Tapuvae wrote:
I figured I would update this with some current values. I just won a set of three HOME editions still sealed for the following prices
Vol 1 - £266.00
Vol 2 - £252.22
Vol 3 - £203.26

You can see the prices have sort of stabilized for all three and likely I paid more for vol 2 and 3 after winning volume 1 for less than I thought.

I also won the LR and Hobbit from the same seller but lost the Silmarillion for WAY too much money. Oddly the seller has said he can get the Silmarillion from the winner, which to me implies the guy overpaid because he was revenge bidding me as he was underbidder of some sort on many of the other auctions. £175 for the Silmarillion is dealer pricing and it was sealed (which I understand is a risk given build issues with that book).

Glad you got the books. Fair prices, I think, for shrink-wrapped copies (maybe a little on the high side).

The seller of the Silmarillion was quite possibly shill-bidding (and accidentally came out on top), which is why he says he can get the book from the winner. Highly suspicious, at any rate. That or the winner has pulled out. Either way, avoid!


[Edit: I notice that a**m a relatively high, but non-winning bidder (except for the Sil) seems to have bid on all those auctions. Quite possibly completely 100% legitimate - but has a definite sour whiff, especially with the oddness around that Sil purchase. I've never heard of anyone "revenge bidding", and it seems pretty durned unlikely to me. It is a pity eBay has made it pretty much impossible to positively identify shill bidding, so it always has to remain an unproven suspicion]

I think those prices, personally, were a little high (or a least higher than I'd be prepared to pay! ), particularly for Vol. III.

In regard to the 2002 Silmarillion; nobody bought this copy:

This site uses affiliate links for which we may be compensated

The Silmarillion deluxe edition leather bound edition rare 2500 HarperCollins

171830938147

Seller: turindragonhelm24

(574)

Ended Jun 20, 2015

This item ended more than 90 days ago

This site uses affiliate links for which we may be compensated

The Silmarillion deluxe edition leather bound edition rare 2500 HarperCollins

171831941368

Seller: turindragonhelm24

(574)

Ended Jun 21, 2015

This item ended more than 90 days ago

...listed twice. Description isn't the best, but the copy (other than the slight suspicion of a bit sticking up from the slipcase) looks decent. Careful questioning might have revealed a F/F copy here, for less than £100. This is just one example. I think acquiring a copy for double figures is achievable, given a little patience. £175 is too high.

EDIT: Incidentally, the copy cited above has now been relisted starting at £88; auction only for 24 hours.
eBay Item #171832901248

BH

Yes volume III was more than I was hoping to pay but I sort of became mentally committed once I won volume I for less than I anticipated and the small premium to have all three sealed seemed justified. The winner of the Silmarillion apparently does NOT want it. Based on the description of The Hobbit and LOTR they are cloth cases so I am hoping the LOTR is a first impression. I understand these cases fade and mar easily, which was preventing me from pulling the trigger on other ones on offer.

Regarding revenge bidding, I think its part of auction fever. You can imagine waiting 7 days for these to close and consistently losing out in the last 5 seconds to the same bidder. By the end of that you get a little offended by this and throw in a high bid try to win one. It really makes no sense to bid more for the Silmarillion than the Hobbit or LOTR volumes so I don't know what to make of it. I do know people have done this (bid for the heck of it).

I have major buyer's remorse of course, which I do after every auction. At this point if the winner of the Silmarillion wanted the other 5 I would let him take them because man the conversion to USD really hurts ;)

Tapuvae wrote:
Regarding revenge bidding, I think its part of auction fever. You can imagine waiting 7 days for these to close and consistently losing out in the last 5 seconds to the same bidder. By the end of that you get a little offended by this and throw in a high bid try to win one. It really makes no sense to bid more for the Silmarillion than the Hobbit or LOTR volumes so I don't know what to make of it. I do know people have done this (bid for the heck of it).

I have major buyer's remorse of course, which I do after every auction. At this point if the winner of the Silmarillion wanted the other 5 I would let him take them because man the conversion to USD really hurts ;)

All I can say is, that in 12 years or so of eBaying books, it isn't something I have ever noticed. I have definitely noticed lots of probable shill bidding, bid shielding, etc. I personally would say that about 10% of the auctions that I monitor closely look to have seller irregularities.

My personal recommendation is (a) use an auction sniper, (b) choose the price the book is worth to you and set that in the sniper (and not a penny more!). Then DO NOT look at the auction until it is finished. As soon as you get into the to-and-fro of bidding against someone else, you will pay too much, and - very importantly - you leave yourself open to exploitation by sellers that employ shill-bidding tactics. This also goes for putting a max (proxy) bid directly into eBay (rather than using a sniper)- very easy for the seller (or another buyer) to just chip away at you to find out what your max is.

auctions via eBay are fundamentally broken at this point, but you can still do well, so long as you know it is broken, and employ workarounds to minimise the risk.

Remember, there are plenty of these books in circulation, and a lot less people that actually want them than you might think. I personally believe that - with the exception of very rare and signed items - prices are falling reasonably steadily. Unless you are in a money-no-object situation, just take your time. You won't end up missing out. :) Save over-paying for the genuinely rare stuff if you can!

I know you mentioned the Unfinished Tales that matches the HOME 12 volume set as a rarity. Curious what other volumes you would put in the rare column. Its funny because most other things I collect are much more numerous than most of these books for which a run of 500 is seen as high.

Tapuvae wrote:
I know you mentioned the Unfinished Tales that matches the HOME 12 volume set as a rarity. Curious what other volumes you would put in the rare column. Its funny because most other things I collect are much more numerous than most of these books for which a run of 500 is seen as high.

There are obviously some ultra-rarities (e.g. Songs for the Philologists), but to be honest, most Tolkien stuff just isn't particularly rare. The Super Deluxe Silmarillion from 1982 would certainly be an expensive rarity. I'm sure others will chime in.

I definitely got the idea of how few people collect these books from the fact that you and I seem to be the people posting here and on the libraryanything thread (I think my username is different there). Seems people pop in and then disappear after awhile and new people pick up the torch. Both sites are really useful for new people like me.

That 1982 Sil looks to match the green leather Hobbit that tends to fade on the spine.

We're just not always that chatty sometimes...
(Stu excepted!)

BH

Khamûl wrote:
We're just not always that chatty sometimes...
(Stu excepted!)

BH

Well, if there is absolutely nothing worthwhile to say, I still like to say it. Everyone else here has more sense (and is probably also less bored)....

Off topic, but did anyone get that "Elansea" book, by the way? I've been hoping to sea review on here to know what I'm (possibly not) missing.