Books & Media cost-per-unit trend

Each point is the monthly median cost-per-unit across priced books & media lots: the middle value, not an average, so one outlier truckload can’t drag the line. Cost per unit is the lot’s price divided by its listed unit count, where the source publishes one, and each month’s figure is the median across that month’s priced lots.

Sparse months render as insufficient data and stay off the chart: a median over a handful of lots isn’t trustworthy. That rule gates the chart, the “Months with data” stat, and the month table above alike.

The lots behind the series come from the nine marketplaces in the feed: Liquidation.com, B-Stock, DirectLiquidation, 888 Lots, Via Trading, BlueLots, GovDeals, Musick, and QuickBidz. Sitewide medians, discount-vs-retail, and closing-time patterns are on the statistics page.

Books and media lots cover book sets, cookbooks, DVDs, Blu-ray, and vinyl. A niche but steady category, usually high piece-count and overstock or shelf-pull condition. Title mix drives value: a lot heavy on evergreen or collectible titles sells differently than remainder stock. Volume is thinner than the big categories, so listings come and go.

Books and media per-unit is low and title-mix dependent: remainder stock and collectible titles at the same per-unit cost are very different buys. BStalker shows the per-unit number where units are listed.

What goes into a per-unit number, bids, buyer premiums, freight, is covered in liquidation pallet costs explained, and the live lots themselves are on the books & media lots page.