Book Board Chat

DIane, the Alamo being right in town was so different from what I imagined!

Thanks Diane,...we've been to Alamo & RIverwalk a number of times (pretty close to Austin)...White Sands is something we might be interested in, I will have to research a little!

Anyone else? suggestions?

good afternoon.....
tv watching....not much....I hardly ever see a series until it is on reruns during the day, and not too often then.....I read most nights, while DH watches whatever he wants (we only have 1 tv, that's how little I care!!!) In the daytime I sit on the couch, laptop open, writing listings, and the tv drones on more for background company than actual entertainment. RIght now it is on the history channel, and some military stuff is on (I see "dogfighting" in WWI) though I am not really following it....

ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!!!! Yayyy! I am flying to Austin next week, and will be driving with my best friend to San Diego.....The route pretty much follows I-10, and we want to have fun along the way, not just mindnumbing drivedrivedriving..... Anyone know fun stuff we will be passing, or within striking distance of I-10??? through TX, NM or AZ near the interstate? When I moved to UT 7 years ago, she and I drove here,,,,,we went to Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, and trilobite hunting along the way, stayed in the TeePee Motel on Route 66, etc.....Suggestions welcomed...

good morning...
interesting, Jim, about the destrier war horse (I will look it up as soon as I finish this post.) One "learned from a book" tidbit I gleaned was also about horses...The Log of a Cowboy by Andy Adams taught me the word and meaning of remuda. From Wikipedia here is a definition "During the historic cattle drive era, each cowboy required about six horses on a cattle drive, switching the animals daily or even twice daily. Thus, the spare horses must be kept close to the cattle herd and moved along with the cattle so as to be available to riders as needed. The horses graze whenever possible along the way and at night in order to obtain adequate forage. The herd of spare horses was given the name remuda."
BTW, "THE LOG OF A COWBOY has long been considered the best and most reliable account of real cowboy life ever written", I enjoyed it very much...reading about the old cattle drives, etc....

Good morning,
I am still selling books....some good months, some bad months....NOv/Dec were great for me....Jan. ok, Feb not so great so far...Ooops, I forgot to add that I am lumping all of my sales together when considering a "good" or "bad" month...as I sell more then just books. In fact, 20% of my inventory (other stuff) probably accounts for a larger percentage of my sales...I have mostly books listed, but sometimes I look at the items with bids and it will be all non-books!

An observation from FLD's....I moved a lot of my inventory from FPL to auctions.....some for 1 day, some for 3, some 5 and some 7 day listings, so I would have something ending most nights. Almost exactly the same percentage sold whether it was listed for 1 day, 3, 5, or for 7! I think people just look at what is ending soonest ...(that is not too clear....One day listings sold the same percentage of books as the 7 day listings did.) In fact, having them on for 7 days may be counterproductive for average items....I may auction one or 3 days, then put them in the store!

oh, I meant to mention a favorite birding moment of the past 6 months.....My brother was visiting Utah, and he and I went down to Zion and Bryce...We watched California Condors in Zion National Park, once very, very close to extinction, soaring on thermals....I lay on the ground, looking up, and was thrilled to be able to see them "in the wild".....

wellingtonct: Yes, grabbers are nice.....my husband is 6'2, and frequently stores things out of my reach! Grabbers are handy!

Good morning...thanks for the replies abt the mil. manuals. I am checking, because I am already in trouble with eBay for a "copyright violation" or some such thing. I have been selling rhinestone pins that simply say "Who Dat" for a couple of years (bought them at a freight damage/insurance claim/overstock local outlet). Seems there is a company called "Who Dat Inc" that reported me, saying they own rights to the phrase, so eBay ended my auction and hit me with a policy violation. I have to be good until mid April before I get another strike. ....Funny, because the NFL was suing them (WhoDat Inc) a year or two ago, and dropped the suit because the phrase was basically public domain (for non-football fans, the N O Saints fans are the Who Dat nation!) ....Gee, maybe I should copyright "Amen" and sue all the churches.

The mil. manuals do not say "declassified", they are period copies, from the estate of a WWII soldier.

The Vincent Price cookbook was once a really hot item. I have sold several copies, including an autographed one. Haven't seen one in a while.

Looks like no one is around......just my luck!!!
grano: I agree, "portion size" on prepared soup is ridiculous....It assumes you are going to have a salad, a sandwich, and maybe a taste of soup....If your whole meal is going to be soup....the portion will be much larger than they give the #'s for...disguising the vast amt of sodium, you will REALLY consume!...Homemade soup is far better for you, where you can control the salt, fat, etc.....I bet your tomato soup is delish!
Madonna/Super Bowl......I though the production was just too overwhelming,...I personally don't like the extravaganzas, except where "appropriate" (Vegas, maybe!)....When I buy tickets to a concert, I don't want to pay for a huge "show"...I just want to see and hear the singer sing...not huge sets, wardrobe changes, coutless backup dancers, fireworks, etc etc etc...They drive the cost of tickets WAY up, and all I want is a simple live performance. Went to a Jackson Browne concert a year or two ago, just him, a piano, some guitars.....awesome.

A book question, maybe for military guys....I have several WWII "restricted" manuals (weapons, etc) and want to list them...and see plenty of them listed on eBay. I know the material is mostly obsolete....but I want to be sure the manuals have been declassified/unrestricted, or whatever you call it before I list them. How can I find out? Is there a list? or a statute of limitations????

Hello all....Thanks Clem, for the reminder abt Bookboard chat....I long since forgot PW and had to reset...I hope all is well, I have not even read the board for months, so am not up to date on everyone's lives....
I was thinking abt Briguy today, as last weekend I purchased a stamp dealers hoarde...Probably all common stuff, but I wouldn't know a "sleeper" if it jumped up and bit me! Bookwise, I am finding sales are slow....and am disappointed tht ebay is giving NON store subscribers a FLD with up to 50,000 free listings today....I am wondering how my store listings will be found amonst all of that!

glad that you are painting, furtima! You are so talented...and need to express that talent!

1 cent listing day.....I have been sitting here listing a selection of vintage hankies.....I purchased a BUNCH at a recent estate sale...gorgeous, many embroidered, monograpms, florals, etc....Though many old hankies do not sell....these have never been used, and were so nice that i figured they are worth a little effort and a penny! Trying to do similar types....a couple of embroidered state souvenir hankies listed, and several embroidered violets hankies.....and some adorable embroidered cpid hankies...Who knows...maybe I will find a new genre to list! My book income sure needs a supplement!

good morning...

1 cent listing day...I moved some store items over ...but will leave most of them in the store, as only 1 week of the 1 month listing period is up for them....meaning, that I would essentially be giving up 4 cents of the store listing fee ...plus relisting the vast majority of them in another week...again for 5 cents....sorta making it "ten cent listing day"....I only sent to the store the ones that are nearing the end of the 30 day cycle they were on.

bethvt: Hmmmm, I don't know what to think of the doctor's email! I am very, very, lucky to have a doctor I really like....and he pretty much does that already, without the extra fee. DH works with a lot of MD's, and took a list of doctors on our insurance plan to work and showed it to one of the dr's there. Larry marked checks by a lot of the names, but circled one particular name and put stars by it....so I naturally chose that doctor! He is not in a "rush" when he sees you, asks "are you happy" as well as checks for physical problems, but has his email addy on his card. I recently got a HORRIBLE contact dermititis on both sides of my neck and forearms....and he saw me the day I called (rather in a panic, as I had gotten a tick on me when hiking the previous week, and rashes are symptomatic of several tick-borne diseases). Turns out that the brand new u-shaped pillow I purchased in the airport gift shop for my flight home had WHO KNOW WHAT kind of dyes or chemicals, and my neck looked like flesh eating bacteria had taken hold! It was improving, but was got re-inflamed after the end of the meds, so I emailed him on a Thurs night. Friday morning he answered my mail. I emailed back, and within a few hours had emailed me again, and called my druggist to refill my Rx. My neck is much better.
The nurse takes my BP when I get there, but he usually checks it again himself when he is talking to me, and it is invariably lower....He simply has a very calming, caring demeanor...and is an excellent physican.

Back to listing....

Beth...an EXCELLENT suggestion! Duh! I will certainly do that next time, as it will keep the 99 cents ones from creeping in...What would really be nice is if they defaulted to your FPL price, as that is obviously what you want for them!

Jim; I, too, rarely give up on a book....but sometimes you just have to.

owdy folks...Just a couple of observations about pricing. Remember the old days when auctions were auctions, and no last minute snipes meant folks actually had to BID? Well, it is very, very, very important to price items properly now....as multiple bids rarely happen...When moving items from FPL to auction, the default automatically changes all of your listings to a 99 cent opening bid and a BIN of you FP price. Last week, I moved approx 1000 items over from my store on the 1 cent listing day, and had to edit them one-by-one to get rid of the 99 cent opening bid. You can imagine I was punchy and blind by the end of the diting session, and some slipped by...I went back and re-edited, but one had a bid. OK, I could have cancelled it, but decided to let it ride and see what happened. You guessed it. It sold for 99cents and I lost money. I also sold a book that I had in my store for 49.99. When I moved it, I guess the the 9 did not register, and it listed for $4.99....and ended at a little over $6. Another bargain for someone, and a loss for me. The moral of this story is, DO NOT COUNT ON MULTIPLE BIDS .....Although they MAY happen, it is more likely that your item will end at , or near, the listing price!

good morning...
I switched almost all of my store listings to auctions on the 1 cent listing day, and think that was a mistake! It gives more exposure, but no sales all week...whereas, changing maybe 1/2 to auctions would have had people finding my stuff....with 1/2 still available for BIN.....It has been a slow week, in a slow summer for me. Usualy my sales are not so bad in summer, but this time they seem lackluster. Of course, ereaders are changing the market, I have been on several trips, and have been rather lazy about listing....so go figure!
I hope all of your sales are going well, as well as your lives...
Interesting book I just read : The Lost City of Z, by David Grann......about Colonel Fawcett who (along with a son and friend) disappeared in the Amazon in 1925 in his quest for the fabled city....The fascination with the quest and the its mysterious end led to many, many "rescue" or "solve the mystery" expeditions in later years....with death tolls/disappearancs on those missions estimated at up to 100 more! The author also gets sucked into the myth, and goes to South American himself to have a go! One cannot read (at least, I cannot) such a book, and not get the itch to try it yourself!

Danedottir.....My neighbor has a long row of pink peonies down her driveway....Every spring she cuts armloads of fresh flowers, places them in large white 5 gallon buckets in her front yard , and places a "FREE" sign by the buckets!....It is really one of the nicest, neighborliest, things around! Folks visiting the Starbucks down the street, or walking dogs, strolling with sweethearts, walking for excercise, all go home with a lovely flower or two! (or a bouquet!) She does this several times during peony season.

Just reading a little about lowball offers.....something I despise......I am not talking about reasonable offers (which I consider) However, I do not have the Make an Offer enabled, as it seems to encourage insulting offers, rudely presented. I often receive offers anyway (through the contact seller, or question about an item)...If someone wants to save a buck or two , maybe....but if someone offers me 25% of my selling price, and couches it like he/she is doing me a favor....FAT CHANCE! LOL!

I cannot get a photo to load to change the blank avatar...it keeps telling me I need a certain format (my photo is JPG...which is an accepted format)...

Anyhoo....hello everyone....Here's hoping this board will be useful, friendly, and free (relatively) from conflict!

Thanks furtima! I hope you saw my condolences on the loss of your mom, as well as my thank you for the field guide books....(posted on old BB a few days ago)..I have something to send you, but cannot find your snail mail address (somewhere "safe", I am sure...where I won't lose it!) Is there a private message feature here where you can email your snail mail adress to me? or send through a message on one of my auctions,,,....