Suggestions - sites to sell our homeschool books!

[sheryl]

I've put off selling our homeschool books.  DD is in community college and we're finished homeschooling (sniff!).  🙂

Last week dd and I categorized the books and I entered into a msword.  Now I'm starting to post.   We have MANY books to sell.  Where do you suggest?

Craigslist, Homeschool Classified, Vegsource….

Any others?  I'm looking for a lot of traffic and serious buyers.  

[sheryl]

I just revisited vegsource and  it seems they closed their door to the homeschool section.  Bummer!

[klmama]

Ebay, classifieds here, FB

[hjffkj]

there are facebook groups for selling used homeschool material.  I would go that route

[sheryl]

45 minutes ago, klmama said:

Ebay, classifieds here, FB

Ebay - yes!  

30 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

there are facebook groups for selling used homeschool material.  I would go that route

I don't do FB but my dh had to have one for work.  He's no longer with that employer so maybe I'll use his acct to sell books.  I don't even understand how FB works but will learn.  LOL!

[Tenaj]

I've been having decent luck on homeschool classifieds.

[cintinative]

It depends on the item, but I have had the most success with FB.  Homeschool classifieds is free for a certain number of listings. I personally would only do Ebay for a high cost item or maybe a vintage math text because of the extra fees.

 

If you haven't sold before, a few words of advice:

1. Only take paypal.  Send a detailed paypal invoice for them to pay. Do not accept payments via friends and family. No checks. No FB Pay. You have zero protection with FB pay. Don't get scammed. If they can't pay via normal paypal, then move on to the next person.
2. If you decide to use media mail, please pack very carefully and tape your box more than seems reasonable. The USPS is infamous for losing items from media mail boxes.  Some post offices are notorious for "inspecting" media mail and items going lost. Some people recommend leaving a list inside the box of the contents. I don't always do that, but I always tape all the edges and I have not had trouble.
3. Establish what you think is a reasonable time to wait for an invoice to be paid and put that on the invoice itself. Normally I allow less than 24 hours.  If there is a line of people, I expect payment in eight hours (unless it is overnight).  
4. Establish what is an acceptable financial loss for you if the USPS loses a package and add insurance for any amount over that.  Keep in mind that I have heard USPS can be a pain about reimbursing for insured items. You might be good to keep pictures and descriptions of the items.
5. Use the free USPS tracking via paypal.
6. If you list on homeschool classifieds, really try to list the edition number or year and/or the ISBN. That really helps. 

Edited June 24, 2019 by cintinative

[sheryl]

2 hours ago, JanOH said:

I've been having decent luck on homeschool classifieds.

I've been on HC for years and it doesn't work well for me but I'm going to list again. 

1 hour ago, cintinative said:

It depends on the item, but I have had the most success with FB.  Homeschool classifieds is free for a certain number of listings. I personally would only do Ebay for a high cost item or maybe a vintage math text because of the extra fees.

 

If you haven't sold before, a few words of advice:

1. Only take paypal.  Send a detailed paypal invoice for them to pay. Do not accept payments via friends and family. No checks. No FB Pay. You have zero protection with FB pay. Don't get scammed. If they can't pay via normal paypal, then move on to the next person.
2. If you decide to use media mail, please pack very carefully and tape your box more than seems reasonable. The USPS is infamous for losing items from media mail boxes.  Some post offices are notorious for "inspecting" media mail and items going lost. Some people recommend leaving a list inside the box of the contents. I don't always do that, but I always tape all the edges and I have not had trouble.
3. Establish what you think is a reasonable time to wait for an invoice to be paid and put that on the invoice itself. Normally I allow less than 24 hours.  If there is a line of people, I expect payment in eight hours (unless it is overnight).  
4. Establish what is an acceptable financial loss for you if the USPS loses a package and add insurance for any amount over that.  Keep in mind that I have heard USPS can be a pain about reimbursing for insured items. You might be good to keep pictures and descriptions of the items.
5. Use the free USPS tracking via paypal.
6. If you list on homeschool classifieds, really try to list the edition number or year and/or the ISBN. That really helps. 

Ebay, yes.  I've bought and sold here and elsewhere for years.  As mentioned, I may use my dh's fb acct to post.  I don't have an acct and don't want one.  🙂

[edelweiss]

Thanks for posting this topic.  I have a bunch of homeschooling curriculum to get rid of. I have been trying to figure out what to do with it.  I honestly just want to find some place locally to donate it to.  I wish that my area had a used homeschool curriculum fair, but I can't find one.  I do not want to deal with pricing, selling, and especially shipping items, so eBay, etc. isn't something I want to deal with.  I think I will donate some items to my library if they will take it?? Or maybe Half Price Books? I'm not sure if either of them would want homeschool items.  If not, I guess I will just recycle everything.  Ugh, it makes me sick to do that, but I do not want to deal with the hassle of shipping.  

[Lori D.]

I had the most success with selling locally, advertising on the local homeschool group websites, and at the annual used curriculum fair.

I increasingly had a hard time selling online, as people want to pay you pennies for like-new items. And SO many people only want whatever edition just came out last year -- if your curricula is 3-5 years old or older, you will likely have a hard time reselling (at least that was my experience). I finally just made a policy for myself that cut out a lot of stress and trips to the post office -- unless I could make $20 or more on an item/curricula package, it just wasn't worth my time, effort, and frustration of trying to sell it.

As a result:
- a lot of books have been taken by a local used book store in exchange for credit, so I can get books I'm interested in reading now via credit
- some higher-priced items I was able to donate to our local non-profit homeschool support group and get the tax write-off (which was more than what anyone would pay me)
- a LOT of reading books just ended up going to Good Will (or other), and again, taking the tax credit
- and a lot of curricula I gifted to other homeschoolers

It was freeing once I stopped thinking I "had" to resell and make $$ off of our old homeschooling materials. BEST of luck in finding what works best for YOU for passing on your homeschool materials. And congratulations on finishing the homeschool race in excellence! Warmest regards, Lori D.

ETA -- PS
One other thing I noticed was that it was a lot harder to see high school materials, especially if the curricula/books were not one of the very popular/most frequently used programs. Also, SOOO many people are either doing online or hybrid schools that they are not interested in anything out of the mainstream as far as materials. So it also became increasingly difficult to sell my homeschool curricula for that reason as well.

Edited June 25, 2019 by Lori D.

[klmama]

My experience matches Lori D's.  If it's newer and still popular, and you don't need it for a few years, think about selling it now!  You'll get back some decent money (25-50%) to fund the new curriculum you need, and you can probably find it again for your younger dc at a cheaper price if you want to use it again later.  If you wait until all your dc have used it, everyone will want the newer edition or the latest fad and your great book won't sell, even if you practically give it away and offer chocolate to go with it.  

My group is having a sale soon, and I plan to ask virtually nothing for the books I'm selling.  Most were published between 1990-2010, and the current crop of homeschooling moms hasn't even heard of many of them.  They are still great books, if they are willing to take a chance, but most won't even look.  Whatever doesn't sell goes to Goodwill.  I'm ready to get my closet back.

ETA:  OP, I suggested some ideas earlier, but I've had good results selling popular items via a local homeschool group email list.  It may be worth trying if you have something like that, but FB may still be your best bet.

 

 

Edited June 25, 2019 by klmama

[pitterpatter]

I'm finding selling is slower/more difficult than it was 5+ years ago. I sell on Homeschool Classifieds and one Facebook group right now. I buy from Homeschool Classifieds and eBay mostly. The Facebook group I sell in is frustrating. There's a ton of stuff posted every day. Typically, when I actually want to buy something, it's already sold. Yet, most of my stuff is slow to get nibbles.

I have brand new Apples & Pears books that no one seems to want, which surprises me. I thought they would sell quickly since they are hard to come by. 🤷‍♀️

Edited June 25, 2019 by pitterpatter

[happi duck]

17 hours ago, Lori D. said:

I had the most success with selling locally, advertising on the local homeschool group websites, and at the annual used curriculum fair.

I increasingly had a hard time selling online, as people want to pay you pennies for like-new items. And SO many people only want whatever edition just came out last year -- if your curricula is more than 4-5 years old, you will likely have a hard time reselling (at least that was my experience). I finally just made a policy for myself that cut out a lot of stress and trips to the post office -- unless I could make $20 or more on an item/curricula package, it just wasn't worth my time, effort, and frustration of trying to sell it.

As a result:
- a lot of books have been taken by a local used book store in exchange for credit, so I can get books I'm interested in reading now via credit
- some higher-priced items I was able to donate to our local non-profit homeschool support group and get the tax write-off (which was more than what anyone would pay me)
- a LOT of reading books just ended up going to Good Will (or other), and again, taking the tax credit
- and a lot of curricula I gifted to other homeschoolers

It was freeing once I stopped thinking I "had" to resell and make $$ off of our old homeschooling materials. BEST of luck in finding what works best for YOU for passing on your homeschool materials. And congratulations on finishing the homeschool race in excellence! Warmest regards, Lori D.

ETA -- PS
One other thing I noticed was that it was a lot harder to see high school materials, especially if the curricula/books were not one of the very popular/most frequently used programs. Also, SOOO many people are either doing online or hybrid schools that they are not interested in anything out of the mainstream as far as materials. So it also became increasingly difficult to sell my homeschool curricula for that reason as well.

Thanks for posting!  I've been struggling with feeling like a failure if i don't sell our stuff perfectly.  I want to be free of that too!

[Beth S]

Consider passing most of your surplus stuff along to younger homeschoolers (locally) for no charge.
It's a big encouragement for them, & quickly solves the decluttering problem.

Some friends here make a list (or photos) of what they're getting rid of, & post it on the local homeschool group FB page.
One friend had a 2 hour Open House, where you could come to her house & choose what you wanted.
Our homeschool group has an annual Used Curriculum Sale in May.
You could also bring your stash to the first homeschool group meeting of the year.

I'm still homeschooling our Caboose, but am looking forward to passing along our high school surplus soon.  🙂

[sheryl]

18 hours ago, edelweiss said:

Thanks for posting this topic.  I have a bunch of homeschooling curriculum to get rid of. I have been trying to figure out what to do with it.  I honestly just want to find some place locally to donate it to.  I wish that my area had a used homeschool curriculum fair, but I can't find one.  I do not want to deal with pricing, selling, and especially shipping items, so eBay, etc. isn't something I want to deal with.  I think I will donate some items to my library if they will take it?? Or maybe Half Price Books? I'm not sure if either of them would want homeschool items.  If not, I guess I will just recycle everything.  Ugh, it makes me sick to do that, but I do not want to deal with the hassle of shipping.  

We donate a ton of this and that (household, décor, books, etc).  So, I'd like to make a little "return" from our pricier homeschool books.  I don't know, maybe not as many people are homeschooling.  I wonder what the current stat is of that, by state and nationwide.  That might explain why it's harder to sell.

17 hours ago, Lori D. said:

I had the most success with selling locally, advertising on the local homeschool group websites, and at the annual used curriculum fair.

I increasingly had a hard time selling online, as people want to pay you pennies for like-new items. And SO many people only want whatever edition just came out last year -- if your curricula is more than 4-5 years old, you will likely have a hard time reselling (at least that was my experience). I finally just made a policy for myself that cut out a lot of stress and trips to the post office -- unless I could make $20 or more on an item/curricula package, it just wasn't worth my time, effort, and frustration of trying to sell it.

As a result:
- a lot of books have been taken by a local used book store in exchange for credit, so I can get books I'm interested in reading now via credit
- some higher-priced items I was able to donate to our local non-profit homeschool support group and get the tax write-off (which was more than what anyone would pay me)
- a LOT of reading books just ended up going to Good Will (or other), and again, taking the tax credit
- and a lot of curricula I gifted to other homeschoolers

It was freeing once I stopped thinking I "had" to resell and make $$ off of our old homeschooling materials. BEST of luck in finding what works best for YOU for passing on your homeschool materials. And congratulations on finishing the homeschool race in excellence! Warmest regards, Lori D.

ETA -- PS
One other thing I noticed was that it was a lot harder to see high school materials, especially if the curricula/books were not one of the very popular/most frequently used programs. Also, SOOO many people are either doing online or hybrid schools that they are not interested in anything out of the mainstream as far as materials. So it also became increasingly difficult to sell my homeschool curricula for that reason as well.

Lori, I agree,  Good assessment of the situation.  I've bought and sold for years on various boards including this one years ago before the format change!  It's true Moms want the newest edition, in many cases.  It's ridiculous.  When I first started homeschooling 13-14 years ago, I was given a lot of material from my cousin to get us started.   I bought tons more afterwards.  I used those books and when it was time to sell it was HARD!  Then I became aware of how the whole homeschool publishing process worked.  We used a lot of one publisher.  I've compared new editions to older editions in many subjects.  MUCH (not all) of the time there is a typo, graphic change (replacing photos of "real" people with cartoons and sometimes there was a more major edit like the addition or deletion of text - however long it was).  (Side topic on graphics:  I'm old school and much prefer the photos showing "live" people and NOT cartoons especially from 4th-6th grade and up.  Cartoons for younger students maybe at best).   All of that to say that I'd snatch up the older editions for a fraction of the cost and reserved buying new for other materials.  If there was a slight change, I'll take the older.  If it was major then I'd buy newer or new editions. 

We have local homeschool egroup.  I just posted several times on there.  We'll see.   We have a local homeschool bookstore.  I seen this change over the years.  She used to have her business (which was very small at the time) inside a kid's consignment store.  Her business picked up and she bought a parcel (I guess) as she has a new storefront.  Unfortunately, the prices have gone up and sometimes (not always b/c there can be good deals there) there is not much different b/t buying used from her or buying new.  I'm not bashing this lovely woman/business owner.  I've been buying there for YEARS and have watched it change from a small set up with good prices to newly constructed (few years old now) building with higher priced materials.  One other homeschool Mom who had a homeschool bookstore first and essentially across the street had to close due to competition.  

I don't feel I HAVE to sell the books for money but here it is.  I bought some of these more sought after books and I'd like to sell them.  People WILL buy these books at this bookstore.  Why not from me at a lower price?  Then we both win.  

7 hours ago, klmama said:

My experience matches Lori D's.  If it's newer and still popular, and you don't need it for a few years, think about selling it now!  You'll get back some decent money (25-50%) to fund the new curriculum you need, and you can probably find it again for your younger dc at a cheaper price if you want to use it again later.  If you wait until all your dc have used it, everyone will want the newer edition or the latest fad and your great book won't sell, even if you practically give it away and offer chocolate to go with it.  

My group is having a sale soon, and I plan to ask virtually nothing for the books I'm selling.  Most were published between 1990-2010, and the current crop of homeschooling moms hasn't even heard of many of them.  They are still great books, if they are willing to take a chance, but most won't even look.  Whatever doesn't sell goes to Goodwill.  I'm ready to get my closet back.

ETA:  OP, I suggested some ideas earlier, but I've had good results selling popular items via a local homeschool group email list.  It may be worth trying if you have something like that, but FB may still be your best bet.

 

 

Our daughter is an only child (young adult now).  🙂   I do agree with using it and selling it right away and not keeping it but buying new for other kids though because more than likely there will be another version so why wait and try to sell that older edition.

1 hour ago, pitterpatter said:

I'm finding selling is slower/more difficult than it was 5+ years ago. I sell on Homeschool Classifieds and one Facebook group right now. I buy from Homeschool Classifieds and eBay mostly. The Facebook group I sell in is frustrating. There's a ton of stuff posted every day. Typically, when I actually want to buy something, it's already sold. Yet, most of my stuff is slow to get nibbles.

I have brand new Apples & Pears books that no one seems to want, which surprises me. I thought they would sell quickly since they are hard to come by. 🤷‍♀️

I've been on HC for years but haven't sold anything in a long time because I held on to it.  That was a mistake.  Yes, it is harder everywhere. 

15 minutes ago, happi duck said:

Thanks for posting!  I've been struggling with feeling like a failure if i don't sell our stuff perfectly.  I want to be free of that too!

Well, I don't want to sell "perfectly".  I don't know what that looks like.  I have Apologia 3rd edition/5th printing (which took care of a major screw up, I think, and it's unused.  I paid maybe $90 - don't remember.  That book SELLS locally.  Why would I donate that?  I will make it at $50/set.  

However, if over time no one buys our books, I will seek out some needy family and donate to them.  I'm not going to sell to someone who is negotiating with me to save $5.  It turns in to a power struggle.  KWIM?

[sheryl]

9 minutes ago, Beth S said:

Consider passing most of your surplus stuff along to younger homeschoolers (locally) for no charge.
It's a big encouragement for them, & quickly solves the decluttering problem.

Some friends here make a list (or photos) of what they're getting rid of, & post it on the local homeschool group FB page.
One friend had a 2 hour Open House, where you could come to her house & choose what you wanted.
Our homeschool group has an annual Used Curriculum Sale in May.
You could also bring your stash to the first homeschool group meeting of the year.

I'm still homeschooling our Caboose, but am looking forward to passing along our high school surplus soon.  🙂

Read my other responses why I won't be donating (right now).   I donate in so many other ways with other items and know it blesses people.  But, I want to be wise and try to recoup some of my expense.   Yes, I had an "at home homeschool book sale" a few years ago and did sell some books.  It's convenient to set it up right at home!   I will post on our local e-group every now and then, Craigslist and Ebay.  

[GoodGrief]

22 hours ago, edelweiss said:

Thanks for posting this topic.  I have a bunch of homeschooling curriculum to get rid of. I have been trying to figure out what to do with it.  I honestly just want to find some place locally to donate it to.  I wish that my area had a used homeschool curriculum fair, but I can't find one.  I do not want to deal with pricing, selling, and especially shipping items, so eBay, etc. isn't something I want to deal with.  I think I will donate some items to my library if they will take it?? Or maybe Half Price Books? I'm not sure if either of them would want homeschool items.  If not, I guess I will just recycle everything.  Ugh, it makes me sick to do that, but I do not want to deal with the hassle of shipping.  

 

Not directed at the OP, as I know she wants to sell, but I was in your position when we got to the end of 17 years of homeschooling three kids. I started by listing items on my personal Facebook for friends to see, in case any of those homeschoolers wanted things. Then I did a First Come First Serve listing on our town's Facebook garage sale group. Said the items would be out on the porch and people could come look and take what they want. Things disappeared quickly for the most part. I donated the remainder to our local homeschool charter program, though I could have thrift-stored the rest too. :-)