Mom had eclectic taste in her books, and while much of it was donated to the local library, what remains needs to move on from my garage.

Obviously Ebay and Amazon are the big gorillas, but am I overlooking a way to get the most out of selling them?

There aren't any gun culture books to be had here, so this is the furthest thing from an ad here on the forum.

Thanks in advance

Any short story anthologies?

Local bookstores may take them if you have any of those type places left. You won't get much and may even be offered store credit and not cash.

Half Price Books.
Might not get much for them, but if it has a barcode, I've never had them turn any away.

I had a few boxes of books from my grandmother & a large portion of them were 'book of the month' types.
They lacked a barcode to scan, so HPB wouldn't take those.

I was the hardcopy collector and getting rid of them in preparation for an impending out-of-state move, was faced with the same dilemma as you.

Mine were donated (I have kept a box though) to a local library which sells them and uses the "profits" to host local BBQs and reading clubs for kids and young adults.

I also had a few boxes of craft books (wood, metal, etc) which I tried to donate to Donovan State Prison. The crap I had to go through (starting with a background check) coupled with zero call-backs to my requests to start the process - yea, eff the California state penal system and their desire to help their clients.

Now a buddy who works in the OK correctional facility was pissed I wasn't there to donate them.

Like almost anything, you’ll get the most by selling directly to the end user, and with a large audience. I think that means eBay. I think a dealer might give you .10 on the dollar and hope to sell it for .25.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
Mine were donated (I have kept a box though) to a local library which sells them and uses the "profits" to host local BBQs and reading clubs for kids and young adults.

I've done this route as well donated, not sold.
They run a resale shop & sell them from there.

I gotten some from Abe Books. All transactions went flawless, highly recommend.

^^^^
Similarly, consider Thriftbooks
www.thriftbooks.com
Click on 'Sell your books' link.

quote:

Originally posted by mjlennon:
I gotten some from Abe Books. All transactions went flawless, highly recommend.

Do you mean you purchased from them, or sold to them?

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Half Price Books.
Might not get much for them, but if it has a barcode, I've never had them turn any away.

I had a few boxes of books from my grandmother & a large portion of them were 'book of the month' types.
They lacked a barcode to scan, so HPB wouldn't take those.

I brought 10-11 paper boxes of books in to a local HPB. They wanted very few, didn't offer much and told me flat out most of what I brought in was getting recycled. I loaded it all back in the truck and donated them instead.

I have had decent luck selling HPB relatively current children's books and vinyl in smaller batches.

Seems like it really depends on what you have, what they think the market is and how many copies they may have already.

I downsized a pile or 2 of Sci Fi and other books not too long ago,

placed them on the bench in front of our store with a free sign,

they were all gone in an hour or so

also consider nursing/rehab homes,

FB marketplace and price them in bundles!!!!

Not what you’re asking, but I live an a small town and the small businesses here often struggle to remain successful. I donate books to a shop that sells a variety of things including used books.

At one time I gave them to our local library, but when they had fund-raising sales of books they literally sold them by the pound for some small price. It was a good place to find some nice works, but it didn’t do the library much good.

As for bookstores selling used books in general, the owner of the actual dedicated bookstore we had at one time (who also got donations) told me the adage was that to make a small fortune selling used books it was necessary to spend a large fortune buying them.