What's the best way to sell a (somewhat) rare book?
March 21, 2016 3:36 PM   Subscribe

According to some internet searching, a book I have in my possession is worth a few hundred dollars. I'm wondering what the best way to go about selling it is, given that my Ebay and Amazon seller accounts haven't been the most active.
posted by matkline to Shopping (12 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
What has worked well for me with books is to consign them with a brick & mortar rare bookdealer who may sell to another book seller with a client wish list. If you have a good relationship with the dealer, you could sell directly to them. If you don't know who in your area is a dealer, you could check the abaa.org listings. The ABAA members are reputable and subject to ethical requirements.

If you have little experience in buying & selling books, it's worth googling information on pricing. Books can vary widely in value based on a number of factors. This is a good, basic description of pricing factors.
posted by janey47 at 3:54 PM on March 21, 2016 [2 favorites]


Swann Galleries might be interested
posted by BWA at 4:01 PM on March 21, 2016


Heritage Auctions has a weekly rare books live auction. You fill out a form about what you want to sell, and if they decide to take it (on consignment) they do most of the legwork (photos, grading, description, shipping, etc).
posted by theodolite at 4:08 PM on March 21, 2016


A book dealer I know often recommends Abe Books
Good luck!
posted by Gusaroo at 4:58 PM on March 21, 2016


You may want to look at this previous question regarding the sale of a rare book:
http://ask.metafilter.com/156539/Help-me-cash-this-Lottery-Ticket
tl;dr - what was possibly worth up to $5k (Abe books) was sold on ebay for $800, which was the gross maximum value a rare book auction house suggested it would sell for were they to sell it (then take their cut and fees). The key to the ebay sale was the book's validation by a rare book dealer that cost the seller $50 to obtain.
posted by Thella at 5:53 PM on March 21, 2016 [1 favorite]


Has it sold -- recently and more than once -- for hundreds, or is it merely listed for hundreds...?
posted by kmennie at 6:00 PM on March 21, 2016 [1 favorite]


(Thella, respectfully, I'm having a hard time synching your tl;dr with the fascinating thread you link to. Is there an update elsewhere?)
posted by mwhybark at 2:24 AM on March 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


My wife is an antiquarian bookseller. She's a bit too engaged with something else so she probably won't respond to this, but I can offer some second-hand advice, for what its worth.

Take a look at the thread linked above, at least to get a sense of how this isn't really a simple task. The issues are various. If your book hasn't been catalogued it is difficult to get an idea of how much your particular copy is really worth. Cataloging is the act of actually inspecting the book, its condition, its pages, its binding, as well as its edition. Edition may involve where it was printed, whats peculiar about that edition (sometimes n-th editions contain extra material and this may increase their value) as well as anything else unique about it.
Finding what a 'similar' book is worth is often a poor guide as you don't know how your book differs, and the differences, even small ones, could mean your copy is close to worthless or conversely, even more valuable.

All that is to say, is that if you put yours on ebay, experienced buyers will prefer copies from reputable booksellers that have been cataloged with perhaps a provenance too. For all buyers know, your copy may be a fake, or rebound, or missing vital pages (usually illustrations which are often ripped out of books and sold separately). If it hasn't been inspected by anyone against known copies, then buying your copy is a huge risk. And the price you get will reflect that.

Seeing listings only helps a tiny bit. Anyone can ask whatever they want for a book. A better guide is how much the book has actually sold for in the past. And if it is not the recent past, then the book's value may have dropped or increased significantly since then. Like anything else, the book market is subject to whims and fads. Experienced booksellers have a better handle on whats 'hot' at the moment and what isn't.

Finally, experienced booksellers will often sell on ebay or abebooks but they also cultivate a list of contacts, both with private buyers and with universities and other institutional collectors. So they may be able to sell something for a better price that an otherwise random person would not be able to get - simply because they don't know who to sell it to.

You could also sell it directly to a bookseller. But there again, don't expect a great price. This isn't because booksellers are bad people. It is because they are investing in your book, taking some risk, will invest their own time in cataloging it, keeping it in stock and then waiting or searching for the right buyer. And, after all that, they need to make some profit it themselves to stay in business.


My TL;DR: Find a bookseller you can trust and get them to help you.
posted by vacapinta at 3:14 AM on March 22, 2016


The previous rare book question linked above gets great answers because it offers details about a particular copy of a specific Jules Verne book. It would help you get better answers here if we knew what book we're talking about.

Barring that, my best advice is to take the book to *more than one* used/rare book dealer in your town and ask what they think the book is worth.

Honestly, books worth "a few hundred dollars" aren't that rare. If you learn the book is in the $200-300 range, go ahead and sell it yourself on Amazon. Sites like Bookfinder.com and AbeBooks.com will pick it up and return it as a result if folks search for it. At the store where I work we offer anywhere from 20% to 50% of what we think we think we can get for a rare book, depending on condition, rarity, etc. Selling it yourself is always going to net you the most money, unless you have something worth auctioning, which is indeed rare.

(Oh, also, the repeated use of the word "providence" in that previous rare book thread should be "provenance" - the provenance of a book is its history of ownership, which would be nice for you to know as much about as possible in this case, too.)
posted by mediareport at 5:59 AM on March 22, 2016


I should also note that doing free appraisals is a standard part of the rare bookstore business, so don't let that stop you from going to more than one store.
posted by mediareport at 6:09 AM on March 22, 2016


(Thella, respectfully, I'm having a hard time synching your tl;dr with the fascinating thread you link to. Is there an update elsewhere?)

Ooops, sorry. It was a private message update, which I have permission to share here:
Just thought I'd let you know the outcome of my inquiry about my copy of Verne's The Lottery Ticket, first english edition.

I had a rare book seller assess it and advertise it on Abebooks and other book sites for around $2500. No bites but the seller's rating wasn't stellar. I spoke to rare book auction houses in Australia and was told to expect around $800. So I put in on eBay with an $800 reserve and sold it for $850. I was happy with that.
posted by Thella at 4:42 PM on March 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


Thanks very much! That clarifies things nicely.
posted by mwhybark at 9:44 PM on March 23, 2016


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