love to know what justification can be given for this price hike ?

[Larry deZeng]

How in God's name can any reasonable seller demand such an insane price and better still , who would pay it ?
I really would love to know what justification can be given for this price hike ?

As the Romans said, caveat emptor (let the buyer beware).........

--Larry

[SwordFish]

Clearly a disparity exists between various companies.

A great example is Johnsons newest series on sword collecting. The MSRP on these is around $75 or $65 each. I don't recall the exact figure. I purchased each addition from hamilitonbook.com and purchased each for $45 and I believe that was shipped. Some online vendors wanted $110 while hamilton was selling the book for $60 less. Just goes to show what a little shopping around can do. Thank goodness for the net.

[joelhall]

having said that i saw a copy of the first print of iron time for 520 dollars on amazon

it IS still a book isnt it or is there an ek1 with it

[Mark C. Yerger]

many are clueless. There is a guy on e-bay asking $900 for Angolia's 3 vols on Army (+25 postage). I'd sell mine for 900 and pay the shipping, a bargain

I see my own books that are in print for 2-3 times what they actually cost on Abebooks.

Mark

[Robert Shoaf]

Right on all counts. I have noticed sellers on Ebay listing current in-print military titles for ABOVE their list price, with shipping charges on top of that! And they have feedback in the thousands! There is no shortage of clueless people out there. If they ever bothered to look at Amazon, many of the same books are at a 30% discount, with free shipping above $25.00.

[Michael Fay]

they are merely offering to be expensive middle men.

I have found sites that already offer books that are not even in print yet at much higher prices than its actual price in the future has been set to be.

Obviously, this is another sneaky way to fool someone---the book is not offered any where else in the world yet and when they get the money they will just wait till the book is actually published to get it to the unhappy buyer who has waited a few months

--or conversly it just exposed these sellers as trawling through book titles at Barnes and Noble web site and copying down the info and then offering it at inflated prices without ever buying the book. If a foolish purchaser sends them the money then they will buy the book and send it to him.

[behblc]

After the Battle" is always good for an overpriced buy on eBay , it seems all issues are potentially "rare and hard to find" , which is odd as the company have always done back numbers.
(Having said that good buys can be had on eBay if you take caree to look).
The most expensive prices on Amazon do take me to the fair and likewise most of those selling them seem to have good " rep". within the amazon system.
I have mailed the seller regarding his price but probably won't recieve a reply - just to see what reason is given for a profit of £98 plus postage and palckage.

[Ron Weinand]

Book Availability

Its the old supply and demand. Their supply and your demand. I got so tired of seeing my joint effort of "German Helmets 1933 - 1945 Vol. II" (which was out of print for some time) selling at $85.00 a copy on eBay, I went to my old printer and had it reprinted and offered it forsale on ebay and to various book dealers in order to give the collector a chance to get one at a reasonable price. I have always felt that if the collector wants a copy and it can be printed, why not get them to the people at an acceptable rate. Its bad enough that the items are over the top, but the reference books??
JMO,
Ron Weinand

[behblc]

Ron,
I have to say well done to you for going to your printer and saying what about another printing run.
From time to time I have paid well for books which are out of print and when selling them on hvae had to recoup my out lay on them.
( Done very rarely I must say , as I don't often part with books).

Mark (Yeger) has made the same point - seeing books of his which are still in print being put up for 203 times the face value .

In the particular instance I quoted I find it hard to defend the price being asked for a book which is still in print.
The supplier has needless to say not answewred my question on the price being asked and given how Amzon show a list of suppliers on the one page with prices displayed from the lowest to the highest you have to wonder who would pay !108 for a book they can buy ay £10-12 ?
All seems mad to me.


Ron you get my vote for thinking of your readers and collectors in general , although not a collector of helmets I would almost buy a copy in appreciation of your actions , and may well do .

[Larry deZeng]

Hi Ron - some good points and a generous deed indeed. But as a published author myself (Ian Allan Publishing, London), I must ask why it is that collectors (which I am not) have no problem paying outrageous prices for militaria items but recoil in shock at the very thought of having to lay out a few bucks to buy a book? I would have thought that the logical correlation between a collecting hobby or enterprise and reference books would be a given, but it isn't. Day after day I see young collectors here asking simple questions that are available in the basic references that go with the hobby, but they refuse to invest a penny in books and keep coming back to get someone else to look the stuff up for them, even though they are told over and over again which books to get. Do you have any insight on this disturbing and irritating phenomenon? There is something in this that I am missing.

Grüß

--Larry

[Jonathan M]

Larry


I suppose its got to do with the advent of the internet and the ease of which you can get some information on certain topics. Ive noticed in class the lack of impetus for children to look in a dictionary for the spelling of a word, rather they instantly ask "sir how do i spell...", and sometimes its the most trivial of words. Granted i teach 10-12 year olds but the 'easy' life trend which seems to prevail today permeates everywhere, to the point that uni students download essays off the web and pass it off as their own!

Though i also agree with those that moan about the price of some of these books. The 'altekampfer' in here bought those books at their initial release at a cheaper price and many are now out of print and are considered key texts for our hobby. Yet i have also found that with a little bit of searching and luck you can find them at good prices.

I also recognise the fact that it was far more difficult to research in times when there was no internet. Swings and roundabouts i suppose

Jonathan

[Larry deZeng]

Well said, Jonathan, well said. And there is another point that I forgot to mention in fairness. Hobby "start-ups" can't very well be expected to instantly have all of those references that it took the rest of us years and years to acquire. Yet, it does remain one of my peeves and I do tend to rant on it occasionally. You, on the other hand, are one of the exceptions, and there are several others, too. What we have in common is a university background where we learned the value and importance of books, and developed the skills to do our own research. I guess we can't expect those who have not had the benefit of 4 or more years at a university to be as at home with these values and skills as we are.

Cheers,

--Larry

[Jonathan M]

Thanks for the kind words Larry, Perhaps an idea might be a sticky thread with websites where to find these hard to acquire books. Or would that violate forum rules?

Jonathan

[Larry deZeng]

Thanks for the kind words Larry, Perhaps an idea might be a sticky thread with websites where to find these hard to acquire books. Or would that violate forum rules?
Jonathan

I'll PM you on that. --Larry