Question on selling language books

[CarlyD]

I have a crazy number of Spanish/German books and wanted to pare down. I'm looking at selling them on eBay, one at a time, and am questioning the amount of work involved for what I'd get.

Does anyone know of a bookstore somewhere (preferably in the US) that would buy a bulk lot of books?

[zenmonkey]

There are a couple of tools to sell in bulk like Ziffit, Bookdeal, etc. but I always found them to not give good returns. I now focus on a few books that may have bigger worth and post those on either Amazon or eBay. Everything else is gifted to friends or brought to language conferences.

We really should get a good exchange going on here.

[Herodotean]

There are a few Half Price Books locations in California (where your profile says you are): https://www.hpb.com/all-stores-list. I've sold books to them a time or two. They certainly lowballed me on the value, but you walk away with cash in hand. This was in person, though.

[Xenops]

I would try local used bookstores, especially ones that see a lot of traffic. However, whether you’re selling them back or selling them on eBay, don’t expect to get a lot from them. Used books, unless they’re rare, can be a dime a dozen (perhaps literally).

[rdearman]

There are a couple of tools to sell in bulk like Ziffit, Bookdeal, etc. but I always found them to not give good returns. I now focus on a few books that may have bigger worth and post those on either Amazon or eBay. Everything else is gifted to friends or brought to language conferences.

We really should get a good exchange going on here.

There is a swap area.

https://forum.language-learners.org/viewforum.php?f=27

[zenmonkey]

There are a couple of tools to sell in bulk like Ziffit, Bookdeal, etc. but I always found them to not give good returns. I now focus on a few books that may have bigger worth and post those on either Amazon or eBay. Everything else is gifted to friends or brought to language conferences.

We really should get a good exchange going on here.

There is a swap area.

https://forum.language-learners.org/viewforum.php?f=27

Yep, in the back of my mind, I've been wondering for a while why it is underutilized. I think there is a really good case here for building a business not being served by Amazon, Abebooks, and the services I listed...

[Lisa]

On ebay people sell things in groups, so you might reduce the effort by offering several complementary books in one lot. Ebay seems to be more spendy for the shopper, but that might be the overhead.

I've found used book purchasers to be wildly erratic and unpredictable in what they will take and how much they'll give you, from one store to another and one month to another, of the same general mix of books in the same general area. I've been unable to find a pattern.

If I recall, Powell's books used to be able to give you a quote online for what they would pay for a book, if you enter the ISBN number.

[zenmonkey]

A little research here and I found two apps that may be of interest.

BookScouter - allows you to check price directly on several bulk purchasers at the same time. Usually will get a quote below the used-book market value as you are selling to a bookstore/reseller. But it does allow to organize shipping and seems a simple solution.

PangoBooks - direct selling your books to other people. Nice little app, my test with two books (a common electronics textbook and a popular SF book) lets you set your own price, easy to upload but I'm not sure they have the market size to get sales, you may be stuck with your books for a while. Their search interface (as a buyer) is overly simplified.

[MorkTheFiddle]

For a few years I sold books and videos on Amazon for gas money. Some thoughts.
1. Amazon is your major competitor, so you may not want to let them in on your action.
2. Amazon has a "the customer is always right" policy, so if a customer wants their money back, you have to give it to them, even if years have gone by.
3. If you are selling language CDs or DVDs, keep in mind the customer can copy it, put a scratch on it, and return it for their money back because it's defective.
4. Packaging can be more time-consuming and expensive than you think.
5. Sending stuff by Media Mail is usually the cheapest way, but sometimes First Class is cheaper, expecially for a small item.
6. As Herodotean says, Half-Price books lets you walk out the door with cash, but in my experience their offers are insulting.
7. Selling a lot of books is a hassle, so I don't sell much anymore, but when I do I use eBay, which is mostly pain-free.
8. Etsy may sell books, too, but I've never used it (for anything).
9. Zenmonkey's last two sites mentioned look promising.
10. Good luck!

[CarlyD]

There is a swap area.
https://forum.language-learners.org/viewforum.php?f=27

But you can only use the swap area if you're going to get another book back. I want less books overall. Too bad we don't have a "destash area" where people can move books along, whether by selling or giving them away for the cost of shipping.