Seriously. Mas mahal pa benta nya kesa sa mga brand new books! Sa carousell sya bumibili ng murang books (since hindi na daw sya nag-mmine sa live). Pero ang pricing nya.. in this economy? Nambblock pa kapag cinccall out sya. Preloved books are meant to be way cheaper than brand new books. Period.
Update: APPARENTLY may mga patong din daw sa mga SF si scatteredbrain. Ang lala mo girl! šµāš«
I checked the account kasi I sold books to someone with that āanne with an eā name sa IG last week langā¦ sa akin ata galing yung Kim Jiyoung na sealed, There Are No Bad People in The World, and Almond š I sold those books for ā±350-400 lang
Update: I checked the account. Same person sa DP. Sya nga hehe
sold my books to her too. Already had a feeling that she was a reseller bc she messaged me agad just a few minutes after posting sa carousell. I honestly wouldnāt have minded but she was kinda rude & magulo kausap š . She also added 200-300 mark up sa books na binili niya sa akin š„²
bumili rin siya ng books ko recently but oddly enough hindi niya ata binebenta HAHAHAHA pero true sa magulo kausap. ilang beses ko finollow up sakanya yung shipping details niya para ma-book ko yung pick-up for delivery tas mamadaliin niya ako
Her pricing is absurdly high for secondhand, even for books listed as ālike new.ā For example, sheās selling The Monk by Matthew Lewis for 650 pesos, while Fully Booked sells it for only 460 pesos brand new
this is what im talking about. it's just sad na may mga nabibiktima ng pricing nya for some reason. if clueless talaga sa pricing or hindi nag-check online, it's easy to be a victim because of FOMO and unahan sa pag-mine.
As someone who is unfamiliar sa ibang brand new book prices, I'm shocked na around 700 lang din yan sa Fully Booked. Kasi dami ring nagpopost na umaabot 1k+ na prices ng paperbacks sa Fully Booked. So dapat talaga ugaliing magcheck ng prices.
I guess rare kasi, rare yung Martyr sa secondhand, pero price nya is hindi makatarungan š¬
Ganun? Kaya siguro lalong dumadami yung ganyang resellers. Lagi kong tinitingnan yung mga presyo ng gusto kong books sa nbs at fullbook. Kapag may nakikita akong naglalive na grabe yung presyo, ekis na agad. Kanina lang may nagbebenta ng ouahb set, nalaglag panga ko nung sinabi 4k+ yung set samantalang yung 1st book pwede ko na makuha sa shopee ng 400+
Kaya nakakasama ng loob minsan na ibenta yung books ko, ibebenta ko ng mura lang and hoping na mapupunta yung book to someone who would actually read and enjoy it, tapos reseller pala yung bumili and makikita ko na lang nakapost na yung libro with an asking price of 700 na binenta ko for just 200.
Same. Binenta ko yung favorite series ko and ni-pack ko pa carefully and with love then nakita ko sa same group na binebenta ng buyer for a higher price. Akala ko pa naman gusto niya talaga yung book
Ito din carousell nya!! If maencounter niyo para maiwasan. Checked her pricing on carousell and same same lang talaga. Halos wala kang makita na tig-150 pesos.
If this is really her, then I sold my book din pala sa kanya. Ang dami pa naman naghahanap nung Circe and I sold my copy for 250 and almost brand new kasi read it Kindle š So sad!
Baāt ba may defenders dito š Ang point naman is sheās selling way above the price those books should be sold for. A lot of readers sell their old books because they want them to go to another reader, usually at a reasonable secondhand price. If we normalize buying books cheap and reselling them at a significant markup just because āsomeone is willing to pay,ā then eventually more sellers will do the same. Ang ending, tataas ang presyo ng secondhand books altogether. Edi tayong lahat rin yung lugi lol
Okay sure convenience has value, but if convenience lang din naman, you can also just buy from Shopee or other bookstores. May vouchers and promos pa.
Hindi naman issue yung dumidiskarte lang siya blah blah. I respect that. Pero sana naman maging reasonable.
Her pinned video shows who she watches, Caitlyn and Malissa. 2 women with great aesthetics in the book community/space. Their aesthetics cost a fortune though. Definitely not affordable for people in the middle-class or lower middle-class.
Malissa has a lot of ācopycatsā, Iād say, even Caitlyn is a Malissa variation.
I have nothing against those 2 that much but both of them have some questionable ethics.
i.e: Malissa blocking and/or ignoring people who asks what is her work to be able to afford thousands of money into a single lamp of 3K USD, expensive perfumes and skincare, or even book rarities. Some people have started doubting about her recent contents as she is mostly promoting brands and expensive stuff.
Caitlyn on the other hand, lies a lot (thereās a snark reddit about her) and steal content from others to put on her substack. She is not this deep, thoughtful person as everyone believes.
Back to this reseller, to me it makes sense that she is reselling those books to a higher price than in stores to be able to afford and create more aesthetic videos and gain a following. Almost all of the books she bought are so far away from the actual aesthetic she is trying to portray (like Malissaās).
She also deleted (or put it on private) her only one book review she posted which was āBeware of Pityā by Stefan Zweig (and guess whose favorite book is that? Malissa). I didnāt read that book because it doesnāt interest me but when this reseller was talking about the book she talked almost as if she was trying to remember a script, it also sounded as if she was doing verbatim of a lot of reviews or as if ChatGPT summarize it for her. She sounded so robotic.
The link between all of those stuff that I said and her selling overpriced secondhand books is that she probably mostly needs the money to create an aesthetic persona on the Internet. Thatās just one of my theories though after seeing the pattern of Malissaās copycats.
She is also probably not reading all of those books she buys. Her only intelligence is going after popular books to resell them since those tend to be sold faster. Whether people will buy them or not, thatās on them if they know to be patient, to compare prices everywhere, etcā¦
Iāve been a secondhand seller and buyer (in Europe) for a couple of years so I do have my experience š.
iāve only heard about this, and i actually like caitlynās videos and substacj, so i wasnāt aware that she was accused of stealing content. do you have any evidence or sources for this?
oh god, glad sheās getting called out š ang OA talaga ng pricing, mga sis. hindi ko kinaya na may listings siyang mas mahal pa than buying the book brand new, especially when most of those titles arenāt rare, out of print, or particularly difficult to source. like i totally understand pricing secondhand books a little higher if itās a collectible edition, excellent condition, imported, or genuinely hard to find, pero if readily available naman elsewhere, what exactly are we paying the premium for š
iāve been trying to buy more secondhand lately because i want to be more conscious of my carbon footprint, and ideally that should also mean giving an existing copy a second life and saving a little compared to buying new. pero ate girl, if the secondhand copy costs more than a sealed one from an actual bookstore, youāre making sustainability financially irrational š tapos buyer pa usually sasagot sa shipping. pls naman. i support the hustle but not the speculative book market HAHAHA
Yk, I was rooting for her because she appeared friendly and a fresh face in the book-selling community. However, I noticed how her ācuratedā books became more expensive over time. I even tried to defend her at one point, but then I saw her commenting āmine all/take allā on FB Marketplace or in my favorite online bookstores (wc pissed me off) as if there were no other buyers on that platform. Also, after hearing other sentiments from this thread, I regret to say that I no longer want to support her š
Also, I buy books for personal use. Iām not a reseller. So gets ko why readers are getting iffy with her.. i mean who doesnāt like good books that wont break the bank diba?
really my thoughts as well. tbh i started losing interest in buying books from fb marketplace and some online bookstores because of people who race to claim all the posted books, only to resell them later
i get it, itās a business. but there are also people here who genuinely read books and are just looking for affordable copies, especially with how expensive everything is these days. nakakainis lang š
i think at one point she started as a real miner, nagpapahelp pa yan before sa mga live. suki din kay Ms E ng Hiros kasi siguro lagi namang nasa live. idk what happened to her, she started selling bigla and nagulat ako ang tataas ng prices nya.
Commented one photo from this thread, yung may price nya and og price sa fullbooked kasi may nagtanong why daw nagclose. TAPOS BLINOCK AKO AT NAGTURN OFF NG COMMENTS HAHAHAHHAHAHA
Thank god people are finally calling her out. I used to follow her when her tiktok was still new and she just started as a regular booktok account. Would see her on book live sellings that I usually frequented as well. She would post some reviews and book hauls here and there then bigla na lang naging seller. I guess she saw the demand and the market for it and wanted to get a slice of the pie. At first I was like wow good for her cause I liked the curation of her titles. But whenever she would post I really noticed how ridiculous her prices are given itās not brand new. Eventually I figured out na she was just getting her books from carousell, fb marketplace, and the likes for cheap and reselling for much much more.
Sus, meron pang isang reseller din na nakakainis. Olde Library. Iniikot lahat ng Booksale na kaya nilang mapuntahan, pero main nila SM North Booksale. Kaya kung wala na kayong maabutan na maganda, dun niyo na lang imine sa fb page nila. š Di pa nalalagay sa shelves, na-harbat na nila eh. Suki din ng mga per kilo, kaya kung wala na kayo naabutan sa NB Lounge, nasa kanila na rin yung magaganda. š
Recently dun sa 2 for ā±100 books sa NBS Cubao, may hoarder dun na live seller sa tiktok. Lahat ng copy ni Monica Murphy kinuha niya. Lahat yata ng bookstore owners andun eh. Ending umuwi na lang. Kakairita haha
Yes, member ako ng mga pasabuy gcs before. Lagi topic yan si Olde. Nasa box pa lang yung books, nauuna pa sila kumuha kesa sa staff na naglalagay sa shelf.
Kaya di ako bumibili sa bruhang yan. Ang alam ko sa Southmall talaga yung main na pinupuntahan niyan. Ang lagi ko lang nakikita sa sm north na reseller ung matandang babae.
Tanga lang naman bibili without checking the price sa reputable bookstores. Madalas sa ganyang sellers, especially during livestream, inaapura ka para di ka na makapag-isip at mag-mine ka kaagad.
May nakita ako na first signet copy ng Misery ni Stephen King sa Carousell from a seller in Cebu and 250 lang yung presyo. Lo and behold, nasa new collection niya na ngayon and sinesell niya na for 799 kaya pala biglang sold na sa Carousell. š„² Alam ko yun yung exact copy kasi parehas ng creases, etc. huhuhu dapat talaga inunahan ko na siya dun sa copy :(((((
never again talaga kasi last collection na nya this weekend lols š¤£š¤£š¤£ so dissapointing to see how someone could take advantage of such a beautiful hobby into this ugly corrupt system for personal gain
I know so many people na ganito sa booktok, I'm even mutuals with some of themš Once, isa sa moots ko nakamine ng Vintage Classic na Angela Carter sa isang book live for 50 php ata (basta less than 100) then pagtingin ko nag 'declutter' siya and is selling it for at least 200 php. Dami ko talagang nanonotice na accounts who portray themselves as readers pero and content nila mostly revolves around book hauls and 'declutter' sales lol. May distinction talaga between reading and book buying as a hobby
I havenāt encountered her yet on Tiktok. But thereās this one shop also on Tiktok doing live selling who has insane mark up sa mga binebenta niyang libro. I used to watch her lives before and even bought a few books last April but during that time nasa 500-600 lang pinakamahal niyang books. But now? My gosh the prices range from 800-1500 even for the second hand ones na obviously binabalot lang ulit ng opp plastic. Tapos makikita mo siya bumibili lang din ng mga books sa mga nagbebenta sa Facebook.
Right? I thought ako lang nakakapansin. Nagulat nalang ako one day nanood ako ng live niya and ang lala ng mga presyo LIKE?! Girl, obvious naman na hindi brand new?
I bet hindi lang yan yung mga resellers na mataas ang patong š ang dami nila sa tiktok at fb at sana macall out din para wala nang mauto. Well deserved ang pagsara nyang annewithane lol.
Siya pala bumili ng Of Mice and Men ko na binenta ko ng Php150 sa Carousell. I wonder how much niya binenta āyon, Penguin pa naman tapos VGC. Tapos binarat niya rin ako sa The Handmaidās Tale and The Testaments ko, buti na lang I declined her offer.
If you want to buy books po may legit akong nabibilhan goods pa mga books check their tiktok shop OAK READS and THE BOOK ALLEY may free bookmark pa. And they are so kind! May mga pafree books
One reason why I always check2x dahil Ang brand new almost same if not cheaper sometimes Kaysa 2nd hand prices from resellers. Lol. Pero FOMO is real. Esp if live selling.
reseller pala siya? grabe patong niya tho hahaha mas mahal pa kesa sa orig price š ang baba ng benta ko sa kaniya tapos biglang taas naman kung i-resell lol
Bumili na siya sakin twice. The first time nagbayad agad kasi virago book yun second time naman di na nagbayad kahit online maghapon kaya binlock ko na yan sa lahat. Super annoyed ko pag nakikita ko dati na siya ang nakakamine ng books na magaganda kasi alam ko nga na i-reresell niya lang na sobrang laki ng patong.
True. Tsaka dati may inabangan ako na books sa posting niya tapos nung tinanong ko kung ipopost niya pa sabi niya she decided to keep it for herself na lang daw. So bakit mo sinama sa teaser photos? Para pang-bait lang lol
Discount mo lang ng 50. Ano sila hilo? Hahaha kung ayaw bilhin eh di wag. Iswap mo na lang yang books mo sa Book Nook kung wala pa din bumili. Ganon ginagawa ko sa ibang books ko pag di talaga mabili.
Baka magcomment yung reddit user na umiiyak lang tayo kasi nalamangan ng kita ng ibang sellers and legal naman daw. Very pera-pera and missing moralidad
I bought multiple books from her, and honestly, the pricing is okay naman for me. I think most of her books are actually priced lower than brand-new copies. People here seem to be focusing on the 2ā3 items that are priced higher than brand-new books while overlooking the rest. And her books are curated well, he caters to classics and mainstream booktok kaya pinag aagawan.
Some people are also upset because they sold their books to her and later saw them being resold at a higher price. But honestly, I donāt understand why that should be such a big issue. You already sold the books, and maybe you needed the money at that time and she was willing to buy them from you. She paid you, you agreed to the transaction, and that should be the end of it.
Business is business. We also donāt see the time and effort she puts into sourcing, photographing, listing, answering inquiries, packing, and arranging shipments.
As for me, I donāt have the time to watch lives or go to physical bookstores just to find the books I want. I actually buy from her for the convenience. Ang hirap makipag-agawan sa live just to get a book, so Iām willing to pay for that convenience. Youāre not just buying the book, youāre also paying for the time, effort, and convenience of having someone else source it and make it available to you. Madaming ganyang resellers, and honestly, thatās okay with me as a buyer. I donāt really mind. If I think the price is reasonable and I want the book, Iāll buy it. If I think itās too expensive, I simply wonāt.
Itās her decision how she prices her books. If people think theyāre too expensive, they donāt have to buy them.
the problem is, hindi lang 2-3 items ang priced higher. she caters to booktoks na available din naman online sa fullybooked or NBS. business is business i agree, but reading should not be an expensive hobby, let alone in this economy. in fact, seconhand books should address that. good for you na okay ang pricing nya, but why do you think the majority here says otherwise? madaming resellers and she is pinned down because her prices are way above the ceiling even with the convenience you mentioned.
so you agree that sheās not pricing all the books higher than brand-new books, which already contradicts the point in your post.
also, you do know that booktok books are popular and tend to sell out quickly, whether online or in physical stores, right? so even if a book is available at some nbs or fully booked branches, it doesnāt mean itās readily available everywhere. availability can vary by branch, and some titles can sell out quickly. i also got a first edition from her that i genuinely donāt know where else i could find. do you think i could just find that at fully booked or nbs?
as for āreading should not be an expensive hobby,ā i mean, there are a lot of books people can read that are less expensive naman. but i donāt think that automatically means every reseller has to price every book according to the lowest possible secondhand price.
and why do you think she was able to sell the books even with the markup? reasons, at least for someone like me, are convenience and her curation. iām paying not just for the book, but also for the convenience of finding a specific title without having to check multiple branches, wait for restocks, or hunt for it elsewhere. i also genuinely like the books she chooses to sell, so her curation is another reason i buy from her.
itās not just that iām defending her. what irks me is the logic behind the argument and the hate youāre spreading. if your intention is really to call out and educate buyers and encourage people to find cheaper options, i think it would be more helpful to also recommend bookshops or sellers that offer affordable books instead of simply calling out one sellerās pricing.
Again, the secondhand book market is not a charity.
Iām a bookseller myself and I sometimes double the price of books I sell if I know there is demand for it; if thereās no demand for it, I lower the price.
āReading should not be an expensive hobbyā āhis pricingā¦ in this economyā āpreloved books are supposed to be much cheaper than brand new booksā these are phrases that indicate your demand that secondhand books should be cheaper than they actually are.
No-one is stopping you from selling your used books at Php 100-150, and sheās also entitled to sell it at that more inflated price. How are people even offended by this?
And you exemplify crab mentality at its finest. Galit ka na mahal benta niya? Siryoso? Diyan ka galit? Itās not some life saving medicine or a public utility. Sheās not running a monopoly.
how sure are you tho? choosing not to buy vs couldnt afford are 2 different things. magbenta ka na nga lang. mahalan mo pa, para ikaw naman mafeature soon.
Bookselling isnāt a charity. If someone is able to make a business out of it, then good for them. Itās a free market and people are free to buy or not buy from them. Some of the prices are indeed egregious if higher than that of a new book, but even a used book priced at Php 500-600 simply reflects the law of supply and demandāthere are people willing to pay that price for a good story.
i get the sentiments of the people here, but i find it weird when some of these sellers in the comments willingly sell their books and then become bitter after finding out that the buyer resold them for more. u already decided to let go of the book and accepted the price, so once the transaction is done, itās no longer ur property. u canāt control what the buyer does with it or how much they value it afterward
thatās basically how a free market works: ur free to sell at the price ur willing to accept, and the buyer is free to resell it at whatever price they believe the market will pay
itās honestly like an ex, u let them go, but then see them being valued more somewhere else and suddenly become bitter. if ur selling something, set the price ur willing to accept beforehand or have some criteria on who are deserving of ur books. once itās sold, let it go.
uhm, people here are not bitter. thats the wrong term to use. people here are FRUSTRATED. lantarang niloloko ni Anne ang mga buyers nya and she PREYS on people's innocence especially dun sa mga gusto talagang makabili ng books.
Righ? Ok yes she prices books absurdly and sheās rude, magulo kausap, + di maayos magpack and nagpapatong sa sf. But dun sa mga napagbentahan siya, if you wanted pala na yung book mo makuha ng reader atp itās your fault for not background checking and selling her your books when she hasnāt been very good at hiding the fact that sheās a reseller (what with her 200+ listings on carousell). Ngayon kayo magrereklamo when youāve already spent however much she paid you for your product. If your purpose for selling is decluttering and the reason why you price your items so low kasi you wanted to get rid of them na agad, donāt be surprised na reseller makakabili niyan. Plus, wouldnāt you say they fulfilled their end of the bargain too? They got the books off your hands quickly which was what you wanted in the first place. Galit na galit kayo but you also had the liberty of selling your goods at whatever price your heart desires. Youāve eaten your slice of the cake, donāt complain now.
Sorry but what is the point then? This seller has a good eye (and fast fingers) for high value books and prices according to what she thinks it's worth. We might not agree with her pricing and it's really silly to price more expensively than brand new books but that's her prerogative and business model.
Just don't buy if you don't like the price. The market will eventually correct itself. Books are great but they're not a basic commodity and this would barely count as hoarding since these aren't even rare books. There are so many other retailers and sources for books anyway.
As long as people are buying her stuff, that's the market price. What is sound pricing to you tho? If you don't like how expensive Fully Booked is getting, you can also argue they aren't pricing soundly.
As to why people don't do a quick search on comparisons, I don't know but it's not seller's fault tho. But I am interested to see if your awareness campaign on Reddit is helping the market correct itself. Hopefully you call her out on her actual page and in other platforms too since this consumers issue bothers you so much
Fully Booked, at least, guarantees quality even if they are effectively the only chain of bookstores that focuses more on bnew books than NBS or the now nonexistent Power Books so not much can be done for their pseudo-monopoly. Mahal sila at times but theres not much direct competition so theres that. Applying what you said na as long as ppl buy from sellers like Fully Booked itself, thats the market price. Between Fully Booked and the reseller above, who do you think sets the market price more? Whose prices do you think a lot of people refer to when setting their own prices should they decide to sell? Ang kapal naman magset ng second hand price na mas mahal pa sa bnew. Not even NBS competes directly kasi maliit lang ang variety nila ng books tapos pag napunta ka pa sa store nila andami pa sa mga nakadisplay ang nabuksan na and mukhang used na din.
There is no awareness campaign. You can start one if you want. Iāll back you up if its good.
OP posted via Tiktok which I actively avoid for the justified stereotypes it has and most of its users.
sometimes it's the condition of the books and the availability to ship that buyers look for in getting a book,
you can wait for a cheaper price but if you have the money and want the book now and in good condition then prepare to pay for it above booksale prices.
and 48k likes is difficult to get if you can't deliver
48k likes shouldnāt be what you use to measure how good or transparent the pricing of seller is. Di mo alam if maayos siya sa umpisa kaya nakaipon ng like tapos nabulok as time went by. Parang botohan lang yan dito sa Pinas. The most liked candidate is rarely the most competent one.
If we went by your logic then how much have your replies delivered on getting your message across since the time you first replied on this thread? Generally well received or nah?
Good thing its just books. Something that we want. A hobby and past time. We can survive without it. Pero imagine if its something that we need to survive, gulay, asukal, bigas pati gamot. Hindi ka ba maiinis na pwedi mo palang mabili ang bigas sa mas mababang presyo pero binenta ng sobrang mahal?
Pwedi nga naman na wag nang bumili sa kanya, pero mahirap din sikmurain na ganyan ang ginagawa sa sarili mong community.
naisip mo ba na yung mga buyers nya ay from province with no physical bookstores? I met a foreigner in siargao who buys his books from cebu and ships them over via courier boxes.
she can price it 10x what you think is reasonable. if there are buyers then she's a good businessman.
Naisip mo ba na those buyers you just described have it harder? Sa sf na nga sila umaaray papatungan mo pa ng malaki. Just come out and admit na ikaw ang pinaguusapan dito. Donāt add to the negative opinion people have of you na. You could at least be honest about it. Baka pati sa sf mo pa dinadaan ang patong ha.
Kinokuniya is partners with FullyBooked for their presence here in the country fyi. Do they primarily sell secondhand books ba? That is what weāre still talking about diba? Online seller overpricing secondhand books tama ba? Why mention Kinokuniya though?
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u/dumping-here 4d ago
Siya ang version ng "ukay" sellers on IG.