MEMBER DESK
IOBA

SALES AIDS
April 16, 2026
SELLING ON IOBA TRADEBOOKS
As many of you know, I post somewhat prolifically on IOBA's Tradebooks listserv. I've noticed over the years that relatively few members post on Tradebooks and I've never really understood why. We all have books to sell, and it is a worthwhile venue to sell them…
SALES AIDS
November 19, 2024
iPhone Photography for Booksellers
Presented by Ed Lefkowicz
In this visual culture, great photos will help you sell books, manuscripts, and ephemera. This webinar will help you up your photographic game using just your iPhone. (And if you have an Android phone, don't worry—this webinar applies to either platform.)
Topics…
KNOWLEDGE BASE
August 20, 2021
Useful Links
A part of our collective knowledge comes from knowing how to makes use of the wide variety of resources that are now available on the Internet. This note will list some of those sources of information related to books and bookselling.
FEdPo.com: First Edition Criteria and…
KNOWLEDGE BASE
August 20, 2021
Bookjacking
[Andrew Langer, Andrew Langer, Bookseller (Editor)]: Bookjackers are a part of the world of Internet selling for booksellers. These are sellers that work with data describing books and not with the books themselves. They use databases with basic information about books and use automated pricing to offer…
SALES AIDS
August 27, 2021
Garry Austin's Guidelines for using Trade Lists to SELL books
Editor's Note:
I first met Garry at the 2013 edition of the Colorado Antiquarian Bookselling School. He was from the opposite side of our country and very much seemed to know what he was doing. We struck up a conversation that lasted on occasion until his…
CATALOGUING AIDS
January 13, 2023
Watermark identification using catalogs, databases, and library holdings
A watermark is a distinguishing mark or design incorporated in paper during the making. The mark may be incorporated by die impression or rolling, or by variation in the mesh used for making laid paper. The mark varies in thickness and is thus translucent and visible when…
REGULATORY
March 7, 2022
US HARMONIZED TARIFF CODES FOR BOOKSELLERS
The following quick guide to the codes most likely to be used by booksellers has been provided by Nathan Barker of Kayleigh Books. Before he was a bookseller, Nathan was a licensed import/export broker so if you have questions not answered below, he has offered to…
CATALOGUING AIDS
June 23, 2026
Special Character Keys
The Easy Way to Insert Special Characters into Your Descriptions
Booksellers frequently encounter accented letters, ligatures, fractions, currency symbols, and other typographic characters in titles, author names, publishers, and bibliographic descriptions. Entering these characters correctly improves accuracy, professionalism, and searchability in online catalogues and marketplaces.
The…