Why do charity shops seem to have so few books?

Pandilex

I went looking for bargains today and went in 6 different charity shops. All of them had a single small wall for books. Most of them only showed modern hardback books.

10 years ago they used to be full of interesting books especially old books. I'm a big fan of old science fiction.

They all seem to accept donations of any books but I never see them in the shop, how come?

wattc

Depends where you live.

PlutoinCapricorn

Oxfam have some dedicated bookshops in London. You can order their books online too.

It does often depend on what the locals bring in.

soolin

There is no money in books and the room they take up is better used for more profitable goods.

When I sold books professionally I had an arrangement with a large local charity shop to buy their donated books for 3p a book, as they made more that way rather than have to unpack and sort them all out.

Savvy_Sue

PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »

Oxfam have some dedicated bookshops in London. You can order their books online too.

Oxfam have dedicated bookshops all over the place!

paddyrg

Shelf space costs money. Books are niche - either multiple old copies of bestsellers or such a narrow market that the 100 people in the country who might want a particular book are better served by going to Amazon or Abe Books (and indeed some charities run online bookshops on these platforms) than try every charity shop on spec. If the shop can sell 20 shirts at a fiver in the space of 100 books at 50p for instance, that's probably better for them.

Cuckooclock

Lots of people use book readers like Kindle now, i still love books though. Due to problems with my hands I can't hold them very long. Just a thought.

PlutoinCapricorn

One eBay seller buys unsold books from charity shops by weight, and sells them online for reasonable prices. I have used them a few times.

Pandilex

Interesting, didn't think about charity shops selling them on in bulk privately. That's probably what happens. A shame because I can't bargain hunt.

Unfortunately oxfam seems to charge ridiculous prices for their books.

duchy

Most of our charity shops have a decent amount of books -usually a complete wall and a decent mix. Between Kindle free books and charity shops I haven't bought a new book in years so yes I think it might be down to the area .

missbiggles1

Pandilex wrote: »

Interesting, didn't think about charity shops selling them on in bulk privately. That's probably what happens. A shame because I can't bargain hunt.

Unfortunately oxfam seems to charge ridiculous prices for their books.

Hopefully Oxfam gets as much money as it can for donated books - much better than selling them for 3p each.