200 books for sale...but how?

[Gsailor]

I don't think this would fit the book section or the practical or lounge... so here goes.

I have to have a clear out.

I collect books.

I have the complete collection of Dr Lewis (Icebird etc - one of his books is for sake at £50 plus)

I have the two Shrimpy or Shane Acton books- what a character.

I have two identical books on hydrofoiling (bought second one as an investment becsusr first one was expensive).

The list goes on.

I don't have a lot of time.

Selling the odd book here and there, wrapping carefully, walking to post office... seems uneconomical.

Can anyone think of a way of selling so many books in a more economical manner?

Many were bought as investments and are unread. Many gave me a lot of pleasure and dreams.

But I am winding down and must sell things.

 

[Poignard]

All I can suggest is that you make a list giving details of each book and send it to booksellers who specialise in nautical books.

 

[Gsailor]

All I can suggest is that you make a list giving details of each book and send it to booksellers who specialise in nautical books.

Thank you.

I was hoping there was an outlet / organisation / agent that would be interested or something. Many of the books are collectable. "Shrimpy" and one of Dr David Lewis' books cost me £50 because it was so rare; I have not seen one for sale since. And now I have every book he published as a collection.

Sadly I don't know how facebook works or else I would try that; I think it reaches a lot of people.

 

[Minerva]

I don't think this would fit the book section or the practical or lounge... so here goes.

I have to have a clear out.

I collect books.

I have the complete collection of Dr Lewis (Icebird etc - one of his books is for sake at £50 plus)

I have the two Shrimpy or Shane Acton books- what a character.

I have two identical books on hydrofoiling (bought second one as an investment becsusr first one was expensive).

The list goes on.

I don't have a lot of time.

Selling the odd book here and there, wrapping carefully, walking to post office... seems uneconomical.

Can anyone think of a way of selling so many books in a more economical manner?

Many were bought as investments and are unread. Many gave me a lot of pleasure and dreams.

But I am winding down and must sell things.

[blunt mode]

if you brought these as "an investment", then you're going to have to put some effort in to realise the investment returns.

To get the best price; list individually - either here/eBay. Factor in your costs for postage and how you will package them and put the leg work into posting them off individually.

{/blunt mode]

 

[penberth3]

I don't think this would fit the book section or the practical or lounge... so here goes.

I have to have a clear out.

I collect books.

I have the complete collection of Dr Lewis (Icebird etc - one of his books is for sake at £50 plus)

I have the two Shrimpy or Shane Acton books- what a character.

I have two identical books on hydrofoiling (bought second one as an investment becsusr first one was expensive).

The list goes on.

I don't have a lot of time.

Selling the odd book here and there, wrapping carefully, walking to post office... seems uneconomical.

Can anyone think of a way of selling so many books in a more economical manner?

Many were bought as investments and are unread. Many gave me a lot of pleasure and dreams.

But I am winding down and must sell things.

Don't waste your time - straight down the charity shop or in a skip. Charity shop will dump most of them anyway. Books are worth nothing now, do a bit of searching on e-bay etc., to check out the market. And remember - the book advertised at £50 isn't selling for £50.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

As others have said, the only way to realize the value of a book collection would be to either sell the books individually (or perhaps in small sets) via one of the usual online auction sites, OR to get a specialist auction house to arrange an auction. In both cases, you will incur fees. I'm afraid I encountered this one when my aunt died - her executor was the bank, and they cleared the contents of her flat through a house clearance company. Although we drew the attention of the bank to the fact that many of her books were potentially of value, and that there were many complete sets of magazines with a low circulation, the amount raised was insignificant as the effort required to raise larger amounts would have swamped the increased profit for a commercial organization. A larger amount could have been raised, but it would have taken time and individual attention to each item to raise the extra - and a commercial organization has to balance the increased earnings against the cost of specialist assessors and increased selling time.

I have seen an app called Ziffit that purports to sell books for you, but I think it will only work on books with an ISBN barcode. I have no experience of it whatsoever - I've only seen adverts for it.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Thank you.

I was hoping there was an outlet / organisation / agent that would be interested or something. Many of the books are collectable. "Shrimpy" and one of Dr David Lewis' books cost me £50 because it was so rare; I have not seen one for sale since. And now I have every book he published as a collection.

Sadly I don't know how facebook works or else I would try that; I think it reaches a lot of people.

The potential market for such books is tiny, though. They may be rare, but people who will be interested are equally rare! And I fear that you have paid way over the odds for "Shrimpy" - it is available online here: https://www.bluemoment.com/pdf/shrimpy.pdf, so ONLY collectors like yourself will be interested in hard copy. Sailing enthusiasts will be quite happy with the PDF. I have the follow-up book "Shrimpy Sails Again" (I think) on my book shelf; I paid no more than I would expect to in a charity shop (a pound or two).

The only way you will realize the amounts you have spent will be to advertise them widely and hope a collector sees them.

Of course, there are specialist booksellers - my former manager ran a specialist agency for Polar books - but they make a profit by buying cheap and selling dear!

 

[bikedaft]

Where are you located? I also collect books

 

[MoodySabre]

You could try ABE Sell books on AbeBooks

 

[Porthandbuoy]

Try McLaren Books in Largs.

 

[Sandydog2]

A relative dumped a lot of obscure art books in my house. I sold them all for her, plus some quite valuable text books of my own, through Amazon. It does mean posting them within a few days of the sale, but otherwise it's very easy.

You list the lot, and can see the prices others are charging. You can just price them and leave them there till they sell or adjust your prices when you feel like it. It's not an auction so they are not time limited. No need for photos either. You get a fixed amount for postage so if a book is very heavy you need to allow a bit more in your pricing.

I got more than £50 after costs for some of them. Because a lot of the main dealers sell on there you can see the going rate.

You can also pause the list if you go away and won't be able to post them in time. I think you have 5 days.

 

[doug748]

As someone said, you have to work hard to sell at a good price. Books are heavy and folk are often shocked when you give them a price for posting. I wrapped and carted one lot to the post office to be weighed, carted them home and suddenly the keen buyer was not interested any more.

I have sold some through our For Sale section but maritime books are not as popular as they were. Best way is to photograph the spines which is a quick and easy way to list them, maybe also put a price including UK post so people know where they are.

One lot I sold as collection only, with a fixed price that worked out at about £2/3 per volume, there were some good titles in there and folk were very keen to pick out the plums. In the end someone was willing to take the unusual with the ordinary and and collected the lot.

.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

As someone said, you have to work hard to sell at a good price. Books are heavy and folk are often shocked when you give them a price for posting. I wrapped and carted one lot to the post office to be weighed, carted them home and suddenly the keen buyer was not interested any more. ...

Aye, you certainly did work hard, most folks would weigh something on kitchen or bathroom scales and look up the post office charges on the internet. Not so sure your example would be useful to the OP, who said:-

Selling the odd book here and there, wrapping carefully, walking to post office... seems uneconomical.

Can anyone think of a way of selling so many books in a more economical manner?

To the OP, these guys buy maritime books, took less than 3 seconds to find on line, a call to the number below (on the link), may help:-

Richard Carrick

(+44) 7790 034930

chandosenquiries@gmail.com

 

[doug748]

Aye, you certainly did work hard, most folks would weigh something on kitchen or bathroom scales and look up the post office charges on the internet. Not so sure your example would be useful to the OP, who said:-



To the OP, these guys buy maritime books, took less than 3 seconds to find on line, a call to the number below (on the link), may help:-

Richard Carrick

(+44) 7790 034930

chandosenquiries@gmail.com

A waste of time contacting such a military specialist.

Have you anything else to add apart from spending 3 seconds on the internet to help the OP?

.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

A waste of time contacting such a military specialist.

Have you anything else to add apart from spending 3 seconds on the internet to help the OP?

.

The OP has been investing in maritime books and does not state all the titles. I have offered the OP a site that buys maritime books that may offer the minimum effort he is looking for. Other posters have suggested other agencies that may buy books.

Your own experience offered as an example, does not address the OPs needs as it requires significant effort. I offered an easy alternative, more efficient way to determine transport costs.

Unlike your contribution, I have tried to support the OPs query to improve his investment return with minimal effort.

If it was me, I would spend the time listing the books, pricing in a digital document, such as Microsoft Word, or any old email programme, then copy and paste listing, or parts of it to various on line areas such as YBW for sale, eBay, Gum Tree and send the more choice books lists to specialist book buyers.

 

[The Q]

Interesting I've both Shane Acton books in my collection, bought many years ago.
Going to a dealer get you no where near the money that Amazon or eBay would raise. The dealer has his wages his premises and taxes to pay, that takes a huge chunk out of anything he can offer you.

 

[Gsailor]

Thanks for so much info.

I will start the sort out and bait the hook and see if I catch a buyer or two.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Interesting I've both Shane Acton books in my collection, bought many years ago.
Going to a dealer get you no where near the money that Amazon or eBay would raise. The dealer has his wages his premises and taxes to pay, that takes a huge chunk out of anything he can offer you.

The OP is very clear about the constraints in place, which are not conducive to maximising his return on investment. One assumes the constraints are important to the OP, which is why they are stated. The OP does not have a lot of time, so bulk offloading is a likely solution to address not having a lot of time!

 

[Poignard]

Years ago I sold some books to a local bookseller.

I laid them out on the dining room table and he, an academic looking person with an unworldy air, came and inspected them.

He began by offering what seemed a high price for what I knew to be a book of little value so I thought he would be a pushover and accepted his offer for the rest .

Later I saw some of the books he had bought from me for sale in his shop window at very high prices.

Not as unworldy as he seemed. ?

 

[doug748]

The OP has been investing in maritime books and does not state all the titles. I have offered the OP a site that buys maritime books that may offer the minimum effort he is looking for. Other posters have suggested other agencies that may buy books.

Your own experience offered as an example, does not address the OPs needs as it requires significant effort. I offered an easy alternative, more efficient way to determine transport costs.

Unlike your contribution, I have tried to support the OPs query to improve his investment return with minimal effort.

If it was me, I would spend the time listing the books, pricing in a digital document, such as Microsoft Word, or any old email programme, then copy and paste listing, or parts of it to various on line areas such as YBW for sale, eBay, Gum Tree and send the more choice books lists to specialist book buyers.

I not totally convinced you have read my earlier post. People who have sold books know that dealers offer very little, even for sought after titles, for all the reasons TheQ and others have pointed out. Picking random dealers off the internet, with a quite different specialism, is an even worse proposition

For the hard of understanding: my suggestion was he offers the whole, as a lot in the For Sale section, using the draw of good titles to move on the rest. I have also suggested how best to list them for minimum effort.

Posters who have nowt to say are perhaps better not post, people do notice. I am sure the OP can use an internet search engine, your 3 seconds would have been more profitably used somewhere else.

.