Decluttering Your Books
Perhaps you have a gracious aunt who gave you a box full of books from her attic; perhaps you have a shelf full of kid books from your childhood. Perhaps you’re moving and don’t want to pay to take every word you’ve ever read with you, maybe you bought The Richest Man in Babylon and didn’t like it. The point is you have books you want to get rid of. Do not despair the internet is there.
Selling
Most people’s first thought would be to rush to Amazon.com which is a valid option. The chief benefit of Amazon is that it is people’s first thought when thinking of online books. The site is buyer friendly and your buyers have probably used the site many times before. They do charge commission and sales fees if your book sells and close all unsold listings after 60 days. They have a shipping allowance however they say that it may not cover all items.
Half.com is more seller friendly. A division of Ebay, if you have an account with them you can start selling on Half today. More importantly with Half there are no listing fees and your items stay up as long as you like without any additional fees. They do of course take a percentage of your sale as their commission but they also provide a generous shipping allowance so you’re not likely to spend more than you make.
If you’d rather not deal with shipping at all Craigslist is a good place to list to local buyers where you can specify that you’d rather simply hand the book over in person.
Swapping
If you have an insatiable appetite for books, love getting packages and don’t mind paying shipping there are several book exchange sites online ripe for the Googling, where you list your books to swap and browse books you want. The basic idea is that you list your books just like on a sales site and when someone orders your book you get a credit with which you can then order books for yourself. You pay to ship your own books so any you order are free.
Give Them Away
If you just want to get items out of your home try signing up with Freecycle if there is one in your area. People list items they want to give away or items they want and the site allows those people to find each other. You won’t be paid for your books however you won’t have to ship them either since collecting the items is the “buyers’” responsibility.
Low Tech Options
If you have more than just books to de-clutter from your home consider having a yard sale. Check out a few before hand if you’re unfamiliar with them and remember to put up signs well before hand so people know when and where the sale will be. You’ll generally get less for each book $.10 for paperbacks and $.25 for hard covers is common, on the other hand you’re more likely to sell things like romance novels and books in less than perfect condition.
Finally consider swapping books with your friends or donating them to a local library that will use them in the collections or sell them as a fundraiser.
Copyright . Published 1 March 2008 in The Zone.
Reader comments
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I’ve found some pretty good luck with Alibris (www.alibris.com) with regards to selling books online – they are channel partners with Amazon and Barnes&Noble.
I sell on average 2 books a month through them! They charge a small 1 time fee to set up your account ($25) and a small commission on each book. It’s quite a sweet deal.
cheers,
jules
permalink — 7 March 2008, 15:19
I can highly recommend BookMooch and Paper Back Swap. I’ve been using both free book trade websites for almost one year and I’ve never had anything go wrong. BookMooch seems more popular that PBS. Check it out. =)
permalink — 19 March 2008, 12:59
Half Price Books is a great place to buy and sell books, music, magazines, etc. There are quite a few of them in the US and their selection is fantastic. It’s also a great place to buy college textbooks for very little money.
permalink — 20 March 2008, 13:52