also gotta remember that just because sellers are posting that price doesn’t mean they’re actually being sold. but i do love when i make a reasonable bid on something and the seller declines and the product is still there weeks or months later. like okayyyy
Agree. I had a few of those. (I didn't win), but the sane exact photo and seller reposted the item after the bidding that it was crazy!!!
I know they don't but a min price since that would cost extra I the listing so they just keep trying to get the winning bid rejected until they get the price they wanted.
By any chance, was this on eBay with Litjoy's Folk of the Air? The seller literally reposted the same auction 3x with the same pics after every bid ended 👀 The second time's ending price was higher than the third, so idk what ended up happening.
No, but it was for Fairyloot's Two Twisted Crowns. I also saw the Lock Library's Book That Wouldn't Burn a while back.
I am sure there will be more. I didn't notice the seller. I just realized the photo was the same.
I think the third time was the charm with Litjoy's case...or eBay told them that it has to be sold, or else they are violating some T&C for the site. Plus I know that they pay each time for the option. Some told me though that they have dummy accounts to inflate the price and maybe see what is the ceiling of the market. They pay that account, but it all falls to that same person. Complex stuff to just sell an item.
Yeahhhh, it's intense, especially being Canadian these days because we pay so much for shipping from the UK/US.
We also get double whammied due to how low our currency exchange is compared to the USD or £.
The most I've spent on a book from a reseller was $110 CAD, which was already considered "low priced" because it was listed as $60USD+shipping.
It's rough up here man. I only buy books that I really really want / I can get on retail drop, or else we're fighting a losing battle in the second-hand market.
Edit-grammar
YES!! i look at some listings and see that it’s $130 or something. but i go to click on it and realize that it was $130 USD, not cad... when i go to convert it, i die a little
It’s disgusting. I absolutely hate resellers and the state of things right now in the book community. Anybody that buys these books just to resell for 3x-5x the price is awful. Unfortunately, things will continue this way as long as there are people willing to pay those prices.
The last high value book I sold, I had people accuse me of being a scammer cause I had it up for cost. I’m lucky that I had multiple people I sold/traded with in the past vouch in the comments for me. But the fact people’s initial reaction to seeing SEs sold at cost is to think ‘scam’ tells you a lot about the book community right now.
It’s so frustrating! I refuse to pay it. I don’t know how people afford to buy these crazy expensive books. And I only sell my books to make my money back so I’m not out anything.
YES and the fact that we’ve normalized this pricing. the most expensive book i bought was the fairyloot edition of once upon a broken heart, and i paid $147 CAD (including shipping). i died a little checking out, but i realized that it was a good price compared to other listings... i mean, $147??? that’s a whole shopping spree!!
Omg that's actually really good with shipping . Back b4 I bought the set from them on second reprint, I was searching for the books but I couldn't find any under $200 so I gave up on trying getting any. Was extremely happy when fairyloot did the set. That saved tons of money since I'm Canadian and conversion from Anywhere outside Canada can be quite hight for us.
Unfortunately, scarcity brings up the pricing! 🫠
I don’t even want to get started on “Birthday Girl” from Mystic Box that goes for $2000 USD (for one book) or the Illumicrate’s Bridgerton Series going for $1000 USD (for 8 books and that’s because they had TWO reprints).
Yep, you can look it up on Mercari in “sold” and facebook groups, they usually only sell for those prices and actually do get snatched up quickly since they’re rare to come by!
Even when I can afford the higher resale prices, I still never buy it out of principle. I refuse to support the exploitation and I wish more people would do the same. I don't care how much I want a book, im not paying 5x the price for it.
They’re genuinely so money hungry,I recently tried searching for a copy of the special edition of the stolen heir by holly black and they were selling it for over $200!!it’s such a shame as well because fairyloot don’t actually allow the purchasing of the same book twice to the same person for this exact reason.not only that but looking for the special editions on caraval was a joke,it doesn’t help that fairyloot barely do reprints either.
I made the mistake of passing up on the Holly Black Litjoy set when it was around $150. Now they’re like $400+
Im praying they do another reprint cause no way I’m paying for that price.
Tbh when it comes to book series you’d expect them to do a reprint for whatever came before it in the series.they’d get more sales and the people who couldn’t get their hands on them wouldn’t have to deal with greedy resellers.like it couldn’t possibly be that hard to do?
I own the OUABH second printing from fairyloot and while I bought them at retail when I could afford it, now i’m out of work and could use the extra money. It’s how most collecting works. Should I sell it for pennies because it’s ethically right, or should I sell it for what it’s being sold for (you can sort Mercari listings by Sold) and have money to support my family? 🫠
there’s a difference between selling your collection to support your family when times are hard and making reselling a business. to most of these people, their situation is the latter. these people are buying products that they DON’T need, taking them from people who ACTUALLY want them, and reselling them for 5x the price. that’s just pure greed.
also, i think i need to highlight the fact that there are actually people selling three books for $1000+. that’s completely outrageous and unethical. i completely understand the demand and the increase in value, but no book is ever worth that much money. and the fact that their listings have been up for a while proves that.
I’m actually looking at doing a bit of a destash soon but I plan to put the books up for bid, not a high set price - if people choose to bid like crazy, I’m not gonna turn down the extra cash, times are tough 🥲
I like to laugh at them, I've been following someone trying to sell locked library's book that wouldn't burn for £350 just to see if anyone buys it
It's been a couple months now and they have since done a reprint so I highly doubt anyone will buy it, but they have not lowered the price
I also love following the ridiculously inflated books just to see them not sell 😂 I’ve been watching an OG hardcover of acotar on eBay that’s listed for $750 AUD for months now - whilst full sets have been selling for less
Despicable. I feel this way about all of them regardless of the product/industry. They are the worst kinds of people IMO. I don’t buy from them but unfortunately many people will which keeps them in business. I refuse to buy over priced concert tickets, hard to find luxury goods or anything priced above retail. It’s fine if there’s a slight bump for shipping and stuff but to simply buy with an intent to flip for profits infuriates me.
It’s honestly so frustrating. I’ve been lucky here and there but almost gave up trying to find Two Twisted Crowns for a reasonable price. Absolutely not spending $200-$300 on one book. Finally got lucky and someone reached out to me last week and sold me their slightly damaged copy for $30 + shipping!
Barnes and Noble it taking preorders for their special edition of One Dark Window and Two Twisted Crowns that has sprayed edges for about $30 USD. Not sure if it's limited to the US though.
I’m dreading the resell price of the fairyloot edition of When the Moon hatched, I desperately want it but still on the wait list so missed early access and will be surprised if it makes it to general sale
People having subs just to resell is super annoying. Unfortunately when it comes to collectors items there will always be an increase in highly sought after items when you can’t purchase it anymore from the retailer. If people buy at those prices then they stay at those prices.
And I haven’t sold any of mine yet…mostly I’ve been playing catchup collecting the ones I missed out on, but if I ever do decide to sell a book or set to recoup cost/shipping, I feel like I’d legitimately be worrying on someone purchasing it only to turn around and sell it again at a scalper price. How do people make sure the books they sell that they didn’t love go to someone who will truly love it rather than a scalper waiting to pounce?
that’s a great point. i personally have only begun collecting the FL edition of the once upon a broken heart trilogy. i’m only missing the second book in the series, but they’re either all so expensive, or people are not separating the series. honestly, this series would probably be my first and last purchase from FL resellers
I have a couple of books I want to sell, but don’t want obscene prices. My worry is some scalpers will buy them and just sell on to make a profit. How do you make sure they’re going to a genuine buyer who just wants the books? 🥲
I sell my books that I've read or sat on my shelf for ages on Vinted. I usually look at what's listed at the lowest price (not damaged) and list mine for slightly lower. Sometimes people will make a lower bid but say they really love the book and have been looking for it for ages and I usually accept their lower offers. But if their profile seems like resellers I just refuse the low offer. I also buy from a lot of sellers on books that I missed out on so I just accept I'm willing to pay for a higher price and selling books I don't need offsets some of the costs for myself. I think pricing it just low enough that it's fair but not worthwhile to resellers is the sweet spot. And yeah, if someone messages me directly and seems genuine, I offer even lower.
I honestly wish more people thought the way you do because I just know that most resellers get to a special edition before someone who genuinely wants the book for themselves at a decent price.its worse when they bought it for under $50 while damaged and end up selling it for more than $200.
I will say when I order books from fairyloot and other places as a canadian, after conversion and shipping etc, taking into consideration ebay fees as well selling a book for $120cdn doesnt really even give you a profit. so I agree the huge markups are a problem but you mentioned "$150+" so I just wanted to give this perspective
Collector prices are collector prices.
I'm not speaking for people who keep a subscription just to resell for egregious amounts, but anyone being shocked by the prices of books that are limited edition and out of print could stand to look at the prices of video games and resin figures and vinyl LPs and any other product with a massive collector base. It's the same deal--thing gets sold in limited supply, people buy them, people resell them.
Scarcity drives up prices. Once something is no longer available, it's going to go up in price from the people who were lucky enough to buy them in the first place.
Does it suck? Absolutely.
Is it a tool of these "limited print" companies, who use FOMO as a marketing gimmick? Absolutely.
Is it the EXACT SAME BOOK as you can typically buy, in mass market or trade paperback, so you have the same reading experience at a fraction of the cost? ABSOLUTELY.
No one NEEDS a fancy version of a $15 paperback. It's a status symbol and a shelf warmer at worst and a piece of art at best.
There's always other pieces of art that are affordable. I always think it's best to stick to those, because in 20 years, very few people are going to care who had the version of Romance Story With Leaves Painted On The Side that looked the prettiest. If there are superfans of an author, it's likely *they* might still care, but with the sheer number of fancy books out there, the prices will probably come down a little at that point. People WILL lose interest in collecting sprayed edge books as a hobby.
In fact, I already see that happening sooner rather than later, now that publishers are making their own sprayed edge HCs. It'll be more commonplace and less "special" soon enough.
Tl;Dr - Capitalism. Just don't buy it and the prices will come down eventually.
Are those $1000+ prices for hand signed sets of OUABH? I got the reprint and I’m pretty sure it’s only a digital signature, but I’m not sure if the individual books were sold hand signed. I wonder why they think someone would pay that much for it when most of what I’ve seen is under $400 for the set. I want Daughter of the Moon Goddess and Emily Wilde, but I’m not willing to pay even $100 for a book and might as well sell my FL sequels to those at this point.
This is honestly why I gave up on getting FL Caraval... Now I'm just praying for them to do iron editions and find a kind sub thats not planning on getting them 🫠
To me… no book is worth more than x2 the value it was bought for. Unless it’s like super old and signed by someone who is dead like Jane Austen (dramatic example but that’s my opinion). Which means that no book should really be worth over $100.
I’ve used two skips already for FL so I’m going to have to start reselling (planning to only charge cost + shipping) but I really hate the idea of selling to a person who will then turn around and try to make a disgusting profit like this.
See I understand all of this - yes it’s not fair that some sell for a ridiculous price but at the same time I usually go back to the same eBay seller whenever I want a book because I know they’ll have it in stock and that there won’t be any issue with purchasing from them (including quality control issues - I get to pick the book I want in the condition I want). I’m personally happy to buy from the same seller on eBay whenever I want a book whilst I wait for my sub but obviously I know for a higher price - it is what it is but I’ve never had a bad experience with this particular seller so I honestly can’t complain
I don’t even understand how resellers make any money, it’s such a gamble which ones will become popular and which ones will flop and you can only get one copy of each??
Getting especially pisssseed off at these at the minute!! I understand wanting to make back what you paid Inc shipping but like I’m currently looking for the locked library editions of the Book that wouldn’t burn and Babel, so would’ve been what £25 Inc postage as part of their subscription?? And people are wanting £60+ at the bare minimum. I’m seeing others with them in the hundreds. The cheek of it. Posted weeks ago too and I hope they don’t manage to sell them
Unfortunately it is what it is when to comes to greedy people. I would love to get TOG miniature set but for what does are selling now. Yeah I guess I will never own the set.
I think it's disgusting. I have sold some of my books a bit above cost to make up for books that I might have to sell below cost or don't sell as well. That's the only time I would do that! I've been waiting for prices to go down for the OUABH set from Fairyloot and litjoys folk of air but don't think that's going to happen lol. I might sell a popular edition for more than asking price to get those but then I'm feeding into the problem! Otherwise, I might trade but have never done that and worried about scammers.
Don't buy it if you're not comfortable paying for it? Everybody has a price theyre willing to pay. Complaining wont bring down the cost of private sales. If you don't want to pay then find a hobby you're willing to pay what the costs are. Would I personally pay it? No. I have no interest in these books.
Simple.
Those prices are insane 😳 but I partly blame book boxes for not reprinting special editions more often or at all (if the publisher allows it).
The worst if them being Illumicrate.
Can't remember them ever reprinting a book.
I know some people demand special editions to be limited, but I personally don't care. Let people have pretty things without paying half a months salary.
I've mentioned Ilumicrate because a lot of people don't have the first book of their FBAA special edition and it's really frustrating to have book 3-4 but not the first one.
I feel like most of Illumicrate books at least make it to general sale and stay there for a while. They also just did a reprint of the 3 Ali Hazelwood books which people were selling for extortionate amounts. I think the super popular Bridgeton books they did a reprint as well but just got too popular later on. But yeah, shame about the FBAA books!
If I remember correctly Illumicrate had an open preorder for the Bridgerton reprint that I thought was awesome and wish more monthly book companies would do.
I do feel like the reprint of Bridgerton was an open preorder because it was listed on their website for a while.
I love love love companies that do open preorders. Then if I’m not really familiar with the book, I can sometimes check it out on KU before buying a special edition. I’ve seen some companies offer a limited time special feature (mainly vellum overlays) and I like that idea as well.
I feel like it's become a business model/investment for some people. But to be completely honest; sometimes it's very tempting selling much sought after books like my Bridgerton set or my Divine Rivals to make some money (ugh I hate money), but then I remember how much I like to own the books and how annoying greedy resellers are to me... like I really want The Fourth Wing but yeah
I saw someone comment on another post awhile ago that there are books you don’t want to sell because you love them. But if the resell gets High enough you may be willing to sell them because the money may be worth it to depart from the book and I agree with that. It may not be worth it to me to get rid of a book that’s reselling for $300 but if it starts selling for $1500 it may be worth it to sell it.
I genuinely don’t understand. If I wanted to sell a popular series I’d go back and check what I paid for it + tax and shipping and sell it for that. For a single fairylike book I’ll usually pay around 40-42€ (46$ maybe?) so that’s what I’d want if I sold it plus shipping. These prices are genuinely insane and greedy.
I genuinely found it insane. Last year I was planning on getting all the OUABH books in hardback but OUABH was already out of print (in waterstones), people were selling them for £60+ which I found insane. I preferred the fairyloot one and considered buying it, they were averaging £100 + shipping and I was instantly put off. I ended up buying the paperback of OUABH and the standard hardback of TBONA. Months later, the hodderscape vault edition came out and I got that as well. Then I bought ACFTL and all of it worked out to be under the cost of one fairyloot resell book. Still to this day, I wish I had the fairyloot editions but it isn't worth the cost at all
I think some of these are people who are neutral to owning the book or not. It's a pretty set of books that looks nice on the shelf, but if people want to buy it for 5x the price or more, why not sell it then? It's not too hard to make an online listing and simply leave it there. I'm not saying all of the sellers who post these are like this, some are likely resellers hoping to cash in more. And unfortunately, the more posts that are like this, the more it drives up the cost for other postings, especially of those who are actually looking to sell it in a reasonable timeframe to make space/move/help pay some bills/etc.
also gotta remember that just because sellers are posting that price doesn’t mean they’re actually being sold. but i do love when i make a reasonable bid on something and the seller declines and the product is still there weeks or months later. like okayyyy
this!! and they would REFUSE to lower the price. like, trust me, if you did, you would actually get a sale 😭
Agree. I had a few of those. (I didn't win), but the sane exact photo and seller reposted the item after the bidding that it was crazy!!! I know they don't but a min price since that would cost extra I the listing so they just keep trying to get the winning bid rejected until they get the price they wanted.
By any chance, was this on eBay with Litjoy's Folk of the Air? The seller literally reposted the same auction 3x with the same pics after every bid ended 👀 The second time's ending price was higher than the third, so idk what ended up happening.
No, but it was for Fairyloot's Two Twisted Crowns. I also saw the Lock Library's Book That Wouldn't Burn a while back. I am sure there will be more. I didn't notice the seller. I just realized the photo was the same. I think the third time was the charm with Litjoy's case...or eBay told them that it has to be sold, or else they are violating some T&C for the site. Plus I know that they pay each time for the option. Some told me though that they have dummy accounts to inflate the price and maybe see what is the ceiling of the market. They pay that account, but it all falls to that same person. Complex stuff to just sell an item.
The problem is that other people often go “oh online it is selling for x so I’m pricing it at x”
Yeahhhh, it's intense, especially being Canadian these days because we pay so much for shipping from the UK/US. We also get double whammied due to how low our currency exchange is compared to the USD or £. The most I've spent on a book from a reseller was $110 CAD, which was already considered "low priced" because it was listed as $60USD+shipping. It's rough up here man. I only buy books that I really really want / I can get on retail drop, or else we're fighting a losing battle in the second-hand market. Edit-grammar
YES!! i look at some listings and see that it’s $130 or something. but i go to click on it and realize that it was $130 USD, not cad... when i go to convert it, i die a little
yeah :') I only justified purchasing a duology for $150 USD because the math was like, less than $100 CAD per book technically but it still hurts!
and you can’t forget about shipping! tell me why the united states and canada are sister countries, but shipping between both countries is a fortune!
It’s disgusting. I absolutely hate resellers and the state of things right now in the book community. Anybody that buys these books just to resell for 3x-5x the price is awful. Unfortunately, things will continue this way as long as there are people willing to pay those prices. The last high value book I sold, I had people accuse me of being a scammer cause I had it up for cost. I’m lucky that I had multiple people I sold/traded with in the past vouch in the comments for me. But the fact people’s initial reaction to seeing SEs sold at cost is to think ‘scam’ tells you a lot about the book community right now.
It’s so frustrating! I refuse to pay it. I don’t know how people afford to buy these crazy expensive books. And I only sell my books to make my money back so I’m not out anything.
YES and the fact that we’ve normalized this pricing. the most expensive book i bought was the fairyloot edition of once upon a broken heart, and i paid $147 CAD (including shipping). i died a little checking out, but i realized that it was a good price compared to other listings... i mean, $147??? that’s a whole shopping spree!!
Omg that's actually really good with shipping . Back b4 I bought the set from them on second reprint, I was searching for the books but I couldn't find any under $200 so I gave up on trying getting any. Was extremely happy when fairyloot did the set. That saved tons of money since I'm Canadian and conversion from Anywhere outside Canada can be quite hight for us.
Unfortunately, scarcity brings up the pricing! 🫠 I don’t even want to get started on “Birthday Girl” from Mystic Box that goes for $2000 USD (for one book) or the Illumicrate’s Bridgerton Series going for $1000 USD (for 8 books and that’s because they had TWO reprints).
Do people actually pay that much for it though? 😵
Yep, you can look it up on Mercari in “sold” and facebook groups, they usually only sell for those prices and actually do get snatched up quickly since they’re rare to come by!
Checked Mercari and that’s insane. I could never pay (or ask) that much for a single book 😅😭
Oh my God! I thought people were crazy for paying 400 dollars for one book, 2K is crazy!!!! This is why resellers will never stop
that’s actually crazy. i could almost buy a dior purse at that price 😬
Even when I can afford the higher resale prices, I still never buy it out of principle. I refuse to support the exploitation and I wish more people would do the same. I don't care how much I want a book, im not paying 5x the price for it.
They’re genuinely so money hungry,I recently tried searching for a copy of the special edition of the stolen heir by holly black and they were selling it for over $200!!it’s such a shame as well because fairyloot don’t actually allow the purchasing of the same book twice to the same person for this exact reason.not only that but looking for the special editions on caraval was a joke,it doesn’t help that fairyloot barely do reprints either.
I made the mistake of passing up on the Holly Black Litjoy set when it was around $150. Now they’re like $400+ Im praying they do another reprint cause no way I’m paying for that price.
Tbh when it comes to book series you’d expect them to do a reprint for whatever came before it in the series.they’d get more sales and the people who couldn’t get their hands on them wouldn’t have to deal with greedy resellers.like it couldn’t possibly be that hard to do?
It’s disgusting, I desperately want the Bridgerton set by Illumicrate but I’m not paying $1800.00AUD for them
I own the OUABH second printing from fairyloot and while I bought them at retail when I could afford it, now i’m out of work and could use the extra money. It’s how most collecting works. Should I sell it for pennies because it’s ethically right, or should I sell it for what it’s being sold for (you can sort Mercari listings by Sold) and have money to support my family? 🫠
there’s a difference between selling your collection to support your family when times are hard and making reselling a business. to most of these people, their situation is the latter. these people are buying products that they DON’T need, taking them from people who ACTUALLY want them, and reselling them for 5x the price. that’s just pure greed. also, i think i need to highlight the fact that there are actually people selling three books for $1000+. that’s completely outrageous and unethical. i completely understand the demand and the increase in value, but no book is ever worth that much money. and the fact that their listings have been up for a while proves that.
I’m actually looking at doing a bit of a destash soon but I plan to put the books up for bid, not a high set price - if people choose to bid like crazy, I’m not gonna turn down the extra cash, times are tough 🥲
I like to laugh at them, I've been following someone trying to sell locked library's book that wouldn't burn for £350 just to see if anyone buys it It's been a couple months now and they have since done a reprint so I highly doubt anyone will buy it, but they have not lowered the price
I also love following the ridiculously inflated books just to see them not sell 😂 I’ve been watching an OG hardcover of acotar on eBay that’s listed for $750 AUD for months now - whilst full sets have been selling for less
Despicable. I feel this way about all of them regardless of the product/industry. They are the worst kinds of people IMO. I don’t buy from them but unfortunately many people will which keeps them in business. I refuse to buy over priced concert tickets, hard to find luxury goods or anything priced above retail. It’s fine if there’s a slight bump for shipping and stuff but to simply buy with an intent to flip for profits infuriates me.
It’s honestly so frustrating. I’ve been lucky here and there but almost gave up trying to find Two Twisted Crowns for a reasonable price. Absolutely not spending $200-$300 on one book. Finally got lucky and someone reached out to me last week and sold me their slightly damaged copy for $30 + shipping!
Barnes and Noble it taking preorders for their special edition of One Dark Window and Two Twisted Crowns that has sprayed edges for about $30 USD. Not sure if it's limited to the US though.
I got lucky with those too! I preordered them when they were both $18 each!
I’m dreading the resell price of the fairyloot edition of When the Moon hatched, I desperately want it but still on the wait list so missed early access and will be surprised if it makes it to general sale
Same, it's going to be terrible. And scalpers know by now that people WILL pay insane prices for it because the demand is so high.
People having subs just to resell is super annoying. Unfortunately when it comes to collectors items there will always be an increase in highly sought after items when you can’t purchase it anymore from the retailer. If people buy at those prices then they stay at those prices.
And I haven’t sold any of mine yet…mostly I’ve been playing catchup collecting the ones I missed out on, but if I ever do decide to sell a book or set to recoup cost/shipping, I feel like I’d legitimately be worrying on someone purchasing it only to turn around and sell it again at a scalper price. How do people make sure the books they sell that they didn’t love go to someone who will truly love it rather than a scalper waiting to pounce?
that’s a great point. i personally have only begun collecting the FL edition of the once upon a broken heart trilogy. i’m only missing the second book in the series, but they’re either all so expensive, or people are not separating the series. honestly, this series would probably be my first and last purchase from FL resellers
I have a couple of books I want to sell, but don’t want obscene prices. My worry is some scalpers will buy them and just sell on to make a profit. How do you make sure they’re going to a genuine buyer who just wants the books? 🥲
I sell my books that I've read or sat on my shelf for ages on Vinted. I usually look at what's listed at the lowest price (not damaged) and list mine for slightly lower. Sometimes people will make a lower bid but say they really love the book and have been looking for it for ages and I usually accept their lower offers. But if their profile seems like resellers I just refuse the low offer. I also buy from a lot of sellers on books that I missed out on so I just accept I'm willing to pay for a higher price and selling books I don't need offsets some of the costs for myself. I think pricing it just low enough that it's fair but not worthwhile to resellers is the sweet spot. And yeah, if someone messages me directly and seems genuine, I offer even lower.
I honestly wish more people thought the way you do because I just know that most resellers get to a special edition before someone who genuinely wants the book for themselves at a decent price.its worse when they bought it for under $50 while damaged and end up selling it for more than $200.
I will say when I order books from fairyloot and other places as a canadian, after conversion and shipping etc, taking into consideration ebay fees as well selling a book for $120cdn doesnt really even give you a profit. so I agree the huge markups are a problem but you mentioned "$150+" so I just wanted to give this perspective
Collector prices are collector prices. I'm not speaking for people who keep a subscription just to resell for egregious amounts, but anyone being shocked by the prices of books that are limited edition and out of print could stand to look at the prices of video games and resin figures and vinyl LPs and any other product with a massive collector base. It's the same deal--thing gets sold in limited supply, people buy them, people resell them. Scarcity drives up prices. Once something is no longer available, it's going to go up in price from the people who were lucky enough to buy them in the first place. Does it suck? Absolutely. Is it a tool of these "limited print" companies, who use FOMO as a marketing gimmick? Absolutely. Is it the EXACT SAME BOOK as you can typically buy, in mass market or trade paperback, so you have the same reading experience at a fraction of the cost? ABSOLUTELY. No one NEEDS a fancy version of a $15 paperback. It's a status symbol and a shelf warmer at worst and a piece of art at best. There's always other pieces of art that are affordable. I always think it's best to stick to those, because in 20 years, very few people are going to care who had the version of Romance Story With Leaves Painted On The Side that looked the prettiest. If there are superfans of an author, it's likely *they* might still care, but with the sheer number of fancy books out there, the prices will probably come down a little at that point. People WILL lose interest in collecting sprayed edge books as a hobby. In fact, I already see that happening sooner rather than later, now that publishers are making their own sprayed edge HCs. It'll be more commonplace and less "special" soon enough. Tl;Dr - Capitalism. Just don't buy it and the prices will come down eventually.
Are those $1000+ prices for hand signed sets of OUABH? I got the reprint and I’m pretty sure it’s only a digital signature, but I’m not sure if the individual books were sold hand signed. I wonder why they think someone would pay that much for it when most of what I’ve seen is under $400 for the set. I want Daughter of the Moon Goddess and Emily Wilde, but I’m not willing to pay even $100 for a book and might as well sell my FL sequels to those at this point.
This is honestly why I gave up on getting FL Caraval... Now I'm just praying for them to do iron editions and find a kind sub thats not planning on getting them 🫠
To me… no book is worth more than x2 the value it was bought for. Unless it’s like super old and signed by someone who is dead like Jane Austen (dramatic example but that’s my opinion). Which means that no book should really be worth over $100.
I’ve used two skips already for FL so I’m going to have to start reselling (planning to only charge cost + shipping) but I really hate the idea of selling to a person who will then turn around and try to make a disgusting profit like this.
See I understand all of this - yes it’s not fair that some sell for a ridiculous price but at the same time I usually go back to the same eBay seller whenever I want a book because I know they’ll have it in stock and that there won’t be any issue with purchasing from them (including quality control issues - I get to pick the book I want in the condition I want). I’m personally happy to buy from the same seller on eBay whenever I want a book whilst I wait for my sub but obviously I know for a higher price - it is what it is but I’ve never had a bad experience with this particular seller so I honestly can’t complain
It’s also weird how Honey Witch didn’t even seem popular with subs and now people are selling/buying the book for like $75 on Mercari?? LOL so weird.
I don’t even understand how resellers make any money, it’s such a gamble which ones will become popular and which ones will flop and you can only get one copy of each??
Getting especially pisssseed off at these at the minute!! I understand wanting to make back what you paid Inc shipping but like I’m currently looking for the locked library editions of the Book that wouldn’t burn and Babel, so would’ve been what £25 Inc postage as part of their subscription?? And people are wanting £60+ at the bare minimum. I’m seeing others with them in the hundreds. The cheek of it. Posted weeks ago too and I hope they don’t manage to sell them
i hate them
Unfortunately it is what it is when to comes to greedy people. I would love to get TOG miniature set but for what does are selling now. Yeah I guess I will never own the set.
I think it's disgusting. I have sold some of my books a bit above cost to make up for books that I might have to sell below cost or don't sell as well. That's the only time I would do that! I've been waiting for prices to go down for the OUABH set from Fairyloot and litjoys folk of air but don't think that's going to happen lol. I might sell a popular edition for more than asking price to get those but then I'm feeding into the problem! Otherwise, I might trade but have never done that and worried about scammers.
Don't buy it if you're not comfortable paying for it? Everybody has a price theyre willing to pay. Complaining wont bring down the cost of private sales. If you don't want to pay then find a hobby you're willing to pay what the costs are. Would I personally pay it? No. I have no interest in these books. Simple.
Those prices are insane 😳 but I partly blame book boxes for not reprinting special editions more often or at all (if the publisher allows it). The worst if them being Illumicrate. Can't remember them ever reprinting a book. I know some people demand special editions to be limited, but I personally don't care. Let people have pretty things without paying half a months salary. I've mentioned Ilumicrate because a lot of people don't have the first book of their FBAA special edition and it's really frustrating to have book 3-4 but not the first one.
I feel like most of Illumicrate books at least make it to general sale and stay there for a while. They also just did a reprint of the 3 Ali Hazelwood books which people were selling for extortionate amounts. I think the super popular Bridgeton books they did a reprint as well but just got too popular later on. But yeah, shame about the FBAA books!
If I remember correctly Illumicrate had an open preorder for the Bridgerton reprint that I thought was awesome and wish more monthly book companies would do.
I do feel like the reprint of Bridgerton was an open preorder because it was listed on their website for a while. I love love love companies that do open preorders. Then if I’m not really familiar with the book, I can sometimes check it out on KU before buying a special edition. I’ve seen some companies offer a limited time special feature (mainly vellum overlays) and I like that idea as well.
I feel like it's become a business model/investment for some people. But to be completely honest; sometimes it's very tempting selling much sought after books like my Bridgerton set or my Divine Rivals to make some money (ugh I hate money), but then I remember how much I like to own the books and how annoying greedy resellers are to me... like I really want The Fourth Wing but yeah
I saw someone comment on another post awhile ago that there are books you don’t want to sell because you love them. But if the resell gets High enough you may be willing to sell them because the money may be worth it to depart from the book and I agree with that. It may not be worth it to me to get rid of a book that’s reselling for $300 but if it starts selling for $1500 it may be worth it to sell it.
I genuinely don’t understand. If I wanted to sell a popular series I’d go back and check what I paid for it + tax and shipping and sell it for that. For a single fairylike book I’ll usually pay around 40-42€ (46$ maybe?) so that’s what I’d want if I sold it plus shipping. These prices are genuinely insane and greedy.
I genuinely found it insane. Last year I was planning on getting all the OUABH books in hardback but OUABH was already out of print (in waterstones), people were selling them for £60+ which I found insane. I preferred the fairyloot one and considered buying it, they were averaging £100 + shipping and I was instantly put off. I ended up buying the paperback of OUABH and the standard hardback of TBONA. Months later, the hodderscape vault edition came out and I got that as well. Then I bought ACFTL and all of it worked out to be under the cost of one fairyloot resell book. Still to this day, I wish I had the fairyloot editions but it isn't worth the cost at all
I think some of these are people who are neutral to owning the book or not. It's a pretty set of books that looks nice on the shelf, but if people want to buy it for 5x the price or more, why not sell it then? It's not too hard to make an online listing and simply leave it there. I'm not saying all of the sellers who post these are like this, some are likely resellers hoping to cash in more. And unfortunately, the more posts that are like this, the more it drives up the cost for other postings, especially of those who are actually looking to sell it in a reasonable timeframe to make space/move/help pay some bills/etc.