www.thespecialistauctioneer.com

 www.thespecialistauctioneer.com aims to become the best, but not the biggest, auction site for books, collectibles and ephemera.

Why start another site?

When I first started selling books (1998), the major sites were profitable, interesting and fun to list on. Now they are less profitable, less interesting and much less fun. Part of this is down to the major listing sites having no selection criteria, allowing multiple copies of a book that have apparently never been examined before they are described and placed for sale. This has resulted in buyers who expect sellers to have no ethics, and no knowledge of books nor of business. In turn this tends to drive out the decent sellers, and the downward spiral continues. The major sites tend not to care, as one decent seller is replaced by a larger number of wannabees, and the occasional good new seller .

At the same time many of the sites, which initially were run by people who knew and cared about books and and about maintaining relationships, have been absorbed or have mutated into sites run by those who read balance sheets instead of novels. A few sites maintain standards, but produce few sales for those who list on them. 

The final straw that broke this camel’s back was when Ebay, which used to be excellent to list on, tried to turn itself into an Amazon-clone by imposing set postage fees regardless of the weight of the book to be posted. The allowance to post from Denmark, where I live, to USA, is an incredible $4, equal to DKK 22. This means the allowance covers a book weighing 50g – except it doesn’t, since the cardboard envelope used to pack the book weighs 75g. The alternative was to raise the initial price to $23.00 plus the cost of the book if I expected it to sell to USA, and of course pay the extra fees for this! No recourse, no argument, just take it or leave it.

So I took a third option – leave them instead; I withdrew my books and used the fees that I saved to set up a new site www.thespecialistauctioneer.com  it’s not the catchiest of names but it describes the aim – a specialist auction site, and i hope that people will bookmark it as a favourite to save typing the name. I’ve also bought a few other domains that will point to the main site.

Why is www. www.thespecialistauctioneer.com  different?

1)      I know a little about books. Actually, I’ve collected them for 40years, sold my collection when I left England, started another collection in Denmark, and have been selling online for a little over 10 years. I don’t know everything, or even 10% of everything, but I like books, I like my fellow booksellers and I like the vast majority of the prople who buy the books. 

2)      I’ve have aimed the site at specialist collectors and dealers.

a.       As a collector, I want to know that the book I am buying is well described (not necessarily using all of the jargon inherent in the book world) but accurate in terms of edition and condition. I want someone to look at it before listing it and to note any flaws. And I want to be able to find it easily.

b.      As a seller, I want ”freedom with responsibility” – to be able to charge the actual cost of postage, and to make the buyer aware of this in advance; I don’t want to have to load the price.  I also want to pay no membership fees, admin fees, shop fees nor  recurring listing or relisting fees. Just a simple percentage of the book price when the item sells. I also want my listing to be seen in the company of its equals, not buried amongst  100 or so ”rare” book of the month first edition romances.

3)      Initially selling books, www.thespecialistauctioneer.com will rapidly move into collectables and ephemera (paper collectibles). And it will stay there, no motor cars, homes,computer hardware and software... A specialist site for specialist collectors and suppliers.

4)      The fee structure will be fair, transparent, and inexpensive.

a.       There will be no fees to list items, and no fee to relist them – ever. There will be no membership fees – ever. There will be no shopfront fees – ever. No fees to list photographs – ever.

b.      There will be a flat 4% fee if the item sells, this will apply to the final selling price of the item, but will not apply to shipping charges. There will actually be a minimum charge of US$ 0.20 per item sold. This fee will be the same regardless of whether the item is bought directly (a Buy it Now option exists) or at auction. This means that sellers who sell on other sites will have no charges if their items sells elsewhere.

c.       There will be a small fee of $ 3.00 if the seller places an item  to be featured on the home page.

d.      Fees will be calculated immediately at the end of the sale, and the seller will have the opportunity to see these by looking at their account on their sellers home page. They will be invoiced monthly in USD, based on the exchange rate at the close of the individual sales. No long delays, no nasty shocks if one particular currency rises or falls rapidly.

5)      As in the early days of online auctions, reputations will be made or lost on the way in which the transactions are conducted. Everyone will start on a level playing field, and everyone listing will be expected to show the shipping and handling charge in the auction. Offenders will be warned, and persitent offenders (if there are any) will be thrown off the site.

6)      Because the site is owned by , and run on behalf of, people with a passion for collectibles, it should be fun to work with – both as a buyer and seller. There will be a forum, the opportunity to place free ”wants ads”, and the opportunity to influence its growth, in terms of both features and categories.

7)      It will be promoted in book and collectables related sites and publications.

8)      Best of all, it is risk free – or as near as humanly possible. Items placed for sale or auction before  June 1, 2009 will be subject to no charges (other than Home Page Feaured) – even if they sell after June 1. And from June 1, only a 4% charge on a successful sale. Sellers will risk no money – just the item listing time.