Please help me sell books easily

October 5, 2009 11:35 AM

How can I sell books without much effort?

I have a lot of good-excellent condition books that I no longer need (fiction, non-fiction, whatever... probably a few hundred). I've been selling them on half.com and Amazon used and I've done pretty well, but I want them out of my life much more quickly and easily. I've priced them competitively, so they do sell, but it is a pain to have to find the book in the storage space, weigh it, wrap it, mail it, etc. - all for a few bucks.

I asked at a used book store and it seemed like they would only take things that are currently selling out but that they don't have a copy of in stock and it wanted to give me store credit rather than cash.

Is there a way to get rid of all my books at once?

I'll be moving this year, so I'd like to get going on this project. I also want to make some money on this project. Any suggestions?

posted by k8t to home & garden (23 comments total)

Consider donating them and taking their resale value as a tax deduction.
posted by lorrer at 11:37 AM on October 5

Consider placing an ad for the whole lot. You'll probably take a bit of a loss in terms of what you'd get if you continued selling them one at a time, but the time and effort saved might be worth it.
posted by xingcat at 11:46 AM on October 5

Take them to a second hand book store and ask for a price.

Put them in boxes and take them to a house clearance auction.

Neither of these options will get you good money, but they are low effort solutions.
posted by fire&wings at 11:51 AM on October 5

Post on craigslist for book garage sale. Have a book garage sale.
posted by Darth Fedor at 11:55 AM on October 5

Depending on the city: set up a table on a busy street on a saturday, bring a pot of tea and ask for a dollar a book, 5 for 4 dollars. After a couple of tries, donate the rest.
posted by CharlesV42 at 11:59 AM on October 5

Ask at another used book store. The one in my neighborhood accepts anything, but only pays / issues credit for books it feels it can sell. Books it can't sell are either returned to you or 'donated to a good home' (library, prison, etc.), whichever you prefer.
posted by jon1270 at 12:10 PM on October 5

I dunno... what's your idea of "some" money? I would just pick the books you have that are most valuable. Books that are guaranteed to sell. Maybe like your top 100 or top 50. Then sell those books on half or ebay. Set high but reasonable prices. A guaranteed sell is a guaranteed sell. Money doesn't matter so much to some people as to others. I myself have been known to opt for a book 10 bucks more expensive if it meant that the seller lived closerby. Seeing as there's high sexual activity in cali, chances are you're more likely to be living very near someone who might want your book.

And those other old books you have like the social causes of the english revolution or some lousy pieces on history by nietzche and hegel that only losers like you or I might care about. Those books, you should just throw out. Don't even donate them to the library. I hate going to the library and seeing some really old 1960s book on the so-called "Puritan spirit". Bleh. Throw it out. Throw a book-burning festival.

Still, you're only going to make like a grand. Is it worth it?
posted by fairykarma at 12:25 PM on October 5

The last time I moved I just took crates to the biggest used bookstore in town. You don't do as well as selling them individually, but it's so much less work.
posted by CunningLinguist at 12:39 PM on October 5

Aw crap, just reread the question and saw you had tried a used book store. Maybe try another one?
posted by CunningLinguist at 12:40 PM on October 5

Seeing as there's high sexual activity in cali, chances are you're more likely to be living very near someone who might want your book.

huh?
posted by CunningLinguist at 12:42 PM on October 5 [4 favorites has favorites]

You can sell batches of used books at powells.com. Enter the ISBNs and they will tell you which ones they'll take and how much they'll give. You can ship them all together. Donate the rest.
posted by somanyamys at 12:43 PM on October 5 [6 favorites has favorites]

Seeing as there's high sexual activity in cali, chances are you're more likely to be living very near someone who might want your book.

????!???

And those other old books you have like the social causes of the english revolution or some lousy pieces on history by nietzche and hegel that only losers like you or I might care about. Those books, you should just throw out. Don't even donate them to the library.

Although I am totally bemused by this, it does remind me to mention that most libraries don't want donated books of any kind, and those libraries that do want donated books generally want recent best-sellers and how-to books only.

I hate going to the library and seeing some really old 1960s book on the so-called "Puritan spirit". Bleh. Throw it out. Throw a book-burning festival.

Yeah, don't do this, either (again I am confused--if libraries are not for old books as well as new books, what are they for?)

I'd start with the powells.com batch sale idea, then either give the rest of the books away on freecycle as a batch or give them to an organization that accepts batch donations. Here's a list of international book donation projects.
posted by Sidhedevil at 12:51 PM on October 5

Do you know someone who would be willing to take over the "work" of posting these online for you in exchange for a cut of the profits? I'm thinking a teenager who needs pocket money, or anyone else who needs a bit of cash and loves books.

Otherwise, I'd say sell what you can to Powell's or any other store that will pay you in cash and not store credit. Now you'll have some left over, of course. Do you think you will be wanting more books in the future? Then I suggest posting them to paperbackswap.com (which has a printable wrapping that fits most trade-sized and smaller books) and seeing how many more you can pawn off. You'll have to pay for shipping, but you'll get a credit for a free book (with free shipping) from another user. Then after X amount of time, donate whatever you still have and don't want.
posted by soelo at 1:03 PM on October 5

The whole thing about libraries is that they have finite space and conservation budgets, and some book from 1980 on using microcomputers is taking up space, time and money that could be used for a new copy of Lolita. Or, you know, The Lost Symbol.

They also have collections policies, and ideas about who their collection serves and how it should do that. When you donate books to the library, someone has to go through those books, figure out which ones the library needs to make its collection better, fix 'em up, tape them, give them nice covers, give them barcodes, etc.

Unwanted donations to public libraries use up your tax dollars and prevent them from being spent on Judy Blume, or something important.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 1:04 PM on October 5

(Edit: Something else important. Sorry, Ms. Blume!)
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 1:06 PM on October 5

Well, libraries may not take them, but there are plenty of non-profits you could donate too which would either sell them in turn to raise money at their annual book-sales, or keep them for their own meager libraries at community centers and the like.

But you wanted to make a bit of cash for them, so I would say spend your time on the for-sure sales and make a decent profit on those, then donate or sell the rest in bulk.

Throw a book-burning festival.

a great idea if you don't mind the wracking guilt and fascistic overtones
posted by Think_Long at 1:34 PM on October 5

For what it is worth, Powells seems to be pretty picky about what it will take. However, it will pay shipping for what you have. So pop those ISBNs in and see what happens. Thanks all!
posted by k8t at 1:53 PM on October 5

And I just made $50. Thanks all.
posted by k8t at 2:34 PM on October 5

How can I sell books without much effort?

Cheaper.
posted by flabdablet at 4:22 PM on October 5

Also try cash4books.net. Like Powells they are picky about what they take but they pay for shipping and will send you a check. I've sold a few books to them and it was painless and they paid right away.
posted by Kangaroo at 4:30 PM on October 5 [1 favorite has favorites]

AbeBooks also has a place where you can do the batch ISBN thing. Made me about $100.
posted by dreamphone at 4:41 PM on October 5 [1 favorite has favorites]

I asked at a used book store and...it wanted to give me store credit rather than cash.

Every single used bookstore in my town almost always offers a choice of cash or store credit (you usually get more in store credit). Ask around at another store if the one you asked at doesn't offer cash.

But yeah, selling them as a lot on craigslist is probably your most efficient option if speed and minimal effort are the primary concerns.
posted by mediareport at 9:55 PM on October 5

if libraries are not for old books as well as new books, what are they for

I think you're missing an important distinction between a library and an archive. Libraries only want to keep things that people are using.
posted by timepiece at 1:43 PM on October 6