Anyone experienced in selling old out-of-print books?

I have a great deal (over 100) of old and/or out-of-print books that I inherited. A lot of them are 1st Editions. I would really like to get rid of them but would like a fair price. I've looked at Half.com and Amazon.com. With Half.com, you have to do it by putting in the ISBN# but most of my books aren't going through. Amazon seems to be the same sellers with alot of the same books keeping the price down. Ex. An out of print book, 1st Edition, sold by the same seller 7 times, with varying prices beginning at a penny.

I've tried to take them to the local bookseller and they won't even touch them or offer $0.50 to $1.00. Most of these books are in excellent condition, some never even opened.

Thanks,
Sq/Joanna

Any old English Literature books Sqwidgetz? For example; works by English authors of the Romantic or Victorian eras.
Mary Shelley comes to mind of the Romantic Period, George Eliot of the Victorian.
I'd be willing to pay for S&H.

TC...

Swidgetz, We have bought many old books on Ebay. You can sell them a piece at a time or the whole kit and kaboodle, but I would suggest trying there. :) Kathy

Sorry TC, I'm keeping anything like that. :) However if I find an author I don't particulary care for, I'll keep you in mind.

So far I am coming up with mainly history books. Or those are what I am most willing to part with, anyway. Lots of WWII books. I did find a great animal artbook and a 1968 edition of Rudyard Kipling's children's stories, beautifully illustrated. I wouldn't part with those under any circumstances. It's like Christmas early going through all of these books.

I've never had much luck selling on Ebay. Plus you have to pay for every ad that you place. I just can't afford that right now.

Since I need to catalog everything, I will just put it on a personal homepage until I can find a permanent home for the books I want to get rid of.

I have a good friend that gave up a job to sell on Ebay, he is making lots of money doing it. I will check with him and see what is involved, if you'd like. :)

Take a look at Abebooks www.abebooks.com

Sqwidgetz; my 10 year old son has a new interest in WWII. I might be interested in those if you are willin to part with any. Of course, I should've guessed you'd not part with the type of books I first mentioned, don't blame ya either! ;~)

TC...

That would be great MistyMeadows. I bought a book on selling on ebay and it left me none the wiser.

TC, when I get my catalog up, I will have it categorized to what I'll give away and what will be up for sale/trade. The catalog is mostly for myself so I know what we have but I figured that I would share it out in case anyone saw something they liked.

I'll check out that link when I can, thx.

Okay Sqwidgetz, thanks!

TC...

Joanna, selling books online can be tricky... and possibly expensive. I have a small sideline business of selling books and have learned a lot over the past couple of years. It's hard to really get a good valuation for most books because what you can find is asking prices, and seldom do you see selling prices.

eBay used to have available several months of sold data but no more. Unfortunately, many people think just because a book is old and in good condition, that it's valuable. Some really are, but many turn out to be just valuable in the sense of having good books printed on good paper and with good content.

I don't list much on eBay anymore unless I have something really rare. Half.com is just as bad but at least it's free to list, like Amazon. Half.com is now phasing out a lot of titles and seems to be heading more towards selling new books at a discounted prices.

The best news for me about buying and selling books is the opportunity of building of my own personal library, which has long been my dream.

Thanks Darius for the info. I know exactly what you mean. One of the reasons I inherited all of these books, is because my MIL wanted us to sell them and get some money for our new house. Which in other words means I have a lot of junk I have no room for nor particularily want. Some of it is nice, like in my above post, but alot of it, I could really do without. I personally never expected too much in the way of money. It's just one less stress I could've gone without. But MIL convinced DH this was a good thing. But I'm the one who has to do it.

One of the problems with ebay that I found, is though you can find a great deal of good products and low prices, as a seller that really hurts you, unless you have something that no one else has and a lot of people want. A friend of ours tried to sell her original paintings on Ebay, but gave up because everybody wants a "deal".

Case in point: I found an original printing of a 1920's cookbook ($10) that could be sold at a rare book store for at least $75. I bought more for sentimental value than anything else. I would hate to be like that Ebay seller and sell/give away something really good without realizing its value. I have some books that actually do have a good value, because of their rarity and how much others have wanted them with the benefit of being in perfect condition. Not just like new, but never opened and read, no rips or edgewear damage.
So once I finish the catalog, I am planning to send the link to the online bookstores that specialize in this sort of thing and take it from there.

Sqwidgetz and darius; The above interesting comments from both of y'all has me wantin to start my own library from all the books I have layin (literally) around up here in my study! Sometimes I'm overwhelmed with not knowin what to do with all of them, but I keep collectin more and more!

Your plan for the catalog is a good idea for me to start doin Sqwidgetz!

TC...

Swidgetz, You've Got Mail. :) Kathy