Is selling old books even worth it?

[FiftyIsTheNewTwenty]

On eBay or Amazon...

These are normal books, nothing special.  Non-fiction plus some bestseller fiction, mostly hardcover.  Some going back to the 70s and even 60s.

My concerns:

• The market is flooded with books, and they sell too cheaply to be worth it.
• Book people are weird, and picky about condition.  To me, these would all be decent, but...  I don't want to have to get into it with people.

Any ideas?  If it is worth it, what's the best way to ship?

[ejacobson]

Years ago I sold some old textbooks and made a bit of money. When it comes to other books, unless you have some antiques it might not be worth it. If you are clearing out space you could sell lots but then again it might be easier to just donate. Check bookfinder dot com to get pricing from multiple bookstores.

Regarding shipping, USPS media rates are not bad. In my experience I have not found book buyers to be pickier than your typical eBay or Amazon buyer. You should be fine if you describe the books accurately. A new book that has been visibly leafed through is no longer new. Books should not be shipped wrapped in newspaper (it smears) or packed with old pop cans (weird but true - some people pack books that way).

[Linea_Norway]

I have sold a book that is very popular on a  certain group of people and they are out of print for decades. I had one too many and could sell this for a good price.

Normal books I have just given away.

[Sibley]

I'm a book person. Unless you're misrepresenting the condition of the book or which book it is, my weirdness and pickiness are totally my problem.

You can try taking all of them to a 2nd hand store and see what they'll buy. It would be less than you could get directly, but less hassle. Anything they don't want probably isn't worth much.

[Noodle]

It sort of depends--out-of-print books in decent condition can go for good prices, especially if they are from a specialized area (especially a field which benefits from illustrations, like art history). I have a specialist library for my professional interests that I will sell when I retire, and while I don't expect to make thousands, I do hope for a few hundred! Popular books...not so much. Looking on Amazon will give you an idea as to what you have, even if you decide to go with a book seller.

Personally, I give all my books which I am clearing out to a specialty library I use, which has a book sale once a year to fund their operations. I give away books, and get access to more books! Works for me...

[Hargrove]

So, basically no.

Maybe, IF you're having a yard or garage sale anyway, it's worth it to put all your books on a table and price them for 50c or a buck. It's not worth having a sale just for them, and it's very rarely worth ebay or Amazon.

I looked into this several times over the years. I can recommend doing a fundraiser sale (sometimes local schools might have a "sell from your trunk" day or whatever), or a yard sale if your area attracts crowds for them - just price everything simply and you don't even need stickers or labels for the books. But without tapping a local used market, it's just not worth the time or returns.

[99to1percent]

I have a family member who sells old books and makes thousands of dollars a month. 

But they are mainly comic books and he doesn't sell them online.  He sells them in special pop-up weekend book markets.

[CheapScholar]

Selling books is actually my side hustle.  I get my inventory by going to a Friend's of the Library sale by my inlaws.  Twice a year they have "$5 fill a bag sale" and I usually get a good haul.  I bring my phone and check prices on my web browser.  Fortunately, this library bans scanners.  Otherwise, you get annoying people scanning bar codes and making a mess.  I also get books from the university I work at through a number of ways.

I sell exclusively on Amazon, although the fees have gone up a lot from when I started.  If the lowest listing for your book on Amazon is below $10 it's not worth your time IMO (unless you have a crazy huge inventory and you plan on selling dozens of books per week and love going to the post office).  I agree you're probably better off unloading books at a yard sale MOST of the time.  The books I make money on are either text books or antique books.

[FiftyIsTheNewTwenty]

OK, thanks!

BTW -- after reading a new book, I tend to give it away to a friend who's interested.  Most of them get returned, even though I would rather they be given to someone else.

[I'm a red panda]

I just drop off giant boxes of books at Half Price books.  I get more money for them here in Iowa than I ever did in Texas, but it is cents on the dollar.

Still, better than nothing.

I buy most of my books for 1 cent (plus shipping) on amazon; I can't imagine there is much money to be made selling there.

[Gremlin]

I have a family member who sells old books as a side hustle.  But old as in 1600s old, not 1960s old.  I can confirm that if you know what you are doing then it can be quite lucrative.  If you don’t, then you can lose s lot of money quickly too...

[Kansas Terri]

Are your books useful?

I am NOT going to sell my old books, as they are useful. If I want to know something I can look it up. Yes, right now you can google whatever, but then you must evaluate the source, which might be too much if it is 2 AM and your child has a fever of 104, and you want to look up what illness she may have. And, there are many myths about gardening, but I have textbooks that were written by professionals and when they say that corn needs such-and-so fertilization they KNOW what they are talking about.

The books that I have kept are good ones, I use them for reference, and I will keep them. The books I do not wish to keep are disposed of ASAP to get rid of them. I do not have the time to sell them, as I have other irons in the fire, so I just drop them off at Goodwill.

Goodwill will give you a receipt for stuff, and you can use it for a tax break if you itemize.

The post office has a special rate for books, but I do not remember what it is.

[Dicey]

I'm on a couple of Library Boards, one of which runs Quarterly Book Sales to support the library. I've been doing this for about a decade. Here's what I know. Books don't sell at garage sales. Listing anything with a value of $10 or less on line probably isn't worth your time and effort. Book buyers are notoriously picky, and Amazon slaughters the seller in favor of the buyer. Know this.

If you itemize your taxes, donate the books to your library and take the write-off. Best and easiest bang for your buck. Next, consider creating your own branch of a "Little Library". Stock it yourself for a few years or more. It's fun, cheap, easy, good karma, and you may make a few new friends. There are two on my street and I stock them both as needed. I also tend to accumulate Chamomile Tea, which I don't like. I put the sachets in cute little box and tucked it into the corner of one of the boxes, a trick I learned from Katy at The Non-Consumer Advocate.

Finally, stop buying new books! Or be like CheapScholar and support your Friends Group's book and bag sales. By the time the bag sale begins, we are so over it, we'll practically shove the books in your bag for you so we don't have to pack it up the next day.

If you Fifty..., CheapScholar, or anyone else reading this is serious about selling books, another great way to obtain them is by joining a Friend's Group and helping with book sale set-ups. Our volunteers can buy anything they like before the sale for $1.00. On the take-down day after the sale, they can HAVE anything they want. Just sayin'. There's not a library on the planet that can't use more volunteers. If we both make money, everybody's hap-py.

Get a library card. It's the best. I think a library card should be required ID at all MMM meet-ups, camps, and all other functions.

[Kwill]

...
If you itemize your taxes, donate the books to your library and take the write-off. Best and easiest bang for your buck....

Finally, stop buying new books! ...
Get a library card. It's the best. I think a library card should be required ID at all MMM meet-ups, camps, and all other functions.

Yes to libraries! Your community buys books for you, saving you money and shelf space. US public libraries seem to be better funded and better stocked than UK public libraries, too, though it depends on the town.

If you're a serious collector with a major collection of books or artworks that are really worth something, then it may be worth talking to someone at a major library or museum or antiquarian bookshop. I don't know about the relevant laws are in the US, but in the UK, collectors can write in-kind donations into their wills to reduce the amount of inheritance taxes they owe. That sort of thing has to be set up in advance in cooperation with an institution and may generate some side benefits in attention from the receiving institution.

[loreley0628]

Not too long ago I sorted through my book collection and sold a lot. I hate the hassle but did want to make some money, so I had three strategies:

• Specialised text books I posted to the Facebook page of the university's related department where I graduated. Just took a photo of them piled up with the titles visible. A bunch of them sold and at quite high prices, and I organised to meet people at the university (I still live in the same city, making this easy). The leftover books were picked up by one person who was willing to pay a nice rounded off number for them, saving me the hassle of getting rid of everything separately.
• For a long time I've tracked all my books on Goodreads. I made a separate list of books I was selling, posted this on my Facebook timeline, and priced everything at €1 for a paperback and €2 for a hardback. Sold a lot this way to my friends, who again, I was able to meet in person.
• Whatever was left after this, I dropped off at the local used books store in small batches. This didn't make me a lot of money, but it was hassle-free and I know they pay a slightly larger % if you drop them off in small numbers as opposed to everything at once.

I ended up making about € 500 on 300 books. Could have been better, but was still more than I had hoped for (knowing books basically don't sell these days).

[libertarian4321]

Are your books useful?

I am NOT going to sell my old books, as they are useful. If I want to know something I can look it up.

For years, I kept shelves full of reference books.  A couple of years ago, I realized that I spend more time dusting them off than looking at them.  Got this wonderful fancy dictionary.  I probably last consulted it in 2002- it was expensive, its pretty, and it's been completely replaced by a quick google search/online dictionaries.  I honestly can't remember the last time I ran to a paper reference book, either for work or home use.

Though I do read some books electronically, I still prefer paper for recreational reading.  But I realize even that is a slowly dying format.

I donated the lot of them.  Maybe some charity could get a couple of bucks for them?

If not, they probably ended up in the recycle bin.

[Villanelle]

Since you seem to want to actually buy rather than borrow books, I think your best bet would be to find a good-sized used book store and hit them up when you've got a box full. Use your credit to buy your next reads, whenever possible.  If you find yourself accumulating more credit than you can reasonably spend (easy to do if you are picky about what you read and are therefore selling a lot more than you are buying) consider hitting up a local school, asking the librarian what books they want, and seeing if you can fulfill any of their list with your credit. 

[I'm a red panda]

If you itemize your taxes, donate the books to your library and take the write-off.

I'm shocked your library takes book donations. I've never lived near one that did.

I do agree with your "stop buying new books" suggestion.  The books I accumulate I buy because 1) a used copy was cheaper than the Kindle version and 2)the used copy was cheaper than the ILL.

[Smevans]

I just purged more than half of my books. I found that the stress, time and hassle of selling them is not worth it. I ended up donating all of them this time around.

[Dicey]

If you itemize your taxes, donate the books to your library and take the write-off.

I'm shocked your library takes book donations. I've never lived near one that did.

I do agree with your "stop buying new books" suggestion.  The books I accumulate I buy because 1) a used copy was cheaper than the Kindle version and 2)the used copy was cheaper than the ILL.

Lots of libraries have Friends Groups, who sell donated books to raise money to pay for the things that the City or County doesn't have the resources for. Our Friends Group raises about $30k annually. It's a lot of work, but it makes a big difference.

[CheapScholar]

Yep, typically the Friends group is legally separate from the library and is its own 501c3.

They sometimes work with libraries to accept books and sell books on library grounds.  The one I visit most works out of the library basement.  They do a lot of work.  Keep in mind the good Friends groups also sell their gems online for fair prices. 

[SimpleCycle]

I have not had much luck selling on Amazon, and had an awful experience where someone gave me a bad review for something that was totally outside my control.

I have had a lot of luck at a local used bookstore.  They take about a third of what I bring in, but they pay much better prices than Amazon on average.  For everything that is left, I run the ISBNs through a couple online book buyers and ship off anything they'll take, then donate the rest.  I've used Cash4Books and Decluttr in the past.  It's not a ton of effort to get $20 or $30 for a box of books.

[acroy]

scan them, item by item, esp older hardcover. You never know....

My #1 son has a small side-hustle doing just that. His grandparents give him loads of ancient school books. we scan them together to determine if there is a market. If there is, he takes pictures and writes up the description. I post on Ebay.

we don't bother with anything under $7.50 (free shipping included). It's not worth it under that amount, after deducting ebay fees, shipping cost, etc.

Under 7.5 we donate and take a tax break :)

good luck!!

[Jenny1974]

New releases I will usually post on Amazon after I'm done with them.  Sometimes I just can't wait and I'll use my 20% coupon at B&N to buy one of the new releases that's already 40% off for members.  I read quickly so generally I turn around and sell it for a small profit.  With all my other books, I collect them in a tub until it's full . .  take it to work and let others pick out what they like.  The remaining I take to a used book store and get store credit.  So far this has worked well for me and it keeps my net cash outlay for books to a minimum.

[Dicey]

Yep, typically the Friends group is legally separate from the library and is its own 501c3.

They sometimes work with libraries to accept books and sell books on library grounds.  The one I visit most works out of the library basement.  They do a lot of work.  Keep in mind the good Friends groups also sell their gems online for fair prices.

Ours is a great Friends group, if I may say so myself, as a long time board member. We don't sell online, because we do not have storage space, much to our despair. It's also very labor intensive. A listing can sit for months, but suddenly you get a buyer and you have to ship that sucker out instantly, or risk bad reviews.

[CheapScholar]

Yep, typically the Friends group is legally separate from the library and is its own 501c3.

They sometimes work with libraries to accept books and sell books on library grounds.  The one I visit most works out of the library basement.  They do a lot of work.  Keep in mind the good Friends groups also sell their gems online for fair prices.

Ours is a great Friends group, if I may say so myself, as a long time board member. We don't sell online, because we do not have storage space, much to our despair. It's also very labor intensive. A listing can sit for months, but suddenly you get a buyer and you have to ship that sucker out instantly, or risk bad reviews.

Volunteering for a Friends group is something I might do when I FIRE.  Question for you, what's the backstop to sort out your gems?  A lot of friends sales advertise "not picked over" and sell all books for 50c or a dollar, but I'm skeptical that's true for most sales.  I do know of one that seems to truly be not picked over by staff, but I tend to think even they'd notice a first edition of Catcher in the Rye.

One reason I get good finds is bc the Friends group by my inlaws is run mostly by elderly volunteers.  It's also a town with an aging population and I suspect when someone dies, their kids just dump all the books at the donation box by the library.  And the sale shelves take up an entire basement.  So there seems to be no checking of fair value by the volunteers and I just walk in and buy a $5 bag that sometimes contains a hundred dollars worth of books.   

[onehair]

I am getting ready to recycle several of my old books soon.  I love books I love reading them and collecting ones I either enjoy or have a use for.  But while reselling is a good option if they're worth something, I realize a lot of mine are just collecting dust.  I am going to nag my son into taking them to the county recycling center that accepts them on some days as long as they're under 500 pounds.

[teen persuasion]

If you itemize your taxes, donate the books to your library and take the write-off.

I'm shocked your library takes book donations. I've never lived near one that did.

I do agree with your "stop buying new books" suggestion.  The books I accumulate I buy because 1) a used copy was cheaper than the Kindle version and 2)the used copy was cheaper than the ILL.

You get charged for ILL?  My library system doesn't charge for ILL, although I believe some of the individual libraries charge if you don't pick up your holds before they expire.  That seems backwards to me - it would discourage patrons from placing holds.  We want to encourage as many circs as possible, our books or ILL, doesn't matter.

As for accepting donations, people leave orphan boxes of books outside the library (or drop them in the book drop) frequently.  We'd rather they let us have the option to examine the books before accepting or refusing them, by bringing them in during open hours, or better yet, calling to ask if we can accept them at the present time.  We have standing rules that we don't accept encyclopedias, college textbooks, or reader's digest condensed books.  After that, condition, storage space, and demand control whether we accept books.  If books are not sellable, we'd prefer you recycle them yourself - it is a lot of labor for staff to cut off the covers of all hardcover books (covers must be trashed, cannot be recycled), and big recycling totes full of books are ridiculously heavy to wheel to the curb.  It also uses up our recycling "space" - previous staff have taken recycling home to put in their personal recycling bins to relieve overflow!

Sorry for the rant - we love donations and hate to say no, but please, donate only good condition in-demand items.

[GuitarStv]

I love books.  I've had shelves of books for most of my life.  Starting in my early teens I spent most of the money that I got on books every year.

That said, I haven't purchased a book in close to seven years now.  I've actually been throwing out/donating most of the stuff that I've accumulated.  It's hard to even give books away.  Between the library and the internet there really isn't a need to keep books around anymore.

[saguaro]

I am about to find out the worth of the 700 books that were picked from my late parents' home yesterday. Local reseller (Chicago area) will pick up 200 or more books for a pickup fee.  If the books' value are more than the $50 fee, you will get a check for the difference.

Not sure what the books will fetch for, but even for the $50 fee it sure saved my sibs and I the hassle of having to haul them somewhere.   

[Hotstreak]

Amazon has a book buying program where they will buy any book on their "list", and you send them all in at once.  You get paid right away, and they do the work of storing and selling the books.  Something to consider if you are looking to unload a large number of relatively common books.

[GetItRight]

Not worthwhile with shipping costs. Too much time/effort to sell locally. There's a used book store I go to that sells for a dollar and buys for $.50. Basically a private library.

[Dicey]

I'm on a couple of Library Boards, one of which runs Quarterly Book Sales to support the library. I've been doing this for about a decade. Here's what I know. Books don't sell at garage sales. Listing anything with a value of $10 or less on line probably isn't worth your time and effort. Book buyers are notoriously picky, and Amazon slaughters the seller in favor of the buyer. Know this.

If you itemize your taxes, donate the books to your library and take the write-off. Best and easiest bang for your buck. Next, consider creating your own branch of a "Little Library". Stock it yourself for a few years or more. It's fun, cheap, easy, good karma, and you may make a few new friends. There are two on my street and I stock them both as needed. I also tend to accumulate Chamomile Tea, which I don't like. I put the sachets in cute little box and tucked it into the corner of one of the boxes, a trick I learned from Katy at The Non-Consumer Advocate.

Finally, stop buying new books! Or be like CheapScholar and support your Friends Group's book and bag sales. By the time the bag sale begins, we are so over it, we'll practically shove the books in your bag for you so we don't have to pack it up the next day.

If you Fifty..., CheapScholar, or anyone else reading this is serious about selling books, another great way to obtain them is by joining a Friend's Group and helping with book sale set-ups. Our volunteers can buy anything they like before the sale for $1.00. On the take-down day after the sale, they can HAVE anything they want. Just sayin'. There's not a library on the planet that can't use more volunteers. If we both make money, everybody's hap-py.

Get a library card. It's the best. I think a library card should be required ID at all MMM meet-ups, camps, and all other functions.

[Linea_Norway]

In my office we are moving to a new part of the building where we don't get a private shelf. I have decided I don't need my private technical literature books anymore. So I put them out for sale on the internet for a low price. We'll see if any thick books about Excel 2010 will bring in a few Norwegian crowns. And some other stuff. I can always give/throw them away if this doesn't work, or donate it to work.

[FireLane]

I use a site called Paperback Swap. List the books you want to give away, and other people on the site can request them. When you ship a book to someone, you get a credit you can use to request a book you want from someone else.

It used to be free, now they charge something like 50 cents per book requested to cover their costs, plus you pay shipping on books you send (at the very cheap media mail rate). Still much cheaper than buying new.

[Just Joe]

I curious how any librarians respond.

Anyone ever just put your book donations in the return bin at the library? Put a slip in the book (like a bookmark) that is marked "donation".

Maybe they'll add it to their collection, maybe they'll add it to the pile of books to be offered to the public to raise library funds.

[Villanelle]

I curious how any librarians respond.

Anyone ever just put your book donations in the return bin at the library? Put a slip in the book (like a bookmark) that is marked "donation".

Maybe they'll add it to their collection, maybe they'll add it to the pile of books to be offered to the public to raise library funds.

Please don't do that.  I'm sure different systems work differently, but it was always a bit of a pain for us.  Better to walk them up to the counter and tell someone they are donations.  Bookmarks can easily fall out or go unnoticed.  Take the extra minute to go inside and tell the front desk and they will either take them, direct you to the proper area, or let you now if they don't want donated books. 

[Dicey]

I curious how any librarians respond.

Anyone ever just put your book donations in the return bin at the library? Put a slip in the book (like a bookmark) that is marked "donation".

Maybe they'll add it to their collection, maybe they'll add it to the pile of books to be offered to the public to raise library funds.

.
Please don't do that.  I'm sure different systems work differently, but it was always a bit of a pain for us.  Better to walk them up to the counter and tell someone they are donations.  Bookmarks can easily fall out or go unnoticed.  Take the extra minute to go inside and tell the front desk and they will either take them, direct you to the proper area, or let you now if they don't want donated books.

Oh, so much this!^^^

Our library has an entire Friends Group who manage this. We collect and collate the books and arrange them by category before each book sale, then we invite the librarians to browse and take whatever is useful to them. We have giant, well-marked collection bins for donations, yet nearly every day idiots leave them outside the door or worse, just inside the vestibule, where they're a tripping hazard to everyone entering and exiting the library.

Better to ask first. And read the signs. If it says "No Encyclopedias or Magazines" and that's what you've dragged in, well drag them right back out and recycle your unwanted "gifts" some other way. /End of rant.

[Chaplin]

I did a major book purge this summer. The picture below is of small fraction of them:



My son emptied the boxes and laid them out while I divided them into piles:
1. keep for my son
2. keep for me
3. sell or donate
4. recycle

I got rid of more than half of them and freed up a lot of space. Some of the "sell or donate" ones are still lingering though. I can't stomach discarding some of these beautiful books. I don't need any money for them, but I want them to go to a good home. My father was an amateur historian - most of what I'm having trouble parting with are left over from his collection. I'm sure I could find good homes for them, or even sell a few for >$20, but that takes a lot of time if you're doing it casually.

I stopped buying books when we moved to our current area and had amazing libraries nearby. We kept receiving book store gift cards for xmas - when I finally took them all in and had them consolidated on to one card it was over $200. We're trying to whittle that down by using it to buy gifts. Chapters/Indigo sells Lego, so that helps. Travel guides are a good option too.

We have a local used bookstore that gives store credit rather than cash for books, which makes a ton of sense. We've used that to get some kids series books like "Geronimo Stilton" which seem to be hard to find in libraries.

Joining a "Friends" group in FIRE sounds like a great idea. Our libraries are awesome.

[draco44]

Amazon has a book buying program where they will buy any book on their "list", and you send them all in at once.  You get paid right away, and they do the work of storing and selling the books.  Something to consider if you are looking to unload a large number of relatively common books.

Just wanted to clarify for everyone that what Hotstreak is talking about is the Amazon Trade-In Program.  This is different from regular selling on Amazon where you list and ship sold items yourself.  With Amazon Trade-In, Amazon pays you upfront (after you mail in your books and they do a quality check) then sells the items on their own time.  It's like how most consignment shops give you the option of either buying the item outright from you at a low price, or consigning items, where you get the chance of a higher sale price but also take on the risk of ending up with no sale at all.

[FIRE Artist]

Used, and especially out of print, art instruction books seem to do really well, I am saying this from my perspective as a buyer.  Art books are the only kind of book that I like to have in the physical.

[Nightwatchman9270]

We have a great second hand book/cd/dvd/etc dealer in Tennessee.  I just take my stuff there. Usually old books end up in the "free" bin/dumpster.  As a general rule, any reference books >10 years and <100 years old are worthless.  Unless they are recent best-sellers you don't get very much for books.

[rantk81]

Reselling any relatively low priced used items is generally a not worth my time.

[marble_faun]

I have sold used books in the past (a few hundred bucks' worth on Amazon), just to reduce my own huge book collection.

I agree with others, that if a book is going for less than $10 or thereabouts on Amazon, it's not worth selling. They've recently raised the seller fees, probably to reduce competition between third-party used book sales and their own Kindle books.

You still see books listed for a penny, but these are likely coming from huge-volume sellers who are making teeny amounts of money on lots and lots of books. (The money comes from the shipping fee.)

If you do have a stash of somewhat valuable books, you can set up a shipping assembly line. Often I've found that a lot of my books sell in the first couple weeks of listing them, so there's a rush right away. I have my econo packing materials ready to go, and I just crank the packages out and send a tote bag full whenever I happen to be in the vicinity of a post office.

After a couple weeks, the sales drop off, and you're left with the books no one seems to want. I might let these kick around for 6 months or thereabouts, dropping the prices to see what happens, but at a certain point I donate the leftovers.

If you want to speculate in the book market, you're going to need to take the time to study the ebbs and flows. (There was a recent episode of Planet Money all about this: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/11/10/363103753/textbook-arbitrage-making-money-off-used-books)

Hope this is useful!