Car Boot sales - why don't books sell?

sillyputty

Kindle etc has pushed books down at boot sales I think. Also often they are on the floor and the people most likely to buy them (older buyers) can't actually get down and may have problems seeing them. They are often 'displayed' all over the place ina deep box and people can't be bothered to look.
I have chucked loads of books recently although I hated doing it, they simply aren't selling fast enough even at silly prices.

RMS2

bartelbe wrote: »

I have volunteered in a charity shop.

Ah, so you have seen the, video tapes straight to the bin and shirts with sweaty pits, straight into the ragbag for 60p per kilo (or however much it is these days).

Hedgehog99

I tend to regard selling books at car boots as space clearance rather than profit. Display is key - I made a pair of bookends out of a cardboard box so that buyers could clearly see the spine of each book. Out-of-date books can sell, e.g. books of sports results - old results don't change. Got £1 for hardback dictionary-sized popular music reference books & 50p for travel guides & paperbacks. Freed up some space at home! I only sell books if I have spare capacity on my table - while you're paying the entrance fee, you might as well have a full table. Books that really are not going to sell can go to the book recycling bin.

RFW

Half Price Books in the US sell books they can't sell for decorations and for tv/film sets. They have them in categories, for example if a lawyer wants to have impressive looking offices he can buy a load of out of date law books cheap.
I'd guess someone does something similar in the UK but have never come across them.
There are also crafters who use old books with pictures for various projects so unusual types of books may have a market even if they don't have a 'book' market.

WeAreGhosts

suse* wrote: »

Depending how common they are it might be worth trying ziffit, amazon trade in or webuybooks. I just sold a few on ziffit and made 35 quid. It shows you the price so you can compare that to other similar sites. Some of them they only buy for pence but if you sell a certain amount they send someone to pick them up as well so no standing about for hours.

I have looked at webuybooks before i went to the car boot, but they were paying about 8p per book
i hadnt heard of ziffit, will give them a try, thanks

RFW wrote: »

Half Price Books in the US sell books they can't sell for decorations and for tv/film sets. They have them in categories, for example if a lawyer wants to have impressive looking offices he can buy a load of out of date law books cheap.
I'd guess someone does something similar in the UK but have never come across them.

what a good idea. let us know if you come across them !

I_have_spoken

AT my office we have a set of bookshelves in the canteen where staff just leave books they've read and pick-up ones they fancy, read and return. All the 'usuals' are there, so no need to buy at a 'boot

hollydays

You can't expect high prices at car boot sales.
The people who go there want dirt cheap on the whole .

vuvuzela

hollydays wrote: »

You can't expect high prices at car boot sales.
The people who go there want dirt cheap on the whole .

From the OP "i was asking 20p per paperback and doing deals if people bought multiples"
Doesn't seem that high to me...

WeAreGhosts

vuvuzela wrote: »

From the OP "i was asking 20p per paperback and doing deals if people bought multiples"
Doesn't seem that high to me...

20p was my 'go to' price - pretty much everything on my stall was 20p
the car boot was packed but it seemed many people weren't buying.

SpammyTheSpammer

sillyputty wrote: »

they are on the floor and the people most likely to buy them (older buyers) can't actually get down and may have problems seeing them. They are often 'displayed' all over the place in a deep box and people can't be bothered to look.

Agree completely. But your forgot to mention those prospective sellers who make piles of books on top of one another, packed together so that you cannot see the titles on the spines, especially when the seller has oriented them so that the books are "their" way around.

I am a book buyer but do not even bother to stop when I see books displayed anyway apart from spine up, right side around. It's just not worth the time to sort through what is probably a pile of complete !!!! in the hopes of finding one book that I want....