Q&A: Where can I find good used books to sell online?
Question: I went to three local thrift stores -- a Goodwill and two Salvation Army stores. Of thousands of books, I found only two that were reliably profitable -- one selling for around $15, one for $20. It didn't seem that scouring for books that way was very productive, it would have taken many hours of work to make $35.
Answer: First, I would say that trying to find good books for resale in a Goodwill/Salvation Army type of store is going to be difficult for a couple of reasons. Number one, most of the books donated to these shops are usually are very popular (and therefore commonly available) titles. For example, you'll see lots of romance books, and lots of "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books at these shops, a lot of popular fiction. Nothing is wrong with these books, but they are so plentiful in the used market that the prices for them are very low because there isn't enough demand after the book has been on the market a few years. So, for example, when an Amazon seller ends up with one of these books you see in abundant supply at thrift shops, and find that the book is selling for only 90 cents on Amazon, the seller prices theirs at 89 cents. Then the next person prices theirs at 88 cents, and so on. If there is not enough demand from the book buyers on Amazon to soak up these used copies being listed online, the price can go all the way down to 1 cent!
The other main reason it's so hard to find valuable books in a thrift shop is that lots of used booksellers regularly go there to find books for resale. So the stock gets picked over very quickly. If there is not much turnover at the shop, with new inventory coming in from people donating books, pretty soon all the books that were worth decent money will end up in the hands of booksellers, and most of the stuff left on the shelves is junk.
Also, some of these types of thrift stores are beginning to sell some of the valuable donated books online themselves. They check the online price as soon as they get the books, and the valuable ones they sell themselves and keep all the proceeds, instead of allowing booksellers or collectors to snap them up at bargain prices. I guess there's nothing wrong with that, except that it makes it really hard for book buyers and collectors to find decent books in these types of stores.
Library sales are probably the best source of profitable books for online sellers. And that is precisely because the books available at a library sale haven't been picked over before you see them. So you have a much better chance of finding some valuable books at a bargain price at a library sale.
Answer: First, I would say that trying to find good books for resale in a Goodwill/Salvation Army type of store is going to be difficult for a couple of reasons. Number one, most of the books donated to these shops are usually are very popular (and therefore commonly available) titles. For example, you'll see lots of romance books, and lots of "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books at these shops, a lot of popular fiction. Nothing is wrong with these books, but they are so plentiful in the used market that the prices for them are very low because there isn't enough demand after the book has been on the market a few years. So, for example, when an Amazon seller ends up with one of these books you see in abundant supply at thrift shops, and find that the book is selling for only 90 cents on Amazon, the seller prices theirs at 89 cents. Then the next person prices theirs at 88 cents, and so on. If there is not enough demand from the book buyers on Amazon to soak up these used copies being listed online, the price can go all the way down to 1 cent!
The other main reason it's so hard to find valuable books in a thrift shop is that lots of used booksellers regularly go there to find books for resale. So the stock gets picked over very quickly. If there is not much turnover at the shop, with new inventory coming in from people donating books, pretty soon all the books that were worth decent money will end up in the hands of booksellers, and most of the stuff left on the shelves is junk.
Also, some of these types of thrift stores are beginning to sell some of the valuable donated books online themselves. They check the online price as soon as they get the books, and the valuable ones they sell themselves and keep all the proceeds, instead of allowing booksellers or collectors to snap them up at bargain prices. I guess there's nothing wrong with that, except that it makes it really hard for book buyers and collectors to find decent books in these types of stores.
Library sales are probably the best source of profitable books for online sellers. And that is precisely because the books available at a library sale haven't been picked over before you see them. So you have a much better chance of finding some valuable books at a bargain price at a library sale.
posted by Steve Weber at 12/08/2005
3 Comments:
Libraries are getting in on the on-line book sales action too. The last five library sales I have attended did have some good finds, but the libraries made a point of their success at selling books on-line, to raise money for the library system. The pie continues to be cut into more and more pieces.
I'm surprised you don't think much of Goodwill or Salvation Army thrift stores. If I had to depend on library sales (there are six libraries relatively close to me), I would not be able to maintain much of a business.
I hit four of them about once a week, and am lucky if I find 4 or 5 saleable books. I go to the Goodwill twice a week and the Salvation Army once a week, and return with at least 12 to 15 decent books for eBay and 20 to 40 books for listing on Amazon each time I go. There are two smaller Goodwill stores that do not have much selection, so I only stop by there occasionally.
Goodwill charges 1.50 for hardbacks, and paperbacks are three for $1.00 -- plus on Wednesdays books are 20 percent off for shoppers over the age of 55. I do not see how you could go wrong. Our Salvation Army sells books by the box: $5.00 per box and in my case, I can fill the box. Newcomers to the store could buy per box but the boxes are already filled, so they take what they get.
Please do not discourage people from going to these outlets.
Good. But also check for Salvation Army auctions where they sell big boxes of books, Goodwill has a place where they ship all there stuff before tossing it. $.40/lb for books... its just super dusty. This was in Tampa Bay Florida but I am unsure if it is found elsewhere. Thank you!
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