The Leibstandarte Series - R Lehmann - why so expensive

[seaburn]

I was looking to purchase 'The Leibstandarte II' in English and was aghast to see it listed for $1000 on Amazon ! Why is this so expensive ? Is it out of print ? Vol 1 looks cheap by comparison at a mere $350 .... but expensive none the less .. Is there anywhere else that these can be sourced from at a more competitive price ?

C

[Michael Kenny]

Second hand book dealers have a complex system for setting prices but can best be summed up as 'take their eyes out'!
Lots of things bump a book price up. Believe it or not when you do a search for an out-of-print book that information is used to set the price. The more people looking for it the higher they set the price. The more specialised dealers in an area set the prices and the bulk of the trade simply copy those prices. If anyone wants to find the real price of a book offer a dealer a book you know he sold earlier and note the shortfall between the offer and the selling prices.

[Dutto1]

Hi Seaburn,

Keep a lookout on e-bay they do come up now and again although for some reason volume 2 is expensive to buy I saw one go for 100GBP a few months back but still too expensive for me.

[seaburn]

Thanks 'Dutto1' should you happen to see one again ....you know where to get me !!

[ptimms]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw= ... _sacat=267

Not me

[seaburn]

Tks 'ptimms' for some reason Vol 4 as posted is considerably cheaper than Vol 2 which covers 1941-1942, not sure why it is so much more expensive. Vol 1 the next most expensive, then Vol 3 and lastly Vol 4 which is quite reasonably priced.

[Dutto1]

Vol 3 has just went out of print in the last 18 months or so I expect prices to go up on that one soon. Vol IV and IV/2 are still quite easy to obtain. I tried to get vol I and II in the late 1990s and they were expensive then

Regards,

Ron

[Mark C. Yerger]

watch abebooks.com

[seaburn]

watch abebooks.com

Much Obliged !

[Ken S.]

I'm wondering how you came up with this explanation.

Second hand book dealers have a complex system for setting prices but can best be summed up as 'take their eyes out'!
Lots of things bump a book price up. Believe it or not when you do a search for an out-of-print book that information is used to set the price. The more people looking for it the higher they set the price. The more specialised dealers in an area set the prices and the bulk of the trade simply copy those prices. If anyone wants to find the real price of a book offer a dealer a book you know he sold earlier and note the shortfall between the offer and the selling prices.

[Jeff Leach]

I'm wondering how you came up with this explanation.

Second hand book dealers have a complex system for setting prices but can best be summed up as 'take their eyes out'!
Lots of things bump a book price up. Believe it or not when you do a search for an out-of-print book that information is used to set the price. The more people looking for it the higher they set the price. The more specialised dealers in an area set the prices and the bulk of the trade simply copy those prices. If anyone wants to find the real price of a book offer a dealer a book you know he sold earlier and note the shortfall between the offer and the selling prices.

You can easily see for yourself. Check Amazon.co.uk for example Bloody Streets. The highest price is £3092, which the book seller must have been smoking Crack when he set the price (It is probably a computer program that sets the price). In some cases all the other booksellers copy this price (again it is probably a computer program doing all the work). I can tell you from experience, that once the price starts going over £100 for an out-of-print single volume history book you seldom feel like you got your money's worth.

In the case of Lehmann's work, save your money and write to Digital History Archive and ask him for a copy of T354 R610 and R611. They should cost about $20 each and then you have the War Diary and Anlagen for the 1 SS Division 1941 - 1943. This must be part of the material Lehmann based his books on.

[Ken S.]

That doesn't really explain how a search for a book "is used to set the price". Most sellers price books based on perceived scarcity and perceived (lack of) demand sometimes using other listings as a guide. Some use an automated program for adjusting prices. I believe amazon has a option that allows Marketplace sellers to "match" the lowest price. When a book on amazon has an unrealistic price most often the seller has set the price as a "placeholder".

[Michael Kenny]

All those who want to know about second hand selling prices just contact your local dealer and tell him you have Lehmann vol II for sale and get back to us with the offer price.

[Ken S.]

Oh, that's right, you were the one "complaining" about book prices years ago in this thread:
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... s&start=45

Still haven't figured it out?

[Michael Kenny]

Oh, that's right, you were the one "complaining" about book prices years ago in this thread:
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... s&start=45

Still haven't figured it out?

As someone who has been buying books for over 50 years and with a collection of over 7000 titles I reckon I know the game.

In my early years I used to 'sell' some of my books for a credit and take payment in other books the dealer was selling. I used to get nearly every dealers booklists EXCEPT the ones that were selling the books I put in in part exchange. Without exception every dealer would miss out the listing with my books on it.
I wonder why?

Recently I had reason to hunt out a common local street map OOP since 2002. The copies on sale in the UK started AT 40 UK Pounds for something that sold for 2. By hunting around on the foriegn Amazon's I found copies in France, Canada, USA & Japan that started from 6 Pounds postage included.
Dealers are sharks.