Is it worth listing my books??

Soapy955

Hi, I hope some of you can offer me some good advice on this.

I have a HUGE collection of books on Marilyn Monroe and a few on James Dean having been a huge fan of them for years but as my interests have changed I have decided to get rid of the books.

I have just looked on eBay to see what kind of price they could go for, only to find hardly any that are on there have had any bids on them, and the few that have are only for a few pounds each.
I have an Amazon sellers account but am so fed up with all the books in my attic that I don't really want to list them on Amazon in the hope that I may sell a few of them at some time in the future.

My question is:
For the amount of effort it would take to list them and for the minimal return it looks like I'd make on them is it worth it?

Should I just give them all to the charity shop, let them benefit from the money and get the satisfaction of an empty attic?

What would you do. Is there anywhere that would maybe be interested in buying them as a job lot? We are talking a lot of books here!

superjaggybunnet

Selling books has never really worked for me.

I have tried it but it never seemed to make much money.

Like you I have loads of books kicking about the house, bestsellers that I have bought and read once that are no more use. What do you do with these as they cause so much clutter.

I think the best thing to do is give them to charity. All the hassle of selling them on ebay and getting payment and waiting for the cash to clear and packing them up and posting them, etc. is just not worth it for a couple of quid!

Premier_2

To list the books individually on ebay will probably take as long, if not longer than listing on amazon

The books will only stay on ebay for a maximum of 10 days (unless you have a shop)

Whether the books sell or not, ebay will charge you for the pleasure of listing them.

If you want rid of the books quickly then giving them to a charity shop will probably be best.

If you'd like to try and sell at least something, try amazon where they'll stay for up to 60 days. If they don't sell, it's cost you nothing (apart from time) and you can still give them away

lauranurse

Yeah I agree with Premier that you should give amazon a try and then you can always give them to a charity shop if they dont sell on there.

You never know, they may be snapped up, especially if you put the price as slightly lower than the lowest on there, and check regularly that it is still the lowest

seashore321

HAve you tried Abebooks, you can join although I found it seemed a bit expensive, I did not bother, but I found out the value of a lot of my books and with some I was quite surprised! Also if you have a rough idea of the price then find a specialist book dealer and they may take them all off your hands!
Marilyn and james Dean are very popular, so if you got a rough idea you could either list on ebay, abe, or try a specialist book Auction, usually no charge for entry and then a final commisison fee of between 10 and 17% no vat on books at most auctions.
I volunteer at a charity shop and am sure they would be grateful but would find out for yourself first.

Marty_J

No used bookstores nearby you can sell them to?

Mayday

Have you looked at:

http://www.bid4abook.co.uk/
http://www.listbooks.co.uk/

Just a thought

Ann

soolin

If they don't sell for good money on ebay and Amazon then they have no potential value as those are the first places a UK buyer will generally look. There is no point in paying a fortune to sites like Abe just because someone else has a copy dearer, if someone does a Google search the Amazon one would come up on the first pages of search anyway.

I do sell books on a number of sites and usually books about cult icons like these are rarely worth listing unless they were a limited print run. The main 'coffee table' type books are common enough that anyone who wanted one would have bought one already.

However, I have found that if I sell them in one lot per actor or a mixed lot with a theme it is often possible to make a few pounds in my local small ads. You can often post a small advert for free and something like '5 collectable books Marilyn Monroe, ideal car boot' might attract a few enquiries as people can just drop by and collect them in person.

last month I sold a small box of books about the screen greats, Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, Rita Hayworth and Marilyn Monroe for £8 to someone who collected via small ads.Box was so heavy I can barely lift it and i was pleased to see them go.

Bromley86

Another option would be to list them as a single lot on eBay (or two lots, one MM, one JD). If you write up a decent description that would attract someone like the you of yesterday (i.e. not "52 James Dean and Marilyn Monroe books for sale"), you might do well.

At ther very least you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that they went to a good home (unless they get bought up by someone for resale ).

soolin

The problem is with online sales is the postage..I would not have hesitated to sell a box of books for collection on ebay until this month. Now we have to take paypal on collected items I am uneasy at suggesting anyone lists anything that can be collected.

Bromley86

Hijack - would a seller be allowed to pass on the PayPal fees? If I was collecting and it was cheaper to pay by cash, I would.