Q&A: How can I get books in bulk for resale?

QUESTION: Is there a better way to get used books for resale besides picking them each by hand at library sales? For instance, do you know of any cases whereby good stock was procured from library sales in bulk? Surely there are many libraries that would see the benefit of letting go of "unfiltered" books in bulk rather than waiting for them to sell one at a time or not at all.

ANSWER: One thing I don't mention in "The Home-Based Bookstore" is that I've gotten a ton of good books out of library dumpsters. The particular dumpsters I've snatched books out of didn't have any trash, thank goodness, just books. I've gotten quite a few books worth more than $100 apiece from library dumpsters.

So I think public libraries get a ton of book donations (and they have some discards that are valuable too) and they just don't go to the trouble of trying to sell them all. So from time to time, I've thought about approaching the libraries in my area and asking if I could handle their discards. The ones I wanted, I'd keep, the others I'd dispose of. I've just never gotten around to doing this.

On the other hand, lots of public libraries are beginning to sell the cream of their donated stock online. If that's the way they want to handle their donations, it's up to them, but it makes it harder for book scouts to find good books at library sales when the stock has been cherry-picked.

I know of one guy who started as a part-time Amazon seller, who set up a company to warehouse library book discards/donations, with the libraries getting a cut of the proceeds, and I suppose the libraries get a tax deducation. I imagine it would involve lots of paperwork and bookeeping but it's an idea for getting scale.