******************** BUMP time! ********************

I haven't read then entire thread. This has probably been posted all ready...but just in case...

Nearly 41,000 people who love books enough to post here isn't failure.

I like this thread. I am glad to see it on the first page once again.

There are so many wonderful responses. There are so many different viewpoints.

I reread the original post and the many replies. I thought about it a bit. I think I maybe understand the original intent a bit more.

And I will say this: All of you may never know what life you touched, what bookselling or other business you helped to foster, what learning you encouraged. You may never know that you "lit a fire" and created that "burning desire" coupled with the tenacity to succeed.

So--- keep teaching. Keep doing what you all do. Keep being successful and sharing your expertise. Your knowledge will touch someone, but you may not know when it happens.

I am always amazed by the wonderful sellers I see here.  

Some folks will come here and read your wisdom without ever mentioning the fact that they read what you wrote. Some will question, some will move on to other things. Some will become successful because of what they found. You may never know.

Even roasted troll.

Life begins at the end of your comfort Zone.

Are there any chicken types that cook up delicious with fresh basil?  We grow our own in the summer and SO delicious!  Rosemary and a few others, too.  Unfortunately, just about any fresh herb other than parsley or cilantro in the winter is pricey--coming in little hard plastic containers for 3 or 4 bucks each.

oKAY. I quit for the day. It is supposed to say, Who said I taste like chicken?

I hang my head in embarrassment.

Ottawa Canada isn't the Far North, but sage grows just fine here. I also have perennial (or selfsowing) mint, chives, oregano and tarragon. Plus Egyptian Onions.  And the temprature here has been over 30 every day for the past month. (Dont' know what that is in Fahrenheit.) Its pretty warm in Yellowknife today too.

I'll never open a bookstore, even in a city with three universities and two colleges, one of the highest levels of education in Canada and a solid economy based on government and high-tech, the costs for running a store are too high. Our family business (DH is a stamp dealer) costs over $9000 a month to run before wages for a staff of 10, and I doubt many independent bookstores could handle that. Although our next door neighbour is a chain bookstore and seems to have done fine for over 40 years in the same location.

But online selling reduces my overhead and increases my customer base. I don't put enough time into it, but I am sure that I will make a decent living wage when I go full time on this in 2014.So does my banker and my accountant. Meanwhile I am turning a profit over my 7 IDs and my three other online venues.

1. What are Egyptian onions?

2. your neighbor IS a chain bookstore?  That I would like to see!

Thanks, Elyn!

Success?  Don't know - I started here to learn to represent the books honestly and sell honorably.  The generousity of other boardies has made that possible with ruffles anf riffs I'd never imagined.. 

I'm on a bookselling sabbatical and currently engrossed in digging fairly sophisticated holes in the ground,  but I still drop in and take copious notes for a blazing return. 

Success?  Sales - maybe not so much.  Acquisitions - OH YOU BETCH YOUR BIPEE!

With thanks to all who keep sharing the education.

Okay I thought I would chime in. I first discovered eBay after reading an article in the Wall Street Journal. (That was back in the day when this was still a good newspaper before Murdoch bought it.)

I noodled around and bought a book or two before I started to sell stuff. I started off around 1999 selling vintage magazines primariy Rolling Stone and MAD because I had saved long runs of both publications from the early sixities onward. Didn't know what I was doing and priced stuff way to low but had some pretty interesting results on some of those issues, primarily the early Rolling Stones, which ended up in bidding wars that drove the prices relatively high. (That was back when ebay used to email you whenever someone bid on one of your auctions. Remember that.)

At some point in time I started to sell books too, some out of my own collection but mostly what I picked up at book sales mostly the larger ones like the old Brandeis sales here in suburban Chicago and the Newberry Library Sale.

Been mostly selling books and magazines since then. Took a year off a couple of years back when I was selling my brother-in-laws collection of original, hi-grade underground comics. I had been selling undergound comics right along too.

Have picked up quite a few good tips from the board and have used the ask questions about any book a couple of times when I had some items that almost defied identification. One of the best tips, can't remember who it was, but they recommended creating a second eBay ID for purchasing. Great idea as I tend to buy a lot of stuff on eBay that I turn around and sell for a nifty profit.

Things have slowed down recently but I have stayed on eBay and have just started to sell my childhood coin collection which has kept sales active. (Really interesting to observe the difference between selling collectibles like coins and selling books. ) I have actually started to clean out shelves and cupboards to find more stuff to sell. My oldest son is getting married next year and would like to accumulate a few extra dollars to cover some of those costs.

I guess the biggest difference between what I do and other sellers might be that I do not make my living doing this. I work full time and for a long time had total responsiblity for several magazines which kept me exceedingly busy. Now I am working in the corporate world but take almost nothing home.

The bookselling community on eBay is great and there is really nothing else like it here.

Michael -- follow me on twitter #Bestpaperboy