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Profitable De-Cluttering.

Connor1234
Posts: 26 Forumite
Hi Folks,
Having been inspired to De-Clutter and start saving a bit of cash by the Millionaire Challenge, £10 a Day and all the brilliant De-Cluttering threads I've decided to start on Books and DVDs.
I've read about using Music Magpe (through Quidco for an extra 75p, ker-ching) for DVDs, and since most of mine are fairly old and I don't want to spend the time listing them all on ebay then packaging and then posting them all, I've decided to send them off to music magpie, got £11ish for 50 odd DVDs and a few CDs which isnt really that bad.
I put 50 books into webuybooks.com and only ELEVEN were accepted, amongst the 'we dont buy these pile' were authors like JK Rowling, Dan Brown, Chris Ryan and Eoin Colfer surely there must be a better way? has anyone had success with listing books as a bulk on ebay?
Having been inspired to De-Clutter and start saving a bit of cash by the Millionaire Challenge, £10 a Day and all the brilliant De-Cluttering threads I've decided to start on Books and DVDs.
I've read about using Music Magpe (through Quidco for an extra 75p, ker-ching) for DVDs, and since most of mine are fairly old and I don't want to spend the time listing them all on ebay then packaging and then posting them all, I've decided to send them off to music magpie, got £11ish for 50 odd DVDs and a few CDs which isnt really that bad.
I put 50 books into webuybooks.com and only ELEVEN were accepted, amongst the 'we dont buy these pile' were authors like JK Rowling, Dan Brown, Chris Ryan and Eoin Colfer surely there must be a better way? has anyone had success with listing books as a bulk on ebay?
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Comments
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Connor1234 wrote: »Hi Folks,
Having been inspired to De-Clutter and start saving a bit of cash by the Millionaire Challenge, £10 a Day and all the brilliant De-Cluttering threads I've decided to start on Books and DVDs.
I've read about using Music Magpe (through Quidco for an extra 75p, ker-ching) for DVDs, and since most of mine are fairly old and I don't want to spend the time listing them all on ebay then packaging and then posting them all, I've decided to send them off to music magpie, got £11ish for 50 odd DVDs and a few CDs which isnt really that bad.
I put 50 books into webuybooks.com and only ELEVEN were accepted, amongst the 'we dont buy these pile' were authors like JK Rowling, Dan Brown, Chris Ryan and Eoin Colfer surely there must be a better way? has anyone had success with listing books as a bulk on ebay?
I have lots of books (about 50) since 2000. I put them all on Ebay. The ten I would buy again sold - the rest did not.
Ask yourself this question - would I buy the book now? For example, I have one that is a first edition and there is now a third edition.0 -
There's a long thread about selling books on-line
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4102615
Worth reading but it seems that it's very difficult to make much money.
Popular authors' works may not be worth buying because
1. Too many pre-owned copies already on the market
2. Most people read these new when they first come out so limited interest a few years later.If you are querying your Council Tax band would you please state whether you are in England, Scotland or Wales0 -
very good points guys, I'm more interested in getting rid of them so think I'm going to have a search on ebay to see if anythings worth much, then put the lot on buy it now for £10 and if it doesnt sell they can go off to the charity shop0
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Ask yourself this question - would I buy the book now? For example, I have one that is a first edition and there is now a third edition.
I know exactly where you're coming from! Who wants the 1st edition unless it's for a bargain price?
I have culled my book collection from 1400 to under 800, virtually all have gone to charity shops, most bought secondhand for little money or new at remaindered shops. Many now overtaken by newer editions or newer and better on same subject.
I actually once owned a book about the Mazda Xedos, cost me 50p, but who remembers the Xedos or even wants a book about it??If you are querying your Council Tax band would you please state whether you are in England, Scotland or Wales0 -
Connor1234 wrote: »very good points guys, I'm more interested in getting rid of them so think I'm going to have a search on ebay to see if anythings worth much, then put the lot on buy it now for £10 and if it doesnt sell they can go off to the charity shop
I think you've got the right attitude.If you are querying your Council Tax band would you please state whether you are in England, Scotland or Wales0 -
lincroft1710 wrote: »I actually once owned a book about the Mazda Xedos, cost me 50p, but who remembers the Xedos or even wants a book about it??
I actually made £50 from buying haynes manuals from charity shops and putting them on ebay, you may be surprised!0 -
Connor1234 wrote: »I actually made £50 from buying haynes manuals from charity shops and putting them on ebay, you may be surprised!
I've probably made around that doing exactly the same thing. Someone, somewhere will be looking for that manual. The only thing I would say is that they may be hanging around for a month or two.
Other things that do surprisingly well (IME) are device-specific remote controls and faulty top-end hair tools.0 -
surveyqueenuk wrote: »I've probably made around that doing exactly the same thing. Someone, somewhere will be looking for that manual. The only thing I would say is that they may be hanging around for a month or two.
Other things that do surprisingly well (IME) are device-specific remote controls and faulty top-end hair tools.
very interesting! I'll have a look out for that!
I've got some really useless haynes manuals that wont sell, got an MG metro one and the cheapest buy it now is £2.80, that's 10p more than the cost of hermes postage! how do they do it!?
Also on topic of the thread, found I have a first edition Harry Potter spin off book worth £15, quality.0 -
Connor1234 wrote: »I actually made £50 from buying haynes manuals from charity shops and putting them on ebay, you may be surprised!
I made a few pounds doing this. Bought a few from car boot sales also. Trouble is charity shops are now full of Haynes manuals for cars which would have been scrapped years ago. My best buy was a 4 yr old Haynes manual for a car I owned at the time, 20p at car boot sale. With the MG Metro manual, I think it could be a case of more books surviving the actual cars, and enthusiasts would tend to have a manual already.
The Xedos book was about the development of the car, rather than a manual.If you are querying your Council Tax band would you please state whether you are in England, Scotland or Wales0 -
I presume that the big book sellers on ebay, Amazon etc get bulk discounts for posting so many items and that's how they can undercut the average joe selling his own stuff.
At the end of the day, all forms of physical media are a dying breed. Most people prefer not to own them at all these days and buy digital copies. No doubt you yourself are decluttering for the space (and possibly the money). Just bear in mind that the general rule of thumb that charity shops use is that an item will only ever fetch 1/3 of its original cost and that's if anyone even wants to buy it. Most second hand markets are saturated, your stuff needs to be in immaculate condition to sell much of the time. Although I'm sure there are some exceptions, like with the faulty high-end hair tools.
I wouldn't declutter to make money, I'd do it for the emotional/ spiritual freedom side of things. Then vow not to waste your money on 'stuff' again!
P.S. You might be interested to read a book called Stuffocation. How about borrowing it from your local library rather than buying?Minimalist
Extra income since 01/11/12 £36,546.450
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