Where's the best place to sell adult non-fiction books?

[Just a Jen in Mississippi]

My house is overloaded with them and I'd like to let go of some. Any suggestions on where to list them?

 

TIA

[TravelingChris]

I used the Amazon seller feature. I had no problems except that I priced one book to low and lost 20 cents on the deal. I did rid our house of some books and hope to do it again soon.

[Janet in Toronto]

I've sold a lot of non-fiction (theology, mathematics, philosophy, music, etc) on amazon. Probably $600-$800 worth over a year. I price competitively, and anything I can't make money on (given the listing prices) I donate to the library or Goodwill.

 

Janet

[abbeyej]

Well, which is more important to you? Getting a decent price for your books, or clearing out your overloaded house? For me, I decided it wasn't worth waiting around to sell books one by one, negotiate with emails, to go to the post office, deposit individual checks for a few dollars each... When what I *really* needed was just to be free of so many linear feet of books I never expected to read again.

 

So just this morning I took six large Rubbermaid totes (I may never be able to stand up straight again!) to our local used bookstore. They went through and sorted what they were willing to buy and what they weren't, and they gave me the option of donating the ones they didn't want to their "homeless book" section. Those books get sold for a $1, and the money all goes to Habitat for Humanity. I nearly hugged them for saving me a trip to Goodwill. ;) I'm still waiting to hear how much they're willing to give me (it was so many books, it was going to take a while), and I have the option of store credit or half that amount in cash. I'm going for the cash -- otherwise, I'll just get myself in trouble all over again. ;)

 

Anyway, this seems to be standard practice among used bookstores, and it's something I've done many times before. It doesn't get you much money (though if you go for store credit, it may still be a better deal than selling online), but it clears out space and it made me feel a little better about abandoning my precious books to know that they were going somewhere where people would actually buy and use them...

[katilac]

I use Amazon as well. The buyer pays Amazon and Amazon pays you; my seller account is set up where they deposit my earnings directly into my checking account once a month. they do charge a fee (only when the book sells), but not having to deal with payment is usually worth it to me. I sell home school related stuff here, and everything else on amazon.

 

abbeyj has a point about considering whether or not single selling is worth it, but it definitely CAN be worth your while. non-fiction sells better and at a higher price than fiction, so that's in your favor. if you use amazon, there are no worries about bad checks, etc. If I had to make a trip to my post office every time I sold a book, I probably wouldn't do it, but dh can weigh, package and buy postage at work.