Where to sell "Dinotopia" and "History of Polish Folklore"?
June 22, 2010 2:12 PM Subscribe
I'm trying to sell an eclectic reading selection to used bookstores in Seattle. What are the best stores for me to take my books to?
I have a kind of strange variety of books and I'm trying desperately to slim down my collection. Unfortunately, when I took 30 or so books to Ophelia's the other day, they only took about 7 of them. Different stores collect for different niches, but I'm not too familiar with any other used bookstores in the city.
Mostly, I have a fairly varied collection of illustrated children's books and YA lit. Some of them could be considered rare, some of them are signed by the illustrator or author. Apart from doing something like Abe Books or Amazon, is there a store that specializes in this?
I also have a good chunk of non fiction. A few are college texts (literature, art history, film history, niche cultural histories.) But there's also a selection of popular science sort of things, and a good number of books about mythology, folklore, and specifically, dragons. Plus a lot of cookbooks and books about the history of food and agriculture, although I'm not sure if I want to give those up just yet.
On top of all of this is a sizable pile of graphic novels and trade paper backs. I'm comfortable in a comic shop, I just haven't been to many in this city, and I'm not sure of anywhere that buys used trades.
Ideally, I'd like to get money for these books, but if the store has a good selection, I'd be okay with credit as well. On top of wanting to open up desperately needed shelf space, I love visiting used bookstores, so this would be part errand, part adventure.
Thanks so much for imparting your Seattle bookstore knowledge!
I have a kind of strange variety of books and I'm trying desperately to slim down my collection. Unfortunately, when I took 30 or so books to Ophelia's the other day, they only took about 7 of them. Different stores collect for different niches, but I'm not too familiar with any other used bookstores in the city.
Mostly, I have a fairly varied collection of illustrated children's books and YA lit. Some of them could be considered rare, some of them are signed by the illustrator or author. Apart from doing something like Abe Books or Amazon, is there a store that specializes in this?
I also have a good chunk of non fiction. A few are college texts (literature, art history, film history, niche cultural histories.) But there's also a selection of popular science sort of things, and a good number of books about mythology, folklore, and specifically, dragons. Plus a lot of cookbooks and books about the history of food and agriculture, although I'm not sure if I want to give those up just yet.
On top of all of this is a sizable pile of graphic novels and trade paper backs. I'm comfortable in a comic shop, I just haven't been to many in this city, and I'm not sure of anywhere that buys used trades.
Ideally, I'd like to get money for these books, but if the store has a good selection, I'd be okay with credit as well. On top of wanting to open up desperately needed shelf space, I love visiting used bookstores, so this would be part errand, part adventure.
Thanks so much for imparting your Seattle bookstore knowledge!
Dare I say -- Half Price Books? They don't necessarily pay well, but they will buy pretty much anything. Also, The Couth Buzzard, in Greenwood, has re-opened recently and is buying, though not textbooks.
posted by flechsig at 3:00 PM on June 22, 2010
posted by flechsig at 3:00 PM on June 22, 2010
I exchanged some books to Twice Sold Tales for store credit, but I haven't been able to go back. At the time, she seemed interested in series sets of fantasy fiction, but not so interested in computer or technical books. The store had a sizable cookbook section, so I imagine she'd be interested in those, if you ever decide to part with them.
With most booksellers, you might call ahead and go through a list of ISBNs. They can tell you over the phone if it is something of interest.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:14 PM on June 22, 2010
With most booksellers, you might call ahead and go through a list of ISBNs. They can tell you over the phone if it is something of interest.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:14 PM on June 22, 2010
Caveat: not in Seattle, haven't sold or bought books in Seattle, only ever been there once to visit a girlfriend's cousins.
But: I work for a half-price style store. Don't expect to get much for anything, honestly – a few dollars for a box. How rare are the kids/YA stuff? If they're actually valuable, your best bet is to sell them yourself; otherwise, just slightly rarer/older YA stuff is close to valueless, unless it's very old and popular/fondly remembered (early Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew/Bobbsey Twins/pick your series); most current picture book/YA stuff is also close to valueless just because of the numbers they're produced in and the numbers of pretty similar competitors (five year olds, let's face it, are not the most discriminating readers).
Cookbooks are also pretty close to valueless, unless they're particularly popular ones, if just because of the constraints of storage (it's much more difficult to have a browseable selection of cookbooks than of SF paperbacks because of the required shelf space and heft of the average cookbook). Niche cultural histories are also going to be pretty valueless, as the people who want them tend to be few and far between – which means they hang out on the shelves forever taking up space that could be better used for other stuff.
And finally – and this is pretty important – don't be a jerk to the buyer (obvious, I know), and if the price they offer doesn't seem good, just politely tell them no and take it somewhere else. Don't try to argue with them about why it's more valuable – if they don't recognize something you know is valuable, it's because they probably don't target whatever market that is – and don't try to haggle, unless they encourage that sort of thing. Those are pretty quick ways to get on a seller's bad side and end up with a worse overall offer.
Good luck!
posted by The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal at 4:54 PM on June 22, 2010
But: I work for a half-price style store. Don't expect to get much for anything, honestly – a few dollars for a box. How rare are the kids/YA stuff? If they're actually valuable, your best bet is to sell them yourself; otherwise, just slightly rarer/older YA stuff is close to valueless, unless it's very old and popular/fondly remembered (early Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew/Bobbsey Twins/pick your series); most current picture book/YA stuff is also close to valueless just because of the numbers they're produced in and the numbers of pretty similar competitors (five year olds, let's face it, are not the most discriminating readers).
Cookbooks are also pretty close to valueless, unless they're particularly popular ones, if just because of the constraints of storage (it's much more difficult to have a browseable selection of cookbooks than of SF paperbacks because of the required shelf space and heft of the average cookbook). Niche cultural histories are also going to be pretty valueless, as the people who want them tend to be few and far between – which means they hang out on the shelves forever taking up space that could be better used for other stuff.
And finally – and this is pretty important – don't be a jerk to the buyer (obvious, I know), and if the price they offer doesn't seem good, just politely tell them no and take it somewhere else. Don't try to argue with them about why it's more valuable – if they don't recognize something you know is valuable, it's because they probably don't target whatever market that is – and don't try to haggle, unless they encourage that sort of thing. Those are pretty quick ways to get on a seller's bad side and end up with a worse overall offer.
Good luck!
posted by The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal at 4:54 PM on June 22, 2010
The Magus in the U-District and Twice Sold Tales. Ravenna Third Place is your best bet for the kids'/YA stuff.
posted by matildaben at 6:11 PM on June 22, 2010
posted by matildaben at 6:11 PM on June 22, 2010
i have no personal expereince but i am nthing twice sold tales.
if any are rare or out of print i live right next to Louis Collins Books.
posted by Black_Umbrella at 9:54 PM on June 22, 2010
if any are rare or out of print i live right next to Louis Collins Books.
posted by Black_Umbrella at 9:54 PM on June 22, 2010
I love visiting used bookstores, so this would be part errand, part adventure.
With that kind of statement, I'd recommend taking the time to make a trip to Powell's in Portland. Sell your books, and have an adventure.
posted by girlhacker at 11:31 PM on June 22, 2010
With that kind of statement, I'd recommend taking the time to make a trip to Powell's in Portland. Sell your books, and have an adventure.
posted by girlhacker at 11:31 PM on June 22, 2010
Response by poster: So people know, we FINALLY accomplished this chore yesterday.
We set up an appointment at the Twice Sold Tales on capitol hill to sell approx. 200 books. We turned up with maybe 250 of them. The guy who wrote our checks actually thanked us for having an interesting selection and a bunch of things he either hadn't seen before or was excited about for his own interests. He gave me five extra bucks for being so chipper! Haha, it must have been a good day for him. All together we got about $320 for our books there.
Anyway, we had about two boxes of books left over, so we went over to Half Price Books and just dumped them off. We actually got $55 for our two boxes there! Sweet deal!
The guy at Twice Sold Tales offered me an okay price for my signed copy of Maus (with no inscription), but he actually encouraged me not to sell it to him, telling me it was too good of a deal for him and that I could get more if I kept it and sold it myself or that I really should keep it because it's so nice and in great condition. I agreed, otherwise I would be slightly richer. I liked him a lot!
posted by Mizu at 2:34 PM on August 24, 2010
We set up an appointment at the Twice Sold Tales on capitol hill to sell approx. 200 books. We turned up with maybe 250 of them. The guy who wrote our checks actually thanked us for having an interesting selection and a bunch of things he either hadn't seen before or was excited about for his own interests. He gave me five extra bucks for being so chipper! Haha, it must have been a good day for him. All together we got about $320 for our books there.
Anyway, we had about two boxes of books left over, so we went over to Half Price Books and just dumped them off. We actually got $55 for our two boxes there! Sweet deal!
The guy at Twice Sold Tales offered me an okay price for my signed copy of Maus (with no inscription), but he actually encouraged me not to sell it to him, telling me it was too good of a deal for him and that I could get more if I kept it and sold it myself or that I really should keep it because it's so nice and in great condition. I agreed, otherwise I would be slightly richer. I liked him a lot!
posted by Mizu at 2:34 PM on August 24, 2010
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posted by colfax at 2:22 PM on June 22, 2010 [1 favorite]