How to Sell Used Books
Apr 03 '01
The Bottom Line Buy Used by all Means, but Here's How to Sell Your Used Books
I'm a former used bookstore employee and have some information to share. Although I didn't work as a 'buyer' of used books in my two-year stint, I was required to be familiar with the process so as to answer questions.
After noting the response to my epinion on used books, I got to thinking about 'selling' those used books. Not may people are aware of how to buy and preserve books that will be valuable to resell as used books later on. I'll review the process and reveal a few tricks for you to keep in mind.
While this is useful information, I must note up front that not all bookstores use the same process, and my information is isolated to one very large independent store in Portland (you may know which, by now). But by and large, this store has a long history of buying books, and as such has analyzed the market demands and come to a pretty common gauge of measuring the value of used books.
Gauging book value is a tricky thing. As with any product, It has to do with product demand. A hardcover used book today may bring you $8 today, but in two weeks be turned away. The store has to keep a finger on a combination of factors that go into their decision whether or not to buy your book. I list these below in no particular order:
Market Demand
Is the book on the NYT best-sellers list? If so, and the below conditions are met, you may have a good seller.
Is the book rare or collectible? If you have a signed first edition of 'Stranger in a Strange Land', you can bet that bookstore will be interested (pricing is outlined below).
When you buy a new hardcover book at Costco, the market demand is generally pretty high (with a few exceptions, which I'll outline later), but a few weeks (or even days) later, the market may be saturated. So keep this in mind.
Book Condition
While both hardcover and paperback books have used bookstore appeal, a marked, highlighed, tattered book loses value fast. If you're buying a hardcover book, consider getting a clear wrapping for the cover. Used bookstored will do this for a dollar or two. Paperback books lose
their value if the binding is stretched or the pages are bent. Don't overflex the binding. As a general rule, if you can see a crease on the binding, don't bother taking it to the used bookstore. To elimate creases, grab a free bookmark from your bookseller and stop folding those pages.
In-Store Stock
I remember selling 'The Bridges of Madison County' by the dozens. This book was sort of a breakthrough in that it was a small hardcover at a little bit lower price. We couldn't get enough of these until we realized we overstocked by dozens. Used buyers then stopped until we
lifted the floodgates again. The message: a book can have demand, but depending on the store inventory, you may not get a sale out of it.
In these cases, the good buyers will let you know that they would normally buy this, but that current stock is too high and that you might want to try again later.
Book Buyer Personality
The regular book sellers (by this I mean once a week or more), know which book buyers are working when and what books those buyers have a particular interest in. You probably aren't in this group, but should realize that a decline on a book buy could very well have been a sale
if you approached an hour or two earlier or later. There is a very human aspect to this process that has to do with your attitude, appearance, the book buyer's interest, how busy he/she is, how much you flirt with him/her, etc. Not much to do here, but I thought you'd want to know this. As a bookstore employee I've even convinced the buyers to buy books of mine after they initially declined.
Ignorance
Most buyers have a general knowledge of which books sell and which don't. Not all of them have an understanding of 19th Century philosophy books or Flyfishing books about Alaska. If you have a declined book which you truly believe is worthy of the bookstore's interest, as the buyer to query the 'Section Head'. This person is the one (in the big stores) whe is in charge of knowing the inventory and titles he/she has and what he/she needs. This is the closest you'll get to an actual librarian in a book store. The 'Science Fiction Head' will know that he needs that first edition hardcover 'Speaker for the Dead', whereas the book buyer may just think its another cheap book.
As you consider making sales to your local used bookstore, you can arm yourself with some useful information:
Buy with Selling in Mind
First of all, when you go shopping for books, you should ask yourself Is this one I want to keep on the bookshelf after I read it? we don't always know the answer to this question until after we read the book, but usually we can approximate pretty well what the Tom Clancy paperback won't be sitting on the shelf, whereas the Keynesian Philosophy book may stay. If you're going to try to resell it, be sure to take my advice in the Book Condition section above.
Leave These Books at Home
When you get the inkling to sell a slate of books, keep in mind these types of books that generally are not accepted:
Bibles (Specifically Family Bibles),
old or obscure textbooks,
Encyclopedias (sometimes we bought them, so call before lugging these to the store)
Westerns,
Romances,
Book Club editions (with some exception),
Software Manuals (particularly the originals).
If you have questions about these, call your local used bookstore for clarification. They will most often tell you if they are interested in a title.
Cash or Trade
Used bookstores who don't have well-outlined purchasing policies are suspect. Sellers often suspect they are getting slighted. Where I worked, we had a standard policy for everyone to view. We offered the seller 30% of what we perceived we could sell the book for in cash. A book that we estimated we could sell for $10 we'd buy for $3. An additional 20% would be offered for trade. A $10 book would get you a $5 trade coupon. Some things to consider:
Cash is in your hand--How many a used book of mine became a nice cup of coffee and another book. Or a slice of pizza across the street. The point is, you can turn around and walk out with that three bucks to spend anywhere.
Trade is on a slip of paper--If your goal is to buy more books, this is a great option. Buy I still regret taking that $60 trade slip years ago that I proceeded to lose a few weeks later. Trade slips are redeemable only if you have them in your hand. Don't lose
them.
The Other Option
So often people are disappointed to hear their prized book is worth $2 or $3 dollars, far less than they expected. Well, don't for a minute think you must accept trade or cash. If it's not worth it, keep the book. Don't feel pressured to clear out your collection just because you hauled it to the bookstore. Those books are yours until you have that receipt or trade slip in hand.
Visit During Busy Times
This is sort of counter-intuitive, but hear me out, I've seen this work. Hurried buyers make hurried decisions. From what I've found, they also err on the 'buy' verses the 'pass'. The reasoning goes like this: Buyers, if they have the time, will review the spine, the pages, the paper quality, the cover--all a part of the condition of the book. They inevitably rush this process if you have 4 people waiting behind you and may miss the highlighted text (whether or not you knew about it and tried to pass it on). In addition, if they have time, they'll ask the 'Section Head' if it is a book he/she needs for his/her section. This communication will not happen if business is brisk and nobody has the time or patience to look into it.
Also, those books that are declined initially can be brought back later, when things are slower. You'd be surprised at the books that make it to a 'buy' on the second attempt.
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