How do I sell my books, and maybe make a little money in the process?
May 14, 2010 4:03 PM Subscribe
How do I sell my books, and maybe make a little money in the process?
I have perhaps 150 books that I want to get rid of before my cross-country move. Mostly nonfiction, on a variety of topics, mostly published within the past ten years. About half are hardcover, half are (trade, not mass-market) paperback.
I'd like to get rid of them. It would be nice to sell them off one by one, say on amazon, because I'll have time to kill this summer. But if selling them off that way won't make me more money than just going down to a used bookstore, then it's not worth the trouble.
Question 1: say I decide to sell the books online. How do I price them? (I'm thinking some fixed fraction of list price, plus actual shipping?) What else should I know about doing this?
Question 2: What's the best way to ship the books I'm keeping? I'm asking both about what sort of service to use (USPS? Fedex? UPS? Amtrak (no, seriously! they do this!) and any advice on packing them.
I'm in Philadelphia, moving to the Bay Area. I'm moving at the end of July. I don't have a car but have access to one.
Any other advice on getting rid of books would be appreciated. I'm moving for a year, and currently sorting into four piles:
- books I haven't read. (I have more of these than I thought! these will end up in the three piles that follow once I read them.)
- books I want to have in the next year - expensive or hard-to-find books that I think I'll actually want.
- books that I'd like to have in some future place when I'm a bit more settled; I'm storing these with my parents, who have plenty of room in their basement.
- books I want out of my life. These are the books I referred to above.
I have perhaps 150 books that I want to get rid of before my cross-country move. Mostly nonfiction, on a variety of topics, mostly published within the past ten years. About half are hardcover, half are (trade, not mass-market) paperback.
I'd like to get rid of them. It would be nice to sell them off one by one, say on amazon, because I'll have time to kill this summer. But if selling them off that way won't make me more money than just going down to a used bookstore, then it's not worth the trouble.
Question 1: say I decide to sell the books online. How do I price them? (I'm thinking some fixed fraction of list price, plus actual shipping?) What else should I know about doing this?
Question 2: What's the best way to ship the books I'm keeping? I'm asking both about what sort of service to use (USPS? Fedex? UPS? Amtrak (no, seriously! they do this!) and any advice on packing them.
I'm in Philadelphia, moving to the Bay Area. I'm moving at the end of July. I don't have a car but have access to one.
Any other advice on getting rid of books would be appreciated. I'm moving for a year, and currently sorting into four piles:
- books I haven't read. (I have more of these than I thought! these will end up in the three piles that follow once I read them.)
- books I want to have in the next year - expensive or hard-to-find books that I think I'll actually want.
- books that I'd like to have in some future place when I'm a bit more settled; I'm storing these with my parents, who have plenty of room in their basement.
- books I want out of my life. These are the books I referred to above.
My gf did this before moving cross country. She looked up the ISBN's on Amazon to get the going price and then sold them on Amazon. Make sure and look up every single ISBN, because some books will have surprising worth. She made several hundred selling half as many as you are, although the two of you may have very different taste in books.
posted by Derive the Hamiltonian of... at 4:10 PM on May 14, 2010
posted by Derive the Hamiltonian of... at 4:10 PM on May 14, 2010
You can go the route of selling them 1 by one for the time you have. That's just fine, especially if you have books worth anything. After that time is up, and you're going to move, just take them to half price nooks or whatever used book store is around and let the rest go.
I'd ship them media mail, cheap cheap cheap. Unless they are worth something.
posted by sanka at 4:12 PM on May 14, 2010
I'd ship them media mail, cheap cheap cheap. Unless they are worth something.
posted by sanka at 4:12 PM on May 14, 2010
Someone linked to this in a previous question I can't find right now, but you could sell them to Powell's by typing in ISBNs. They don't take everything but for the ones they want, it'd be less hassle than Amazon Marketplace.
posted by tantivy at 4:29 PM on May 14, 2010
posted by tantivy at 4:29 PM on May 14, 2010
Response by poster: tantivy: do you (or anyone else) have any sense how Powell's offer would compare with what I might expect to make from Amazon Marketplace?
posted by madcaptenor at 4:34 PM on May 14, 2010
posted by madcaptenor at 4:34 PM on May 14, 2010
I just sold some books to Powell's. Mostly recent fiction trade paperbacks with a few old college textbooks thrown in. I would have* made $60 for two cartons of books.
Most books were worth $2 or $3 each and they didn't want half of what I had. But it was alot faster and simpler than selling them piecemeal, and they provided the shipping label so all I had to do was box and ship them.
You can also check your book prices on BookScouter which will check Powell's and a number of other sites for the best price.
*I say would have, because one of the boxes apparently exploded in shipping and I got a note from the post office saying they had an empty box with my name on it. So Powell's only received 1 of the boxes and gave me $25 for the contents. The other books are mostly likely lost forever. This is a cautionary tale. If you send books to Powell's package them as carefully as you can.
posted by cabingirl at 4:43 PM on May 14, 2010 [2 favorites]
Most books were worth $2 or $3 each and they didn't want half of what I had. But it was alot faster and simpler than selling them piecemeal, and they provided the shipping label so all I had to do was box and ship them.
You can also check your book prices on BookScouter which will check Powell's and a number of other sites for the best price.
*I say would have, because one of the boxes apparently exploded in shipping and I got a note from the post office saying they had an empty box with my name on it. So Powell's only received 1 of the boxes and gave me $25 for the contents. The other books are mostly likely lost forever. This is a cautionary tale. If you send books to Powell's package them as carefully as you can.
posted by cabingirl at 4:43 PM on May 14, 2010 [2 favorites]
Cabingirl's already covered Bookscouter, so listen to her on that. It's most useful for textbooks, so YMMV.
The thing with Powell's (be aware they are VERY picky about the condition of your books) and other buyback sites is that you're guaranteed a certain amount of money if they take your books, unlike Amazon where your listing can remain for a very long time. For that you take a hit on what they'll actually pay out--anywhere from 50% on up. If you have time and patience and your ultimate goal is to maximize revenue, then you should sell on Amazon and probably Half.com.
posted by calistasm at 4:53 PM on May 14, 2010
The thing with Powell's (be aware they are VERY picky about the condition of your books) and other buyback sites is that you're guaranteed a certain amount of money if they take your books, unlike Amazon where your listing can remain for a very long time. For that you take a hit on what they'll actually pay out--anywhere from 50% on up. If you have time and patience and your ultimate goal is to maximize revenue, then you should sell on Amazon and probably Half.com.
posted by calistasm at 4:53 PM on May 14, 2010
I've sold books on Half.com, and usually shipping is pretty low and a separate, flat charge on the sites you'd want to sell on. On paperbacks, you usually can ship them for less than the compensation, and very rarely have I shipped a textbook for more than the compensation that I was given. From what I hear, Amazon fetches a higher price because it gets listed on regular Amazon.com searches, but I haven't used them. The site will have online shipping labels you print out and tape to your package, and it's at a cheaper rate than if you ordered it through the post office. USPS Media Mail is cheap and fast. Use it.
Pick up a bunch of bubble envelopes, as they're light, convenient, and fairly cheap. You'll be able to quickly pack and ship your stuff, and this will get you good ratings. You might as well buy them in bulk, since you know how many books you're going to sell. But don't buy 150. First see how many of your books are worth enough to work with. I wouldn't bother with anything under $5. Take those to a half-price bookstore, or just donate them to the library.
As for pricing, I usually just want to get the stuff out of the house, so I price it slightly below the lowest price for that condition. I start conservatively, but then lower even more it if it doesn't move. On Half, there's an interface for managing inventory, which quickly compares it to the other prices. Not sure about Amazon.
posted by mccarty.tim at 4:59 PM on May 14, 2010
Pick up a bunch of bubble envelopes, as they're light, convenient, and fairly cheap. You'll be able to quickly pack and ship your stuff, and this will get you good ratings. You might as well buy them in bulk, since you know how many books you're going to sell. But don't buy 150. First see how many of your books are worth enough to work with. I wouldn't bother with anything under $5. Take those to a half-price bookstore, or just donate them to the library.
As for pricing, I usually just want to get the stuff out of the house, so I price it slightly below the lowest price for that condition. I start conservatively, but then lower even more it if it doesn't move. On Half, there's an interface for managing inventory, which quickly compares it to the other prices. Not sure about Amazon.
posted by mccarty.tim at 4:59 PM on May 14, 2010
You can get rid of at least some of them by putting them up on BookMooch and mailing out the ones that get requested. Once you're settled down in your new place, you can spend the points you earned getting new books. You'll be out between $2 and $3 for each book you ship in the meantime, but you'll get completely new books in return later so that's a better deal if you know you're going to want more books. I've used BookMooch for several months now and I love it; I've gotten about 150 books from it.
The best shipping for books -- whether mailing the remaining to yourself, or mailing single ones to people -- is almost always media rate USPS. Media rate is a special, cheaper rate for shipping things like books, CDs, DVDs, etc. Every now a then a book will weigh so little that if you're only shipping that ONE book, first class might be cheaper. The post office clerk will generally tell you the better deal if you say that you're shipping books and just want to send them as cheaply as possible; I'll go in with say, ten books I want to ship, and he'll ring up nine media and one first class.
Last time we moved and we shipped a box of books to our new address because we didn't have room in the car for them. I think it cost $20 for a small box or something that was very heavy.
posted by Nattie at 5:05 PM on May 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
The best shipping for books -- whether mailing the remaining to yourself, or mailing single ones to people -- is almost always media rate USPS. Media rate is a special, cheaper rate for shipping things like books, CDs, DVDs, etc. Every now a then a book will weigh so little that if you're only shipping that ONE book, first class might be cheaper. The post office clerk will generally tell you the better deal if you say that you're shipping books and just want to send them as cheaply as possible; I'll go in with say, ten books I want to ship, and he'll ring up nine media and one first class.
Last time we moved and we shipped a box of books to our new address because we didn't have room in the car for them. I think it cost $20 for a small box or something that was very heavy.
posted by Nattie at 5:05 PM on May 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
I like Nattie's idea of using BookMooch, which was my main strategy (DC to the Bay area last July). However, I still had a lot of books left over by the time I had to pack up and move. You could try Paperback Swap as well, but be careful about cross-listing unless you check your email frequently, because two people might want the same book.
posted by tantivy at 5:12 PM on May 14, 2010
posted by tantivy at 5:12 PM on May 14, 2010
First any books you don't sell or are only worth a penny online, I would strongly recommend donating to your local books to prisoners program. A cursory google search shows me books through barsis philly's local program.
It would make a huge difference for the incarcerated.
I used to sell tons of books and video games on amazon. I slowed down shortly after they changed the system.
Amazon is nice since you can list and forget until it is sold. Amazon gets their cut of the pie but there isn't a listing fee. You can set it to be on vacation or just wipe your whole inventory without penalty. Media mail is the way to go.
posted by beardlace at 6:50 PM on May 14, 2010
It would make a huge difference for the incarcerated.
I used to sell tons of books and video games on amazon. I slowed down shortly after they changed the system.
Amazon is nice since you can list and forget until it is sold. Amazon gets their cut of the pie but there isn't a listing fee. You can set it to be on vacation or just wipe your whole inventory without penalty. Media mail is the way to go.
posted by beardlace at 6:50 PM on May 14, 2010
If you have the time you should load an amazon tab and a powells tab and just compare each book. There's no sure way to tell other than copy-pasting each ISBN.
Decide if the instant three dollars is worth more than the potential nine dollars. You can nickel and dime yourself up to a few hundred extra if you have all summer to let them be listed on Amazon. Whatever inventory you have left before you leave you can then ship out to Powells.
posted by beardlace at 6:54 PM on May 14, 2010
Decide if the instant three dollars is worth more than the potential nine dollars. You can nickel and dime yourself up to a few hundred extra if you have all summer to let them be listed on Amazon. Whatever inventory you have left before you leave you can then ship out to Powells.
posted by beardlace at 6:54 PM on May 14, 2010
Response by poster: beardlace: books through bars is a block and a half from me! And I've actually taken my fair share of books from the stuff that they leave out on the street after deciding that the prisoners wouldn't be interested in it. Seems kind of wrong to make money off of those books, now that I think about it. (But, well, I shouldn't give them stuff that I *know* they wouldn't want...)
posted by madcaptenor at 7:14 PM on May 14, 2010
posted by madcaptenor at 7:14 PM on May 14, 2010
@madcaptenor They may need them now. And giving them some books from other sources would be a nice karmic thank you.
You may also want to consider something like bookcrossing to set the books loose out in the wild. I haven't thought of it in five years but it still exists:
posted by beardlace at 7:45 PM on May 14, 2010
You may also want to consider something like bookcrossing to set the books loose out in the wild. I haven't thought of it in five years but it still exists:
posted by beardlace at 7:45 PM on May 14, 2010
Try the site Bigwords. It doesn't buy books directly. Instead, it lists all major book sites and their quote price, which saves you having to go to more than one site. And if no sites are directly buying the book, it gives sites where you can list your books, and then the minimum price it's going for. It also gives you any coupon codes the sites currently have, to give you even more money. I just recently did this, and it was definitely the best way to do it.
posted by shesaysgo at 8:49 PM on May 14, 2010
posted by shesaysgo at 8:49 PM on May 14, 2010
Thanks to this question (I'm in the same boat) I found Amazon Buyback through Bookscouter. You get Amazon credit (which is useful after a move IMO). I got about $100 for 9 of my books, and I have about a dozen they won't take. Of course I'm shipping most of my books to myself: $2.50 for first pound and $.39 per additional pound.
posted by monkeymadness at 6:54 AM on May 19, 2010
posted by monkeymadness at 6:54 AM on May 19, 2010
Response by poster: monkeymadness: what's your shipping method? I'm only keeping about a quarter of my books, but that's still enough that I want to keep costs down.
posted by madcaptenor at 11:46 AM on May 19, 2010
posted by madcaptenor at 11:46 AM on May 19, 2010
Media Mail through the USPS. We're just going to ship things a day or two before we head out, and it will take us 4 days to get there. Sometimes Media Mail takes weeks, so we'll be fine.
posted by monkeymadness at 3:10 PM on May 19, 2010
posted by monkeymadness at 3:10 PM on May 19, 2010
Response by poster: Here's some followup:
I finally got around to making a list of the books I had today (even though I did the sorting in May). Submitted the list to Powell's, who took about one-third of the books I was looking to get rid of; I'm sending them off tomorrow.
I'm trying to sell others to my friends (some local, some not) and am getting some responses.
I liked the idea of posting to Amazon but in the end it seems like too much trouble, and the prices on some books were ridiculously low. (On the other hand, I ought to remember this when I start re-accumulating after the move.)
posted by madcaptenor at 6:03 PM on July 1, 2010
I finally got around to making a list of the books I had today (even though I did the sorting in May). Submitted the list to Powell's, who took about one-third of the books I was looking to get rid of; I'm sending them off tomorrow.
I'm trying to sell others to my friends (some local, some not) and am getting some responses.
I liked the idea of posting to Amazon but in the end it seems like too much trouble, and the prices on some books were ridiculously low. (On the other hand, I ought to remember this when I start re-accumulating after the move.)
posted by madcaptenor at 6:03 PM on July 1, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by madcaptenor at 4:07 PM on May 14, 2010