Can You Sell Unwanted Books Online?
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2019
- In this video, I test out four websites that claim to buy your unwanted books. But does it really work and how much money can I make from books I no longer want?
EDIT: I have just noticed that I included the wrong screenshot for musicmagpie.co.uk. The statistics for that one were:
£2.29 for 13 books
I made some cats and classic literature inspired stuff, which you can check out here: teespring.com/stores/spinster...
LINKS:
www.webuybooks.co.uk
www.ziffit.com
www.momox.co.uk
www.musicmagpie.co.uk
Spinster's Library on social media:
Twitter: / spinsterslib
Goodreads: / claudia
Instagram: / claudia_kittleton
People commenting that Ziffit does actually have a phone app, you're absolutely right. For some reason my phone thinks it's in Germany, despite me changing the location information ages ago, and the app is not available in Germany, so it never showed up in my Google Play search results. So here is the correction: Ziffit DOES have a phone app.
Thanks for making this video. It has never occured to me to search for websites where I can sell my used books. I'm glad to know I have this option.
Yeah, I was only vaguely aware of them before researching this video.
loved this video! I always donate my books, mainly because it's usually during a big clean out when I decide to get rid of books, and it's way easier to just donate everything together. I feel like I should look into used book stores - a couple independent book stores closed in my city and I'm looking for others!
There is only one used book shop in my town, and it's open very sporadically and at random times. But the charity shops more than make up for it, they're generally cheaper too.
I sold several hundred books to momox Germany. They generally pay more for non-fiction books than fiction.
Ah, that's good to know!
Oooh cool. Sad that books even if they are in pristine conditions,ate like worth less than 1 euro
This was really interesting, and really good to know!
Thanks! Useful if you have a lot of books to get rid of.
This is really interesting! I've never tried selling my books online, but there's a chain used bookstore near me called 2nd and Charles that buys back used books. My guess is the value is pretty similar to the Ziffit value for yours if you take store credit, and about half if you take cash. I can usually get a book or two from them, so for me it's worth it for store credit, and anything they don't want I take to charity shops or little free libraries.
When I have series or pretty editions, I try to sell them through an online ad website, otherwise I try the used bookstore near me (which rarely gives me more than 1$ per book, and only take recent books). I buy most of my books from charity shops so I don't mind returning them to it.
Yes, that's what I usually do as well, just donate them back to the charity shop.
Interesting experiment and cool that you got to sell some. :) The non-profit I volunteer for does a yearly book flea market. Whatever books we don't sell we try to sell on Momox afterwards because they take a lot. We usually sell a couple of boxes, so even though we don't get a lot per book, it adds up and the books are gone. :) Whatever is left ends up being distributed to open bookshelves. :)
Really good to know that those donations don't get wasted!
@@SpinstersLibrary I can't speak for other flea markets of course but I am sure they are doing the best they can too. :)
Excellent public service! I spend too much time in the book sections of charity shops & thrift stores & there's usually one or two bookhunters there with their phone apps scanning endless bar codes & throwing the odd book in a basket. I suppose they're making a living. Fortunately my local book store buys used books so if they're in good shape I take them there, otherwise I donate them. Very nice to meet Editor Claudia. She seems quite nice.
Haha, I'm usually the one scanning books inside charity shops, but that's usually to check them out on Goodreads rather than try to buy and sell them. There must be people who do that though, just like with clothes where people try to get expensive branded clothing in charity shops to then sell online.
This was fascinating. I've only sold books to a used book store because I always get store credit. They're willing to offer more. and I'm gonna spend it there anyway xD Also I love your cat shirt!!!! - Rebecca
Thank you, I love the cat jumper too! My mum was a bit shocked when I skyped with her last week wearing it, because I'm 27 and apparently too old to wear cat print now but whatever :P
What about books like a set of Encyclopedia?
I always donate my books to charity shops as I sold a bunch of books last year to my local second hand bookshop, I think there were about 15 books and they gave me a $20 gift voucher which I had to use within 6 months, plus I had to pay some part of the books I bought with it in cash. Even a book in bad quality costs at least $10 there, so definitely not worth the effort!
Yeah, doesn't sound great, especially if their books are so expensive! There is one for-profit second-hand bookshop in my town, and books usually cost £2-3 in there.
Love your videos. Keep them comimg!
Interesting video. Remembered Reads did a similar video back in June last year from a US perspective (I think it was before she went back to Canada). Her video was called 'Unhauling with Bookscouter' and was pretty interesting too.
I did wonder if going to a car boot sale would be more lucrative; but if I tried that I'd probably come home with more books than I went with.
Ah, I'll check out that video, thanks! Haha, I'd feel the same about car boot sales - plus, they seem like an even bigger time investment.
Very interesting! You went through a lot effort for this experiment. Good video!
Thank you :) I was genuinely curious about whether this even makes sense as a money-making venture
do they buy old Beano books ?
Also my schleich collectiob of 2 barns and 590 animals she sold for 100 euros
Having volunteered in a charity bookshop, what you said at the end is only true to an extent - I was surprised myself with how many books were disposed of one way or another so if a book is in shabby condition particularly it might be better to recycle it unless it's a really unique book. There is a huge space limitation and very few volunteers have the time and experience required to sort through overspill books and put them up to sell online - possibly via these same kinds of websites although I don't know that side myself. It's different for old or unusual books of course.
Thank you for that insight! I had heard from someone working in a charity shop that they always make use of donations, but this is certainly a different take. What would you suggest as the best course of action then for books that might not be the most desirable - not necessarily because they're in bad condition (because most of mine are clearly used since I got them already second-hand, but not in terrible shape), but more because they might not be the most sought after titles. would it be best to just throw them in my own recycle bin to save the charity shop having to do that? Or is it still best to donate? Would appreciate your input :)
Where I live the charity shops often turn away book donations.
One alternative is Freegle - "a free Internet-based service where people can give away and ask for things that would otherwise be thrown away". If its active in your locality it's a good way to get rid of all sorts of unwanted stuff.
Keep all the books forever!
I think it depends a lot of the specific shop and the space and resources that they have. So I volunteered in a tiny bookshop in a very hipster spot where loads of people were really keen to donate books, so we always had far more books than shelves available. We'd end up with five copies of books that were best sellers two years previously.
I would look out for charity shops in your area that have signs saying "accepting donations" indicating they have space for more stock. Or I think if you have a British Heart Foundation shop, they have more of a system where they can distribute donations between their shops as they charge slightly more for books and have paid staff members as well to handle things like that.
In my parents's area people would leave books like that outside on a sunny day and a lot would get picked up, or sometimes hospitals accept donations of books for in-hospital charity shops (we have one at my hospital) and for patients.
I suppose if not, the easiest option that's most likely to get them read is to just donate them and let the shop decide on balance.
in my country every Sunday we have a car-boot sale, and I found lots of old books but doesn't have a barcode, how did I know if it worth it or not the book ? how did you work if you find them ? any tips please
If your books don't have a bar code, try searching via the ISBN, and if there isn't one, maybe they're quite old in which case they might actually be antiques.
Cool little experiment!
Thank you!
This was a really interesting video. You always have the best video ideas!
Thank you :)
this was interesting! I've never tried to look up the options for doing this in the U.S.
I remember a couple years ago I found out that it was not standard practice for used book stores to only give you store credit in return for books you give them, like mine does. Kind of blew my mind haha. "wait you mean they actually give you MONEY?" It's not very much of course, but I was pretty thrilled when I was out of town a couple weeks ago and found a store I could actually give my used books to (most of them in perfect condition) in exchange for cash. I might just continue doing that rather than try to sell them online!
Hm, I'm not sure if my local second-hand book shop takes books, I have a feeling the owner buys them online, if he's taking any at all since the shop is crammed with more books than there's space. Will go and ask though, because that would be a very easy way to get rid of more books.
Thanks
We should have a book tube book swap. At least in Oxfam the books sell for charity.
Booktube book swap sounds lovely!
You are really so pretty 😍😍❤❤you made me fall in love in first sight
you have eyes like annie leonhart from attack on titan :oo
Mom srlls em for 1 euro since "books arent worth anything to people anymore"
❤️ Subbing ❤️
Thank you :)
So, yeah, the real reason you got so little is that your titles are quite common. If you accumulate a larger quantity, lets say 50 and are willing to takemthem to a used book store you might get more than a pound each.
Yeah my local second hand shop doesn't pay anywhere near £1/book 😉
@@SpinstersLibrary You might want to try other locations. Not all shops pay the same.