From the Current Bookthinker

I like reading the BookThinker articles, because many of them reinforce my buying policies and philosophy. Thanks to The BookThinker for permitting the reprinting of their copyright material:
 
 An ad popped up on craigslist for a professor's library priced at $32,000. I don't always respond to craigslist ads that feature interesting books because many times you almost have to call before the ad appears - if you know what I mean. But a library priced at $32,000? Seemingly, this would put many other booksellers out of the running, so I called. The professor's nephew was selling the library, and I arrived at his house about mid-morning. Boxes were stacked everywhere, filling a dining room and a living room, and after a few minutes investigating some of them, two things were clear: One, the professor's field of study had been psychology, and two, if the collection was worth $32,000, there had to be a $30,000 book hiding in one of the boxes. I took my scanner out of my pocket, and for the next 10 or 15 minutes, showed him in black and white what we were dealing with. I sensed that he wasn't convinced that he wasn't sitting on a gold mine and subsequently learned that he had previously found several textbooks that he had taken to a college bookstore and sold for considerable amounts - thus the high price for the remaining books.

Anyway, he suggested I look through the books in more depth, and meanwhile, he would go outside and drink a beer! I did find a few interesting items - some Ayn Rand books that were at least marketable, etc. - but nothing that would persuade me to offer him more than $1,000 for everything, figuring into this that I would have to move and dispose of perhaps 3/4 of the books there - and in any case I wasn't about to insult him with an offer. I would just tell him that I couldn't come close to meeting his price.

Of course, he insisted on knowing what I would offer him, and to make a long story short, by the time I left he was down to $8,000. An hour later he called with a "final" offer of $6500 and free delivery. But he wasn't done! More calls followed in the ensuing days, one to inform me that a bookselling friend/competitor had been there after me, apparently exhibiting much more patience than I had and even going so far as to organize the books into categories - though they couldn't reach a deal either. So it wasn't just the burden of educating him; it was being gamed by him too, even though he continued to drop his price. I stopped answering the phone during a party on Memorial Day. It seemed like the right time to put a lid it.

More and more I pass on stuff from "project" sellers now - i.e., where there's a great divide between asking price (because the seller needs to be educated) and what I will pay. As I set out to illustrate last week, there's something to be said for following the path of least resistance.