Selling Books

glitterball

Help!!!! I have a house overflowing with books which I need to get some sort of grip on.

I have tried selling them on Amazon but last one made me 3p by the time postage and fees were deducted not worth the effort of packing and posting, Green metropolis wasnt very sucessful either.... any ideas folks car boot? or are they consigned to the charity shop?

am I being really tight wanting to sell them??

louthemoo20

I'm in the same position. I have quite a few books to sell, some brand new. Can't be bothered with ebay and would barely make anything on amazon. Let me know if you have any luck selling yours.

Kepp

Hi Glitterball,

Have you tired Amazon trade-in? It's on average 25p for a paperback, sometimes more. It's quite a bit more for text books etc.

Just type in the book you are selling and look at selling options on the right hand side. If trade-in is available then you will see a button for this on the right handside. As an example, see here.

You get paid as an Amazon gift card, so not cash, but postage to send them in is free and if they don't agree that the book meets the standard then they will return them for free as well.

I've done loads with no issue at all.

And, no, I don't think you're tight at all!

Sparhawke

Beccies answer is probably the best of the bunch but when I looked the only books that seemed to be wanted were brand new ones, or ones so obscure as to there being no chance that anyone has it at all...

Seriously, what I would do is gather up a load of books and some other gear, maybe with a few mates and find yourself a good large car boot sale and see if you can make any good money, I wouldn't price your books right out of all ridiculousness and into sheer lunacy but neither would I give them away, if for instance a copy of swimsuit which was linked to was for sale in a bookshop for £5, a charity bookshop for £2-2.50 (I work in a charity bookshop so have a good idea of values) then you do not want to be pricing anything over £1-£1.50

Often you will find dealers coming round and asking you if you will sell them whole boxes for £5, this is up to you but if you plan on being there a few weeks I wouldn't, as they will take all your best books for next to nothing and leave you holding crap that no one wants, like Dan Brown (we have 50+ copies of that in our bookshop if you're interested lol)

Anyways, I would be wary of simply handing them somewhere like Oxfam, it is not publicised but they regularly rip up books that do not sell in a "reasonable" time in order to put more profitable stuff on the shelves, it is less a charity and more of a business. Donate them to sheltered accommodation housing where old folks might get to have a look at them for a while, and actually someone might read them

GavB79

Buy a Kindle and you won't have this problem again

b1505

Amazon trade-in seems to be the best. There is also Zapper and webuybooks.

glitterball

Thanks for all the suggestions, seems like my best bet is a car boot or to take a small box load to the fetes and fairs when I take a stall to sell my Phoenix cards.

I have a lovely shiney Kindle wich I love above most things (people excluded) so I wont be adding to the book mountain.... if I can stay away from other secondhand booksellers

Its just a little scary when I think how much I have spent on the past on books.

Rainbowchild

Just to second Sparhawke's comment about giving any you don't sell to sheltered housing. I work with homeless people and we have a small library of donated books that people can take with them when we're not open, I'm sure there are will be local organisations that would be willing to take them.

Good luck with the sales.

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

I wondered how long you tried Green Metropolis for? I think when you list with them, your book goes to the bottom of the list so the longer you keep it listed the further up the list your book will appear. You can also try knocking a little money off for a faster sale.

We keep a box of 'selling' books that are permanently listed on Green Metropolis. It's slow selling so we take the box to car boot sales a few times a year. After the car boot sale, we just remove books that we've sold from our Green Metropolis listing.

If you're looking for a quick fix then car boot for 10-20p each.

genuineplacebo

This website https://www.zapper.co.uk is pretty much like musicmagpie for books.

I typed in all the books we had and they accepted a third of them for between 30p and £3 each. It's Freepost as well.

Found the service quick and easy to use.

lincroft1710

Sparhawke wrote: »

I would be wary of simply handing them somewhere like Oxfam, it is not publicised but they regularly rip up books that do not sell in a "reasonable" time in order to put more profitable stuff on the shelves, it is less a charity and more of a business.

Oxfam bookshops definitely send some unsold books for pulping. Some are sent to other shops, some end up as 50p sale items.

But what do you do with books that won't sell and you have incoming new stock daily. Oxfam are a business, given their size, they have to be.