The Puzzling, Frustrating 1 Percent Response Rate

4. If you’re considering buying an existing catalog, rules of thumb may help determine if you’re looking at an opportunity or a problem. If you’re not already familiar with the catalog industry, rules of thumb are doubly important because catalogs operate very differently from other businesses. If you’re new to the business and try to evaluate a catalog using only your non-cataloging business intuitions and skills, you’ll make many errors.