Best Place to Sell Used Books?

[Cheetahwoman7]

I am OVERWHELMED with the amount of books I have! Yes, I admit, I'm a book-a-holic!!! It's time for me to downsize my collection, but I'm wondering where I can get the best prices for my books. I have such a variety, but almost all are non-fiction type books: home repair, computer education, cooking, self-help, travel, gardening...along those lines.

I know that many people had previously refered e-bookdrop, but have recently had problems with them. I looked there and they really didn't want many of the sort of books I had.

Here are the other big three sellers that I can think of:

Amazon.com
Ebay
Half.com

Are there others?? Can some of you help and tell me the pros and cons of each and which you think is best for selling my types of books? What is the cost of selling books on each? Due to encouragement on this site, I just started selling on Ebay at the end of January. I'm just not sure if I can make the same sort of $$ selling books on Ebay as on either Amazon or Half.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Buried in Books,
CJ

[lrjohnson]

I like half.com; that's just a personal preference. What I do is take the ISBN number of the books and do a search on half.com. If there are a lot listed, or the price is low, I don't list it. Some books I think will be worth money, are worth nothing, but the reverse also is true. There are no listing fees on half.com, just a portion if you sell. I like the feature that lets me "go on vacation" with a touch of a button if I know I won't be able to respond to e-mail/ship in a couple days.

I also consider taking books in for trade at a used bookstore. I can get me a nice chunk for trade, last time over $40 bucks in trade.

I also put aside some books as possible gifts: very gently worn, of course.

[Cheetahwoman7]

Thanks for the reply Irjohnson! I've turned in books for credit before. I still have a slip worth about $35 that I haven't used yet!

Seems some of the books I have fit into Half.com pretty well, but like you said, some I thought would be worth something aren't. I did see one of the cookbooks I have going for about $25!!!!!! There was a group of about five of them all in that price range, but nothing lower. The one I have looks like new, dust cover and all. Do you ever put your books up on that site for a dollar or two less to make them look more attractive to the buyers (kinda undercutting the price of the other people's books listed)?

I'd like to find out some info on Amazon's policies for selling books. I mean, I've read their site information, but it seems that they charge quite a bit to sell on there. I'm not sure if it's worth it. Does anyone sell on there? Is it better than Half.com? Better meaning can you move your "inventory", or in my case my stacks of books, faster?

Thanks in advance,
CJ

[sdc2027]

I think amazon and half.com are both good places to start first and check out the going rate of a book. Ebay is ok if you don' mind selling it for any price and just want to get rid of it faster. Amazon and half are a little slower, but I think they are easier to work with, not only for you the seller but also for the buyer. It really comes down to personal preferences.

I have a friend who posts on all three at times and then yanks the listing on the other two when it sells, so check it all out for your book and start listing. The only downside is that ebay fees are killers if your book is less than 5.00

[markio26]

the fees are what is the problem on ebay, and such sites..try trading the books, garage sale them, list them on craigs list, or give them away.. i cleared mine out last year, do not purchase anymore.. when i borrow a book from the library, i look inside the cover for the price listed.. add that to my ing account... so, i pay myself the original price of the book for reading it...the money goes into my crisis fund.. hth.

[DivaJen]

I like half.com because I can enter a group of ISBNs at a time, see what other books are going for, and it doesn't cost me anything up front.

[scrava]

I like amazon b/c you don't have to provide our own picture and you don't pay unless it sells (unless this has chnaged? once i got rid of all my junk i stopped using, LOL).

[lrjohnson]

Cheetah: If part of the reason you aren't using your store credit is because you have so many books already, think gifts. All the credit I have I'm planning on using for gifts (unless I'm really in the mood to browse).

(A consideration for any of these is how willing and able you are to package a book and get to the post office quickly. That's one reason I don't like to list any books under $5.)

(Oh, remember to increase your prices on the really heavy books; on half.com you only get a flat shipping fee not actual shipping; usually you get extra but a heavy book can get ya.)

[Cheetahwoman7]

Oh, thanks for the tip on increasing the price of a book to cover the shipping! The cookbook that's going for $25 is VERY BIG and VERY HEAVY....might be part of the reason those books are going for so much.

It also makes sense not selling books for less than $5 because of the cost of your time, and now gas to get to the post office. Maybe for those under $5 books I can list several at a time on Ebay, that way I only have to go to the post office once.

Thanks for all of the help, everyone.

[MairGrif]

CheetahWoman,

Another tip: when checking what price a book is going for on a site, check if it is selling, if you can do so. If the book in question is not selling well, it doesn't really matter how much money it is listed for. Just my advice.

[Cheetahwoman7]

Marianne,

How can I find out if certain books are selling. I know that isn't difficult with Ebay, but what about Half and Amazon. Well, I know that Amazon ranks their sales, but I don't know if that helps me know how the books are selling.

Thanks in advance,
CJ