Q&A: Should I list my scarce book above Amazon's price?

QUESTION: I just found a copy of Le Vol de la Joconde, it's an old French text/workbook. Amazon has it listed for $27.50 new, but says it "usually ships in 2 to 4 weeks." Right now there's two used copies priced at $57. It has a sales rank of 234,000. My copy is in good condition with no writing inside.

Is it possible Amazon is out of stock, or might have trouble getting this book? I know if I match their price, my book will sell. However, I'm thinking I should price this higher for someone who is needs this book immediately.

How would you price it?

ANSWER: I think you're right, Amazon probably can't get it. If they could, Barnes & Noble would probably have a listing for it too, but their detail page is dark. There's only one copy on Half.com for $30. Most of the real listings I see on Addall.com are overseas sellers.

With a sales rank in the 200s, there's clearly demand for the book and Marketplace sales are happening somehow. Perhaps a month ago there were several copies on Marketplace and they've all been snapped up with school being back in session.

If I were you, I'd price it at $75 to $100 at least, if not more. I don't know anything about the book so maybe it's worth more.

Ahhh, the smell of Capitalism in the morning.

The two Marketplace sellers who are listing it at $57 probably don't have a copy, they look like drop-shippers to me. They're planning to buy a copy on the cheap if they get a sale -- except they won't be able to find one. Heck, you might want to buy that copy on Half.com while you're at it, and corner the market.

During the past year I've had a similar situation with a book I was lucky enough to buy in quantity. I had about five dozen copies of Art of Peruvian Cuisine. There's demand for the book but some kind of distribution problem and nobody can get it. About six to nine months ago it had a sales rank of around 30,000. Amazon had it priced at $30 (retail price is $50) with the same notation, "usually ships in 2 to 4 weeks." But Amazon couldn't get it, so I was making most of the sales.

I was selling a few copies at week at about $100. When I got down to my last 11 copies a few months ago, I deleted the listing because my remaining ones weren't in perfect shape and my listing condition was "new." I decided to leave the listing offline for a while to see what would happen. I just checked the price and it's up to $300. Sweet! I guess I'll relist now.

Update: Looks like one of the Marketplace copies of Le Vol de la Joconde sold, good for you.

When I relisted Peruvian Cuisine, I saw a Buyers Waiting order for $23.75.

Gee, that's tempting, but I think I'll hold out for a bit more ;-)