Profitable sell signed books on EBAY?

[hawaiian bam bam]

hello,
random question, is it very profitable to buy signed books by athletes and resale them on ebay? anyone do this?

[quinnsryche]

hello,
random question, is it very profitable to buy signed books by athletes and resale them on ebay? anyone do this?

Books are a VERY hard sell, even autographed. Trust me, I have been on the short end on signed books too many times to mention. You can always try it but that market seems to be near death from my experience.

[bigtrain]

I think the market for signed books is very soft at the moment. Most collectors seem to prefer items that are more easily displayed.

[vthobby]

I would agree with the "soft" market as the previous 2 posters alluded to however, I have a sightly different take that has served me well. I have purchased signed books of celebrities or players that I like and for the cost of the book (the sig) is usually free if you are patient and do numerous searches. For example on Black Friday I bought a Jerry Rice signed book for $27 and an Elvis Costello signed book for $26.

The other thing is that if I was going to buy the book anyways to read, it is a no brainer for me.

I have sold some and although I have not made much, I typically always get what I paid back. After gently reading the book, I call that a win!

Profit angle......not so much. Enjoyability and a free read from time to time....very cool!

Peace and Mahalo, Mike

PS One of my most interesting in person book signings was with Reeve Lindbergh (daughter of Charles) and children's book author. She was fascinating, has a great auto, and an in person signed book was $20!

[hawaiian bam bam]

thanks for your responses, i appreciate it. i only ask, because it seems like barnes and noble always have some very good deals. for example, yesterday some one posted a link to barnes and noble selling signed derek jeter books for $12.50 each, yes, i said that correctly $12.59 each! as could be imagines the sold out literally in minutes of listing them for sale. people were bragging about buying 20, 30, 40 books each! one person even posted that hey bought 1000 (yes 1000 books!) signed derek jeter books! of course they are all listed on ebay already for a crap load of money!

[dgo71]

I would think Jeter is an outlier. There are probably a handful of guys so desirable that profit could be made (Jeter, MJ, etc.) but by and large signed books are not a huge part of the autograph collecting market. Cal Ripken had a signed book a few years ago for around $20, and I think that's what they still sell for today. Particularly for guys whose autographs are plentiful in other mediums, any profit you'd turn likely wouldn't be worth the time and effort. Unless of course you're in it for the free read as mentioned above, but that's not the impression I'm getting.

[hawaiian bam bam]

thanks for the info. i agree it doesnt seem like they are very profitable to sell. just wondering because on another board it seems like every time someone posts a barnes and noble deal, dozens of people go and buy 25-30 copies for "themselves"