Books at Car Boot Sales

Dizzy_The_Egg

I have a tonne of books I'm thinking of selling. I've managed to get rid of clothes, CD's etc via e-bay but I'm finding books a nightmare to shift. Has anyone got any stories/advice on selling books at Car Boot sales and would it be worth the pitch as apart from some bric a brac, books would make up 90% of my items?

Many Thanks

tryingtogetsolvent

folks at boot sales usually want books really cheap so you'll probably need to sell quite a lot to make anything.

emerald_starcat

Are they fiction or non-fiction, paperback or hardback?

Giggles_Fairy

I have sold a fair few books at car boot sales. Generally £1 for hardback, 50p each or 3 for £1 for paper.

Crowqueen

I go to these sort of fairs or boot sales and pick up a lot of books quite regularly, but I tend just to donate my excess to Oxfam or the local parish church fete, so I'm not big on selling them. I would still say that it is better to cut out the middleman if you want to sell them though and sell to boot sale markets, particularly if you have a number and don't mind the low value.

I can echo the sentiments of the people who have already posted though - unless they are rare/oop, antiquarian or for specialist hobbyists like role-players or stamp collectors, they are not going to sell for very much. At the fete I normally pay £1 for a HB and 50p for a PB. I also keep my eye out for older books on history: history as current affairs tends to be what I buy on eBay, so don't ignore that market if you have any travelogues of the Soviet Union, for instance.

If you have anything like role-playing books though, those are relatively sought after, particularly if they are out-of-print and can fetch multiple pounds, probably still in single figures though.

By the way, EDIT: your username makes me , spent many hours - wasted many hours - playing Dizzy on the CPC and Amiga. Nice to meet a fellow fan.

soolin

I have been very unsuccessful with books, I've tried them as low as 10p for hardbacks and 5p for paperbacks and only sold a couple. You will get the occasional browser who will buy a single book they want for more, but if you are looking to shift lots then you need to sell to the dealers and they expect around 2-5p a book for bulk purchases.

POPPYOSCAR

I have found that books don't sell well even at 10p.

Got rid of most of mine when IKEA did their £5.00 gift voucher in exchange for books promotion.

soolin

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

I have found that books don't sell well even at 10p.

Got rid of most of mine when IKEA did their £5.00 gift voucher in exchange for books promotion.

I got some really nice side tables from that promo..I now just bag my unwanted books up and dump them in those Oxfam bins.

Mandles

I would sell them an amazon. SHove them up in the loft and just get them down if they sell or just give them away .

Giggles_Fairy

I guess it depends on the car boot sale then. As when I did the car boot sale I had TONNEs of Moons and Bloom and was told these would NEVER shift by my auntie and it wasnt even worth taking them... well people couldnt keep away from them! One woman filled a bag with them, and when I did the same car boot a few weeks after they again sold well with the same woman as before just taking a bo, and the third time I went I couldnt fit them all in the car so just took a couple of small boxes of what was left rather than a big bag I had full and I even had people asking me if I had any Mills and Bloom left! I found that most people would buy 3 for £1 rather than just the one for 50p.

If I had been concentrating on selling the books more (which I wasnt really as they were my bros gf who I was selling them on behalf of) I would have displayed them better (got vegetable boxes from supermarket maybe) as I just had them in boxes mostly with 2 layers of books so hard for people to browse the titles, and I would have capitalised on people more towards the end by, say offering them the whole box for £x. And I am sure they would have sold even better this way.

sexylulubelle

soolin wrote: »

I have been very unsuccessful with books, I've tried them as low as 10p for hardbacks and 5p for paperbacks and only sold a couple. You will get the occasional browser who will buy a single book they want for more, but if you are looking to shift lots then you need to sell to the dealers and they expect around 2-5p a book for bulk purchases.

I have to agree with soolin have not had much luck with books at boot fairs either, most of them are in excellent condition and have a standard price of 50p per book but even that seems to much for some, I have however found that kids/teen books are far more popular I sold one the other day was mint condition tho( a farm animal book my son had a couple of little farm animals too that I decided to chuck in and I got a £1 which I thought was really good:) I suppose it depends what kind of books you are wanting to sell I guess anyways good luck OP hope you can shift them books!