Selling Books You No Longer Want

LIFESTYLE · UNITED STATES

Selling Books You No Longer Want

What sells and what does not, condition grading, the options and what to do with the rest

Most households hold books that will never be read again, and there are several routes for them. Which one suits depends on the books rather than on the quantity.

What has value

Recent textbooks and academic editions, specialist non-fiction, first editions in good condition, and books currently in demand. Condition matters enormously.

Mass market paperbacks, book club editions, condensed volumes, old encyclopaedias and anything water damaged are worth almost nothing, whatever their age.

Old does not mean valuable. Scarcity and demand determine price, and most Victorian books are neither scarce nor wanted.

Condition grading

Buyers grade on the dust jacket, the spine, any markings, and whether the book has been read at all. A name written inside, a cracked spine or a price sticker residue all move a book down a grade.

Describe condition honestly when selling privately, since disputes over condition are the most common problem.

The options

Trade-in services scan the barcode and quote instantly, pay less and take everything in one go with free postage. Private sale earns considerably more per book and takes time per listing.

Secondhand bookshops buy selectively and pay little. Charity shops take almost anything.

Making it worth doing

Scan a sample of twenty books with a trade-in app before boxing everything, which tells you quickly whether the pile is worth the effort.

Postage and practicalities

Books are heavy, so check whether postage is free and whether there is a minimum. Media and book rates are cheaper than standard parcel post in many countries.

Pack tightly so books cannot move, since damage in transit is the usual reason a quote is reduced on arrival.

Before you sell

Check inside for inscriptions, letters and photographs, which turn up regularly in books that have sat in a family for decades.

Pricing a private sale

Search completed sales rather than current listings, since asking prices tell you what people hope for rather than what books actually fetch.

Factor in the listing fee, the payment processing fee and the postage before deciding a book is worth selling individually.

Rare and collectable

Genuine first editions, signed copies and scarce non-fiction are worth a specialist opinion before selling. A dealer or an auction house will usually give a free indication of value without obligation.

What to do with the rest

Charity shops, community book exchanges, little free libraries, schools and prison book schemes. Books that are genuinely unusable can be recycled with paper once any laminated cover is removed.

Keep the ones you will actually reread, and be honest with yourself about how many of them that actually is.

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