Selling Used books?

[dakotamidnight]

I have a ton of older used books - mostly fiction, etc.

I hate to take them to half price books, because they give you next to nothing for them - but I need the $$$.

Any ideas for somewhere else to take them?

[Scribe]

Older fiction books generally aren't worth much of anything anywhere.

[Thalia the Muse]

Yep. Unless you have collectible first editions or much-loved children's books now OOP -- something with a market -- your old books are not going to be a big monetary asset.

If it's something that a lot of people are looking for, you can try eBay.

[meowee]

Religious books, in-demand textbooks, collectibles (comic books), chronological sets of magazines in good condition, autographed books, and first editions of famous books can sometimes be sold for something.

Old fiction... it's got a very low market value. You might be lucky to give it away, I'm afraid.

You can try selling them in large lots on ebay, but with the price of shipping, your bids will be low.

[4evermom]

You can look them up on Amazon to see how much they are worth as used books (make sure you are looking up the exact edition). If they are worth more than a few dollars, it is worth selling them which you can do on Amazon. Amazon will take a cut and give you a shipping allowance which generally is more than it costs to ship media mail. For instance, a paperback costs about $1.59 to ship but the allowance is $3.49. Amazon used to not take a cut so people used to sell things for a penny and make a profit on the shipping. If you see things being sold for a penny, now, it is by the promerchants who pay a monthly fee instead of giving Amazon a per item cut.

[shelbell]

I second the Amazon.com selling method. My SO usually looks up prices on Amazon.com to see if a book is worth selling (really quick to do since you can search by ISBN). The ones that are worth selling he'll list to see if they sell, and if they don't, he'll take them to Half Price Books or to the local bookstore if he wants books instead of cash.

[Jadzia]

I would just list them all at www.half.com and see if any sell. After a few weeks, go in and periodically reduce the price. If they don't sell after a long time, just donate them. I like selling at Half because all you need to do is list them and wait for them to sell. No monitoring of auctions or arranging payment. Half takes their % and deposits the money in your account. You even get a shipping allowance. Easy-peasy and you can leave them up indefinitely until you get a buyer.

Or you can list them at www.bookmooch.com and use credits to swap them for other books you would like!

[UptownZoo]

I sell my old books on half.com. If they don't sell, there's no fee, and the listings stay up till you take them down. I've sold some stuff on there that I thought would NEVER go, and some stuff that I thought would be snapped right up ended up at the thrift store. You never can tell what odd thing somebody is looking for!

[newbymom05]

I love www.half.com I have bought and sold there and like them (for selling) much, much better than eBay or Amazon. When you go to list your items (choose the "Multiple Listing" option) it will give you a rec'd price so it's easy to price your items. As PPs have said there are no listing fees and your books can sit there forever. Just watch out and don't be like me-I had a ton of books I wanted to unload so I listed them at the recommended price of .75. Then they sold and I had to pack them up and ship 'em--after a couple I realized it wasn't worth it and cancelled the cheapies and donated them.

[A&A]

www.powells.com will now buy your used books.

[BookGoddess]

Originally Posted by Jadzia

Or you can list them at www.bookmooch.com and use credits to swap them for other books you would like!

Another similar site is www.paperbackswap.com You list the books you want to give away and as each book is taken by someone you get a credit that you can use to request a book from another member.

[annekevdbroek]

A PP mentioned, paperbackswap.com may be a good option. I've sold some books on Amazon but it was sort of more work than it was really worth. At paperbackswap I can list all the books I have and then browse around for new books (well, new to me). When I finish those I list them and move on to anothe book. It is a good system and I've gotten 20 books or so, at least, by now.

[xmysticprincessx]

half.com has a minimum listing price of 75 cents. some stuff isnt worth it to list because there's hundreds of brand new copies listed at 75 cents.

i've got books still on half.com that i listed about 5 years ago. (they;re all sitting in a box in my garage.)

i do go to garage sales and look for used college textbooks. ones that were published within the past 3 years are generally still the current edition. i dont usually pay more than $1 for a book (unless i can tell by looking at it that its worth quite a bit), so i dont lose too much on a gamble if they just came out with a new edition.

[SleeplessMommy]

We have dome fairly well at Amazon - huge numbers of vintage engineering texts in our library, as well as specialized craft books (weaving, etc). We have sold books up to about $125. If you have time, it is well worth your while to type in a few hundred isbn numbers and see if there is any "good stuff". You are looking for books with a resale value over 99 cents (or so) and a "popularity rating" of less than 1,000,000. (The lower the number, the better)

DH bought a book at the airport (full price) read it, and said it had to go. We got about $6 back. This is about number 6,000 on the Amazon bestsellers list.
"1421: The Year China Discovered America [Paperback] by Menzies, Gavin"

If you combine Amazon or half.com with www.paperbackswap.com (the junk goes to the latter site) you should be able to always get the reading material you want, at a fairly low price. If you really LIKE selling on these sites, then start hitting up your family and friends for unwanted books.

This has had 2 non-monetary benefits for us: 1) we have space on the book shelves for our books now, and 2) in sending away unwanted books, we find some treasures well worth keeping.
-sleeplessMommy

[Beccah+twins+1]

I came to post about www.paperbackswap.com but there is already a thread. Bumping this up because I love PBS!! I have sworn off buying new books. I am swapping my old books, getting new ones, and it's awesome. Love it!

[Scribe]

Yep, me too. I am using Paperbackswap, Book Mooch, AND Frugal Reader now. I'm in HEAVEN.

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by avengingophelia

Yep, me too. I am using Paperbackswap, Book Mooch, AND Frugal Reader now. I'm in HEAVEN.