I have lots of books I would like to sell.  I am not even sure where to sell them, somone once toldme about about half.com I htink it was, but the books I saw there are for like 35cents a piece I think, unless I was looking at the wrong thing.  That is not worth the price in postage handling.

Anyway, I have quite a few books about movies, directors, writers and actors I would like to off load if I found the right place.

How do I price these to sell?  Should I look them up to see what others are selling for and where they are selling?  Should I bundle them?

Thanks all

dmc

I found the amazon site to be very user friendly.  I've used it several times to sell textbooks when I'm done.  I normally pop the ISBN into the search box and see how other people have priced the same book.  If you want to unload it quickly, make it a buck or 2 cheaper than the already lowest price.  Otherwise I make it towards the cheaper end, but not the cheapest.

You will want to have some way to organize them.  I kept a box near my computer and put the books in there with a sticky note listing the date I posted it, the condition I said it was in, and how much I was asking.  I think the listing stays up for 30 days.  And it doesn't cost you anything until you sell it.  Amazon collects the money and the shipment fee for you and from that they take a small percentage; the rest is dumped into an account for you.  I had mine direct deposited to my bank account that I use to pay bills.  I think you can have it put on as an amazon credit to spend on their website, but don't quote me on that.  It's been a while and my memory is foggy.

Thanks Sunshine.  I guess there must be a shipping label they provide. That all sounds very doable. I will make a stack this weekend.

Thanks so much for the helpful info.

dmc

dmc_2008:

I guess there must be a shipping label they provide.

When I did it I simply went to the post office and got a box and shipped it as "media mail".  You get a much lower rate that way.  Amazon will provide you with the info you need to mail it out.  I think you get 2 business days from sale date to ship it out.  I usually sent the person an email and let them know when I dropped it off so they could keep an eye out for it.  I found that without doing anything special most people get their stuff between 4 & 6 days after I sent it.

dmc_2008:

I am not even sure where to sell them

 Check prices on the same or similar books on Half.com and Amazon. The going prices are what you could expect to get for them.

I usually spend less than .25 on novels and children's books like The Magic Treehouse on Amazon and often get them for a penny plus shipping. I don't think these are worth selling even if you reimbursed a small amount for shipping. There is too little in it.

Other types of books may make a profit however so it's worth checking. 

 I've auctioned on eBay, used a starting price of 50% of new, and done OK.  They will let you print shipping labels. This works well for coffee table books, items within a year of their release, etc, but not at all on mass-market titles.

 If you have books that are unusual and sought after, you have a good chance of making something. If there's an ISBN, as others have said, you can check Amazon and half.com. If you want to see a broader view of an unusual book, you can use bookfinder.com, which searches many, many booksellers. This is also a useful place to do research if you don't have an ISBN. Just beware, some of those books can be *very* overpriced - review these with a skeptical eye!

 Remember that half.com gives you a shipping allowance -- though if you've got hard cover books, that allowance hasn't always covered all my costs (and I use mostly recycled materials!)

 After you have a general idea of the value of the books individually, you might consider bundling - especially if you think a certain group would make a good holiday gift to sell on ebay or craigslist.

Thanks,

I still haven't found the time to get around to this.  After the class I am taking is over, I should find the time.

Ugh!

 Check Amazon.com prices.  Generally, I don't price at the lowest price but a few dollars above as long as books are in good condition. Note the shipping charges too as this is how many people make extra profit.  Never did eBay, but worth looking into if you can get higher prices.

Having a higher feedback level probably gives you a better price too and that may take a while to achieve.