Buying Inventory on the Internet from Overseas Dealers

For many years, I was reluctant to purchase books from overseas dealers. Not speaking any foreign languages, I assumed it would be a nightmare communicating with them, figuring out the exchange rates, and arranging for shipment. What convinced me to try buying from overseas was my experience selling books to international buyers. Almost as soon as I opened my online bookstore, I began receiving inquiries from overseas clients. Working through these transactions convinced me that the international book market was both accessible and reliable. It was not long before I started buying internationally. I now have done so frequently without a hitch.

For those of you who have been hesitant to buy from overseas dealers, I offer below a few tips to guide you through the process. With the weak dollar, it may not be the best time for Americans to be spending money abroad. Nevertheless, there is a wide variety of material readily available in Europe and elsewhere that cannot be easily found in the United States. If you have not yet explored overseas book listings, I suggest that they are worth further investigation.

As you probably know from your experience with the major online marketplaces and meta search engines, searching for books on the international book market does not differ much from searching the inventory of U.S. dealers. When using a service such as AddALL or viaLibri be sure that, on the initial search screens, you include international resources in your preference list. The only challenging part is what to do with overseas listings once you find them, particularly the ones written in foreign languages.

When I first started buying internationally, I limited myself to dealers who listed their inventory in English. I ignored the foreign language listings as if they did not even exist. But then, on a foray into a used book store in small town in southwest Virginia, I stumbled onto a reference book issued by the American Library Association called The Language of the Foreign Book Trade: Abbreviations, Terms, Phrases. I snapped it up and began trying to make sense of some German and French listings that I thought might be interesting. This worked passably well until a friend introduced me to the wonders of the free translator service available on www.dictionary.com. (Under the heading “Other Languages,” click on the link for “Translator: Translate Text Instantly.”) Using this program, you can instantly translate foreign language listings by copying the listing text and dropping it into the translator program. Designate what language the listing is in and into what language you want it translated. Within seconds, you will have a fairly legible translation of the text. Gaps can generally be filled in with the ALA guide.

So, what do you do once you have translated the listing and decided you want the book? What if you have questions about the condition or are wondering about the possibility of a dealer discount? As it turns out, a large number of overseas booksellers do speak English even though their listings are in their native language. Thus, you might want to send an email in English to see if you get a response. Another option is to type your questions into the translator program in English and then ask it to translate your text into whatever language you need. You then copy the translated inquiry into an email. I generally include a copy of my inquiry in English in case that might help. To my knowledge, I have not yet offended anyone.

At this point, currency issues may be on your mind. While most listing sites will provide prices in various currencies, things can get complicated when you are negotiating discounts or attempting to combine shipping on multiple volumes. Again, the internet offers an easy solution. There are numerous online currency converters that, for no charge, convert foreign currencies into U.S. dollars and vice versa. Google and Yahoo both offer this service, as do numerous banks and financial websites.

Next come questions of shipping and customs. To my surprise, neither has turned out to be a major impediment. International shipping is often fairly reasonable if you are not in a rush to obtain the item. If a listed shipping fee seems high, ask the dealer to determine if there are alternative methods of transport that might be more reasonable or if there is a discount for multiple purchases. I have even had luck asking a dealer in Zurich to obtain books from other local dealers so that he could combine shipping in one package. Moreover, I have never been directed to pay a tariff nor had any trouble getting packages through customs. (My casual reading of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule posted on the website of the U.S. International Trade Commission suggests that printed books are generally duty free, but I am no expert. Questions can be directed to your local U.S. Customs office.)

Finally, there is the issue of remuneration. Rest assured, paying for international purchases need not pose any additional stress if you are able to pay with a credit card or PayPal. Be aware, though, that there might be a fee involved. Contact your credit card company or PayPal for specific details.

Ellen Firsching Brown operates Liberty Hall Books out of Richmond, VA and can be contacted at http://www.libertyhallbooks.com.

Time and Again: A Fraudulent Book Purchase on Ebay

Jack Finney’s novel, Time and Again, subtitled An Illustrated Novel, is one of his fantasy-like visions of time travel. The book was published by Simon and Schuster in 1970 and was quite successful. It went into many printings and was also widely distributed as a Book of the Month Club (BOMC) selection. The true first printing was apparently produced in a small print run, and it is relatively rare in collectible condition. The production was not of high quality, and the dust jacket is prone to sun fade and tanning. The book was often passed around among different readers. Most copies offered for sale have a variety of problems and are most often described as “Very Good” at best.

As I write this article, there are three copies offered on IOBAbooks, all BOMC printings, and there are about 25 copies offered on Biblio, with two or three of these possibly being true first printings. On ABE there appear to be about 80 copies offered, with perhaps 30 or so of these being true first printings. Listing prices for the first printings range from $100 to $750. I also noted an identified BOMC copy offered on eBay for $150!

The reason I am not certain how many true firsts are offered is that the BOMC copies are extremely similar to the trade first printing, and are often misrepresented as collectible first editions. The BOMCs state “First Printing” on the copyright page with a price of $7.95 at the bottom of the front dust jacket flap. However, the BOMC books were blind stamped on the bottom of the rear board near the spine. Thus, the BOMC book is identical to the first printing, except for the small, square blind stamp.

The true first printing dust jacket states at the bottom of the front flap, “…Fifth Avenue from 34th to 14th—is enchanted….” This error was corrected in later trade editions to read, “…Broadway from 23rd to 8th—is enchanted by…." All BOMC copies that I have seen carry the corrected text. The jacket of the BOMC version identifies it as a BOMC copy with “BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH-CLUB* SELECTION” in red text at the top of the front flap and a trademark statement at the bottom of the front flap. The BOMC jacket also carries the statement “BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH” at the top of the back flap. BOMC jackets are numbered 1521 at the bottom right of the back panel, while trade printing jackets are numbered 20497.

Because of these similarities, many internet BOMC copies are listed in error, or sometimes purposefully, as “First Printing stated” or “Price of $7.95 present on the jacket.” Any listing that does not state directly that the copy is a BOMC version, or note that the ubiquitous blind stamp is, or is not, present, should be considered suspect. In this new age of internet caveat emptor, an interested buyer should ask questions before purchasing an expensive copy of this title.

A purchase on eBay:

Sadly, I sometimes don’t follow my own advice. I wanted to obtain a true first of this title for my own library and was browsing eBay auctions in February 2004 when I noticed:

“Jack Finney TRUE FIRST Time and Again

“Condition: Very Good Book with Very Good Dust jacket. Light staining and tanning to page edges due to age.

“Attributes: TRUE First of Jack Finney’s classic tale of time travel….”

As part of the listing, there was a single photograph of the front of the book in jacket.

There was little time left in the auction, and I decided to take a chance, putting in a bid that eventually won the book. But when the $110 “true first” arrived, I could not believe what had been sent. It was a fake; a fabrication that married parts from several different copies of the book.

The boards and spine were dirty, the cloth was worn through to the boards on the bottom edges, and there were old tape marks indicating that a dust jacket had been taped to the book at some time in the past, as if from a library copy. The boards were from a trade printing, since there was no blind stamp present. The text block was clean and white and apparently from a much more recent club version. So it appears that the boards and spine from an ex-library copy had been married to the text block from a different BOMC copy of the book. The paste downs and end papers were white, rather than mustard yellow, but with the original yellow paste downs visible around the bottom edges of the replacements. The top page edges were not stained yellow, as they should have been with either a true first or early BOMC copy.

The jacket was correct for the true first printing but had obviously been married to the faked book. There were no indications that the jacket on the book had at one time been taped to the boards. Thus, I concluded that the strange book that arrived was constructed purposefully as a fake. I e-mailed the seller about the problems and my concerns. His reply and only explanation:

“I never took the dust jacket off of this one, so I don’t know about any of the tape marks or staining. I bought the book from (name deleted) a few months ago, and was just listing it to trim my collection a bit.”

The seller did not address the issue of the text block from another book being married to old boards that were free of the damning BOMC blind stamp. He did, however, offer a full refund, if I wanted to return the book. I decided to keep it, since it is the most bizarre book that has ever shown up in my mailbox. I also thought that I should share this strange tale of the faked “true first” of Time and Again with fellow booksellers.

Final thoughts and a question:

Many books listed on eBay and many other internet venues are poorly described and/or misrepresented, either due to the seller’s ignorance or as a deliberate attempt to scam potential buyers. I often check listings and auctions for Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea and Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. These two titles continue to produce a large percentage of internet listings that misrepresent the books actually up for sale as first printings. Most of us are also aware that signatures are sometimes (frequently?) forged on highly collectible books, as their value is much inflated by a rare signature.

However, the obvious question related to the fake described here is why would someone go to such lengths to fabricate a fraudulent book that at most would have a selling price of a couple hundred dollars? It is certainly a bibliomystery to me.

Bob Maddox operates Squid Ink Books out of Tucson, AZ and can be contacted at http://www.squidinkbooks.com.

Bruce Gventer of B&S Gventer Books and Ephemera and babf Promotions

Hi Bruce. Thanks for discussing the ins, outs, ups and downs of organizing book fairs. Before we get into it, can you tell us a little about your early background?

I was working in the high tech industry in NYC in the late 70s when we moved to Berkshire County, MA where there was no high tech industry yet. I was looking for a career, saw a store for rent in South Egremont for $75 a month, and decided I should be able to sell something to cover the rent. Both my wife Sue and I loved books, so we decided to try selling used books. We were new to the book world and bought every used book we came across, including many non-sellable items, which was a good lesson in what to never purchase again. Every summer we had a huge tent sale. We did a great deal of reading/research and attending book auctions religiously in order to learn the business. After two years we discovered book fairs, and after the first show we learned that you could, in fact, make a living at this if you put yourself where there are more people than are found in an isolated rural town.

Tell us about your specialties as a bookseller.

After three years we built a book barn on our property in South Egremont. Our first specialty was 19th century hand colored illustrated books, as I was intrigued by the amount of individual labor involved in the process. Our next specialty became medieval manuscript pages, sparked by the discovery of a page priced at $300 at a book fair on Long Island. After this aroused my curiosity, I met Nick Pavlov, who explained that the item I had noticed was an original page from the Johannes Gutenberg Bible worth close to $10,000. I made an appointment to visit Nick at his home in order to view his collection. I convinced my wife to join me, worried that I could/would easily spend all of our money on these intense individualized works of art, where as many as four people could be responsible for the writing, the artwork, and the gold leafing/drawing on one single page. While reviewing the pages with Sue, she began creating a small pile and a large pile, and I soon discovered that the larger pile were those most to her liking. Interestingly enough, I spent more money by bringing my wife than I would have if I had gone alone. I now specialize in Antiphonal pages as well.

While I now boast a broad range of specialties including children’s books, cookbooks, art and architecture, and engravings and maps, with the addition of my new partner D. Curto and her genuine interest in vintage documents, photographs, comic books etc., ephemera has also become a great and interesting specialty of the business.

May we assume that you have participated in book fairs early on strictly as a seller and found some were run better than others?

I have exhibited at as many as 30 shows in one given year, and find them to be run on many different levels.

How did you get into the book fair promotion part of the business?

The managers of the Stockbridge Antiquarian Book Fair were retiring and approached me to continue the show. I realized that my best sales came from show exhibitions, and as I also did not want to lose that show, I took it over.

Do you maintain a table at your own book fairs?

One of the main reasons that I promote book fairs is so that I have places to sell from.

What were some of your greatest buys ever at book fairs?

I consistently shop at book fairs and have owned some of the rarest items for sometimes only minutes at a time before they were purchased from me. The best thing I ever found was an Egyptian Papyrus from 1500 BC at a small show in Cazenovia, NY.

What states do you work in?

From the beginning, I always exhibited/promoted in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine. I later added New Jersey.

In 2006, due to her interest and excitement in the business, my new partner began exhibiting for me at paper shows in Pennsylvania and antique shows in Atlanta, North Carolina, Washington, D.C. and Texas. She then began buying in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and the Carolinas on her way home.

Roughly how many fairs have you produced over the years?

Close to 100 shows since 1985. Some shows were dropped and others were added.

Is the business financially self-sustaining?

While selling books and ephemera can be profitable, one is constantly putting money out in order to replace inventory. In the promotion business there can be a lot of risks involved. One show might make a profit and another might endure a loss.

Why and how did GABF beget babf?

Actually the first business was Berkshire Antiquarian Book Fairs which I named babf when I produced outside of the Berkshires in Litchfield, Connecticut and Portland, Maine. GABF started later as the Greenwich Connecticut Antiquarian Book Fair when I took on a partner and began NYC book fairs as GABF/babf Promotions. Last year I dissolved the GABF partnership and took on D. Curto as a new partner with babf Promotions.

What does a Creative Director bring to the tables, as it were?

D. Curto came to me in 2006, when I was in the process of designing a website and considering the internet for additional business. I placed an ad to have someone research and input the book related information online, and D. was in the process of recreating herself and her lifestyle in order to care for her mother back here in NY. Ironically, after meeting D., we never completed the internet process.

With over 30 years as a visual merchandiser, D. first began her own business of window display as “Definitely D” in the Bronx. In the late 80s she moved to Florida where she began working for the likes of Jacobson’s Stores, Saks Fifth Avenue and the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, where she produced window displays, fashion shows, high end events and innovative floral designs as a freelance artist. She also worked as marketing director and public relations manager for a major real estate developer in Florida, producing ground breaking events (and even book fairs) while designing brochures and promotional items for the company. D. joined Neiman Marcus in 2000 as a Visual Presentation Manager in Tampa, and was later promoted to the Neiman Marcus flagship store in Dallas, TX. The question should read what doesn’t D. Curto, my Creative Director, bring to the table?

As Creative Director for babf antiquarian book and ephemera events, working full time either onsite or from her private design studio, D. is responsible for executing creative direction, art direction and team strategy; determining event site location and event production needs; overall direction, strength, profile, output, and excellence of the company, as well as the tone and quality of company interactions and collaborations; and creative management and development for babf Promotions, designing promotional and marketing/advertising materials and consulting on www.bookfairs.com web design.

Your shows (whoops…fairs) have a reputation for elegance. How is this achieved?

It is a “show” by all means of the word, but books always seems to make it a book “fair!” We remain conscious of and careful not to confuse the customer, who has seen the word “fair” for a long time now. Elegance came with the arrival of D. Curto. When we met, D. became so absorbed in the presentation side of the business that she basically took it over. After walking through and shopping my booth, my regular clients would then ask me if in fact this was my booth. D. truly has the ability to create and present things in an alluring manner. With my shows promotion and her organization skills and show production background we have produced great results. The first thing she mentioned (after seeing the different colored tablecloths that each vendor would bring to my shows) was that we needed to provide uniform tablecloths ourselves for consistency. She then added a champagne service, floral decorations, and most recently, a harpist as an added touch of, well, elegance. Obviously I am very happy to have D. Curto “behind the curtain.”

How does one buy or take over an existing book fair?

I am typically approached by other show managers due to the fact that I have been in the business for over 20 years. They appreciate that I come from the book selling aspect of the business, which just helps/works overall.

How do “satellite” book fairs work? Don’t they present some negatives for the more established fair?

While the book world has its competitive aspects, I like to think that we can do better when the customer gets caught up in the options and combination of shows exhibiting simultaneously. We have actually hired buses in order to transport book shoppers from our shows to other shows and of course from their shows to ours, as a customer courtesy.

Bruce, take us on an impressionistic journey through a typical fair as if you were explaining it to somebody who has never attended one, from the time you are the first one through the doors until you finally leave two or three days later.

Months and months precede the preparation of a successful event. D. is constantly researching marketing and presentation standards/options, while I am constantly referencing my past contacts/resources (over 20 years of a collected client database and knowledge of the book world). From load-in day through the end of the show, with D. now on board, we are reinventing the process as we speak, so maybe I can better address this in the future!

Who do you usually work with when booking a venue?

I used to work with all the same people/processes/locations, however D. now insists on visual appeal combined with location, location, location. Our last show took place in a beautiful loft, most commonly used for weddings and high end events/fashion shows. With Hunter College, our most recently acquired venue, D. was adamant about the location, even though with a gymnasium she has given herself quite the challenge. I utilized my book world contacts in order to open some (let’s just say) “closed” doors, so we have a great location, and it will cost us to give it visual appeal.

The logistics of organizing a book fair must be mind boggling, particularly in New York City. How do you do it? What things do you have to take care of?

Parking is the ultimate nightmare, and the exhibitor load-in process can sometimes be exhausting and difficult. D. has this amazing ability to network, partner and build relationships. We will produce this upcoming show with all of that and more in place.

What about insurance?

We buy show management insurance for each production.

Amid the fine wares, scholarship, mentoring, and pockets of humility at a high-end book fair, there is a good deal of puffery, one-upmanship, and even the occasional obfuscation. What are the most common complaints booksellers are apt to make about each other?

My approach is to always build support and I consistently try not to partake in any of the drama and cajoling so to speak. I have always had a reputation for being fair and considerate in both my pricing and in my business, and D. is the queen of diplomacy and consideration, always attempting to please everyone. At our show last April, she asked that I turn the air conditioning on and off every ten minutes, and we took turns doing so because some exhibitors were cold and some were hot! As both exhibitors and as show promoters in most cases, if you care about people, they tend to try (at least) to care back.

What are the most common customer complaints?

Customers always want new product or new exhibitors, and diversity. They are not happy if they come though the door and cannot find something/anything to add to their collection. They all want to get in there and get it before someone else does!

You receive many accolades and compliments, and things usually go splendidly, but what are some of the worst specific things that ever happened at your fairs?

For some reason, it is always about the parking and exhibitor load-in or load-out process. The shows/fairs typically go well for the most part. We try to run the shows so that if problems arise, no one actually knows that there are any problems.

I started doing book shows before the online revolution and found this to be an invaluable learning experience. As one small example, I was swarmed for under priced bargains at my first show, and later raided newbies myself before the opening bell for the same reason. Even today, aspiring booksellers in many parts of the country can find entry-level shows that will provide a more rounded experience. For awhile there the internet was hurting buyer and seller attendance at the better shows, partly because there are fewer greatly underpriced bargains to be had, and partly because it can be easier and less expensive to buy and sell from home. Has this leveled off?

While I did attempt to join the online revolution, I never left the book fair market. I actually refused to get caught up in the frenzy. While many people capitalized online, I stood fast to the idea that I, as a buyer, always wanted to see, touch and feel the product. I found most of my customers agreed, and they remained in the market and at the fairs. There are others who do quite well online and enjoy the armchair opportunity to shop/search.

One can never be too sure where it will go or end up, but there will always be an individual approach to the process itself, which will hopefully sustain us all at some level. I still have plans to get my product online and on my website to encourage additional sales. It is my understanding that some dealers had a very difficult time with the online revolution, but I believe it is all in the understanding, concept and approach. You have to keep up both the buying side and the selling side, both in person and online. I have noticed that many exhibitors have returned to my book fairs from the online world.

What fairs do you have coming up in 2008?

Visit our website at www.bookfairs.com for all of not only our upcoming show promotions, but those of other management companies as well.

Thanks again for your time and insights Bruce. I’ll stop in and buy something from you the next time I pass through the lovely town of South Egremont. Probably an illuminating book rather than one of those illuminated pages.

Bruce Gventer operates B&S Gventer Books and Ephemera in, and babf out of, South Egremont, MA and can be contacted at http://www.bookfairs.com.

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