Why are books so expensive?

[USVirgin]

When my father passed away last year, I threw out hundreds of books. Never occurred to me to sell them.

[acockasian]

The reason books and magazines are so expensive in Thailand is because one family has such a big slice of the market.

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

Paperbacks are ~300 Baht here, which I think is cheaper than what I used to pay in Holland (IIRC).

Don't consider it that expensive for book.

 

Sanuk!

 

[unit731]

When my father passed away last year, I threw out hundreds of books. Never occurred to me to sell them.

 

 

Here in my Farangland, people used to just throw away old books at the landfill/dump/recycling center.

 

Then some good people became concerned that 'good' books were being thrown away.

 

So some took it upon themsleves to approach the local public library and have them receive any used books all year long and then once per year - sell these used books at bargain prices.

 

Seems to work here.

[Dexi]

Second hand books in the charity shops are so cheap here the OAPs are buying `em to burn as fuel

[Bangkoktraveler]

Running a used book store is a very good way to loose money. Its pretty much the same as a surplus store: You buy discards, then they sit around for years or even decades until somebody stumbles across something you have, and they buys it. But its been sitting in inventory, occupying expensive shelf space all that time (and particularly expensive space if the shop is located somewhere a foreigner is likely to bump into it.)

 

More simply: Reselling books is an expensive proposition, and they have to charge high prices in order to keep from going broke.

 

 

 

 

Not neccesarily true. Back in the SA, one of the things I sell is used books. The best venture I ever got into.

 

When somebody has books they want to sell, I give them store credit. They can use the credit only at the store.

 

Operating a store like this, there is no actual dollars laid out for inventory. (Best way to run a business!)