In the past, I have sold some books on Half.com (an eBay company), as well as in my Bonanza shop and on ebay. However, it's been several years, and things change quickly in the online world. I'm looking to rearrange my office, and that involves downsizing my book collection. I was wondering if anyone has had any success selling books, and if so, where/how? I doubt there's a market for them in the Facebook groups or selling apps, so I was thinking perhaps I'm missing something, and y'all could give me some pointers. I will probably donate some to the library/Goodwill that I don't think would be of interest to buyers, but it would be great to be able to make a little money.
I've never sold books online but there are sites I've heard of which you probably might want to take a look at. Log InI think you are more likely to sell your books fast if you can find dealers who regularly buy used books. Another site you could take a look at is: Log In
Thanks, @Denis Hard. I have a pile that I've gone through already, and more to review. I could probably donate some to the local library if it doesn't look as if it would be worth it to try to sell them either in person or online. I do have some textbooks in the bunch, but they're older, so probably don't have much value now, although some are in pretty much pristine shape. I might donate a few to Goodwill. I know they sell them on Amazon and I think eBay/half.com, because I've purchased some from them on both sites, I believe.
To be honest, the most success that I have when selling books is by taking them to local used bookstores or by selling them at a yard sale. There is a lot of competition online, and while there's also more buyers, it is a lot of effort to sell them online, between shipping and packaging. It's simply time-consuming. Beware though, because some bookstores do not give very fair prices for your books, you need to research the bookstore before you go there or call and inquire. Once I took BAGS AND BAGS of books and movies to a used book store, and they only gave me $10 for the entire thing. I was so offended!
I haven't had any luck whatsoever with selling books locally at bookstores or at yard sales. I have trucked them all over to HalfPriceBooks and ended up with very little for my efforts. I've done the same with DVDs in the past, so I didn't bother doing that this time. The last 3 times my neighbors and I have had yard sales, I sold 1 or 2 books, and they were home decorating/improvement types of books. I do have some of those, but the big sellers/resellers do seem to be text books, especially somewhat recent ones on popular topics. @Denis Hard I had some luck yesterday with BookScouter, I was able to set aside some with potential value, and am going to just donate others that don't seem to have any resale value at all, since I don't want to keep them hanging around, because I have no future use for them.
Since I found a site that was interested in my books, I decided to look around for a site / app that buys CDs and DVDs. I rarely listen to CDs these days, with the exception of my Christmas music, and occasionally, Celtic Woman. I might hold onto those, but will probably sell the rest, assuming there's a market for them. I will also hold onto my favorite DVDs and television show boxed sets, but I'm sure I still have plenty I can part with, especially if I'm making a little money on the sales.
I've now dealt with three different sites for selling books online, and wanted to give my feedback on them. The best site I've found has beenLog In, they accepted all or most of the books I shipped them, and paid almost as much, or as much as they had initially quoted me. They also were the company that processed the order the quickest, paid me the quickest, via PayPal, and I was able to have the books picked up at the house, via USPS. I also sold a few items to decluttr. I am not even posting a link to them, because I wouldn't recommend them, and definitely won't use them again. My second favorite site wasLog In. They were organized and professional, and let me know what was happening each step of the way, although I had to drop the books off at a UPS pick up center. They did reject a few items, so I got paid less money than anticipated, but if your items are in pristine condition, I'd recommend either SellBackYourBook or BookMonster, although as I said, SellBackYourBook is my top choice.
That is some excellent information, @Diane Lane . The only way that I have sold books before was on eBay, and you never know what a book will bring on there, plus you have to figure out the shipping each time you sell a book. I was shopping at the thrift stores and when I found something that looked like it would sell, then I listed it on ebay and sold it. However, it was impossible to tell what any book might bring. Some I got more than I expected from checking similar sales on eBay, and some I got a whole lot less. I will check out the sites youhave mentioned and see if it would work for me, since I also have some extra books that I do not need or want. Books are such a heavy thing to move, and each time we have moved, I have to pack all of the books in boxes and take them along. Pretty much, I am transitioning over to e-books; but not everything is available that way, so I still have a lot of regular paper books.
I've only ever sold ebooks online and I don't know which sites are great for selling physical books, but it looks like you got some helpful suggestions here. Is there still a big market for physical books? I would imagine digital books are taking over and it might serve you well to research this further.
