Used books don't sell

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
I have 12 large boxes of books. I tried offering them at my last garage sale, but didn't sell any. I have a wide variety of genres and both hard cover and paperbacks. One person pointed to a set of encyclopedias and laughed. Aren't people reading anymore?
 

debodun said:
I have 12 large boxes of books. I tried offering them at my last garage sale, but didn't sell any. I have a wide variety of genres and both hard cover and paperbacks. One person pointed to a set of encyclopedias and laughed. Aren't people reading anymore?
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Used books seem to sell well at the charity shops here. But encyclopedias?? No way. Nobody uses encyclopedias, they just use google.
 
Yes, I guess encyclopedias are a thing of the past. I remember my Mom saving up to buy a set for me when I was a kid. Sure helped with homework back in the 50's.
 

Ruth n Jersey said:
Yes, I guess encyclopedias are a thing of the past. I remember my Mom saving up to buy a set for me when I was a kid. Sure helped with homework back in the 50's.
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The local grocery store (A&P maybe?) where I grew up had a deal where every week you could buy another book (letter) in a set of encyclopedias for a reduced price, if you shopped there. That's how we got ours. Some off brand, but they were OK as far as I knew. Yes it helped a lot with homework.
 
RadishRose, I used to sing that encyclopedia song all the time as a kid. Used it years later to spell the word. In fact I used it just now. Ha! Thanks for the reminder.
 
Ha! I think that's how a lot of us learned. I loved Jiminy Cricket, he was so cute!
 
Some libraries accept used book donations for book sales. My local library actually runs a used bookshop that accepts donations. You can ask for a donation receipt which most places (including Goodwill) will let you fill in the amount you think they're worth so you can deduct it from your taxes.
 
Are there any thrift shops in the area? They may take certain types of books. Better than tossing them, you may be able to use it at income tax time as a charitable donation. I have two bookcases I am going to need to get rid of soon, that's what I plan to do.
 
There are places that buy books but unless you have rare or first editions, you're lucky to get a quarter a book. I would donate to the library or a local senior citizens center. The board of education here takes donations of children's and teen titles and passes them on down the line. But yes, I think us avid bookworms are becoming creatures of the past:(
 
I haven't thought about ncyclopedias for years. Yes, we had them in our bookcase, but I don't think they were ever used. They were expensive back then. Maybe you overcharged for your books at the sale. I go to a lot of sales and always buy books, as do friends of mine, but we won't pay a lot of money for them. Usually it is 25 cents for a soft back and 50 cents for a hard cover.
 
Nobody's going to take encylopedias any more. NO matter how good they were when they were new, they are WAY out of date now and virtually useless. Nobody uses them anymore for anything but a doorstop.

As for fiction and non-fiction I pick those up at local thrift shops, then donate them back when I'm done. There's also a book swap store in my neighborhood where you buy a used book (or a sack full) and then bring them back when you're done and get a credit against the next books, and they do a thriving business.
 
debodun said:
I have 12 large boxes of books. I tried offering them at my last garage sale, but didn't sell any. I have a wide variety of genres and both hard cover and paperbacks. One person pointed to a set of encyclopedias and laughed. Aren't people reading anymore?
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Just curious how much you charged? We've sold books for 50 cents ea and a deal if they buy more than a few.
 
My mom bought us a set of Encyclopedia Britannica when I was a kid, on "time". We used it a lot back then.

Then I got a set for my daughter and signed up for the yearly "updates". Remember them? You got another volume each year with all the updates and you were supposed to take little adhesive tags and tag the pages in the "old" set that had updates. That project didn't last past the first year. What a chore.

After hanging on to those for about twenty years and taking up room on the bookshelf, I donated them to the next book sale, where they were probably promptly thrown in the dumpster.
 
Used books sell but it wholly depends on the condition of the book, the title, nonfiction
or fiction. Recent popular books do not sell well. Mysteries usually sell very well,
as do cookbooks, good history books, children's. Popular novels not so much. Buyers like their books in very good condition.

I know much about this because I have been buying and selling books all my life.

Maybe your neighborhood is not into reading that much, or they use the library.Big library users do not buy books.
The depreciation rate on books is huge and used book stores
usually give very little (dollar or less) so they can mark it up high and they are very picky.
People are still reading a lot
but you can buy a used book on Amazon for a few dollars or less (even a penny)
 
I agree, most people are not going to pay very much for used books. I know I won't, and I comb thrift stores, yard sales (sometimes) for books I haven't read. I don't care much about their condition, as my intent is to read them and then either give them back to a thrift store, or trade them back at my local book exchange place.

I only keep books that are significant to me or that I will read again. I've got bookshelves full of books already and generally don't keep books I've read for pleasure. I LOVE mysteries, but I don't keep them after I've read them.
 
Funny with encyclopedias, remember sitting by them once for a whole school year. You know I read every volume from A-Z. In those days if you were painfully shy and clueless in some subjects they considered you a bit slow. Too bad the teacher didn't know how bright I actually was.
 
jnos said:
Just curious how much you charged?
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Hardcovers are 50¢ to $2 depending on size and subject. Paperbacks are 25¢ each or fill a standard-sized grocery bag for $2.

I tried at two area libraries and neither are accepting book donations (however, they will take monetary ones).

A few weeks ago the senior center in the neighboring town had a "this & that" sale. A whole table was covered with books and people were just walking by without even looking.

I guess that we are now in the electronic age, people think books are old fashioned when you can use e-books and kindles. Many bookstores are going belly-up.
 

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