Our Latest News
Welcome to our latest newsletter - we are all wearing our woollen beanies in the Book Express warehouse so winter is definitely here!
How do we describe our books?
We are often asked 'how do we decide if a book is Very Good' ?
Firstly we only use Very Good, Good and Fair as our grades, and so if a book doesn't make the Fair grade, it gets recycled.
To qualify as Very Good, a book can only have one small blemish, such as an name on the front inside page, or a minor chip to the dust jacket. The book has most likely only been read once before. Once it has two small blemishes, or is generally looking like it has been read a couple of times, it drops down to a Good grade. Normally ex-library books are automatically Good as well, thanks to all the library markings and stamps. Once a book looks like it has had a hard life with multiple defects, it drops down another level to Fair - maybe it has a badly ripped dust jacket or no dust jacket, plus the pages have a brownish tinge to them and there is some highlighting in it. Note that it is still readable, just not very pretty.
Above - example of a "Good" book
Above - example of a "Fair" book
What books do we automatically discard? Anything that has a missing page, pages falling out, any insect damage, any hint of mould or any significant water damage all go into our paper recycling process. Anything that we wouldn't want to personally read is something we don't want to sell.
Postage Price Increase
We use NZ Post for all of our postage, and each July they review their prices. We have held our shipping charge to customers at the same price since we started Book Express six years ago, even with our postage costs going up each year.
Unfortunately we can't do this any longer, so from 5 July our standard NZ shipping charge per order will be $7, and $12 for Rural Delivery addresses.
Of course, you can still avoid this price increase by getting free shipping on orders of $75 or more.
The one that almost got away aka deal of the month
We recently sold a copy of The Crowded Shadows by Celine Kiernan (from the Moorhawke trilogy) for $12. We then received another copy and decided to check its market value because it 'looked so nice'. Surprise surprise, the cheapest other copy for sale anywhere in the world is $55. So we had to relist the replacement copy for $45 - still a good deal but not a steal.
Why is this 2010 paperback fantasy book worth so much, when all logic says it should be a $12 book?
Is the excellent story and plot in the book making it a must read?
Is it the quality of the excellent hand-drawn artwork on the cover?
Or was this book printed in small numbers, and there is simply not enough copies out there to meet demand for this story?
We don't know the exact reason why The Crowded Shadows is worth so much, we just know it is. But what we do know is that the odd high value/unusual book will slip through our pricing process from time to time and offer you a real bargain.
Win a Free Book
Do you like a good thriller or adventure story? Are you still waiting to read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code?
Today is your lucky day - we have far too many of them on our shelves and so we are giving some away.
The first 10 customers who email us at sales@bookexpress.co.nz, will receive a free copy. Just tell us your favourite author at the moment (besides Dan Brown!), and confirm your mailing address, and we'll get the Da Vinci Code on the way to you.
Darryl and The Book Express team
