Usborne books

[Diamondsapphire]

I know it’s a bit of a scam but was thinking about signing up and being the only ‘customer’ and getting cheaper books for DCs, anyone do this?

@Diamondsapphire so to sum up, you want cheap books, but you don't want any that other children have touched because of germs (even if they haven't been touched for years), so that rules out all options of secondhand books then really. You don't have time to go to shops, so my final suggestion is to Google search "buy children's books".

@Diamondsapphire

Mmm but in covid times it’s a bit different. Plus then it’s a hassle returning them!

You can't catch Covid from a book

Op if you don't want to go to charity shops don't. I don't know why you're getting such a hard time for it

You can normally get bundles of that’s not my books on eBay for about £10

Well umm … you do it then, @musicalfrog. I’d rather not.

I’m honestly a bit lost as to what people are getting annoyed with. I work all week. At the weekends, I want to do nice things with the children that they will enjoy, and being put in a car seat and taken into town then a pushchair and taken round charity shops just - isn’t.

Of course, if your children enjoy that, do it. Mine like soft play which I know is only just one step away from the inner circle of hell for many posters on here, I don’t let that stop me taking my children and I’m not suggesting anyone here stops taking their children round charity shops, if that’s an enjoyable past time for them.

so to sum up, you want cheap books, but you don't want any that other children have touched because of germs (even if they haven't been touched for years), so that rules out all options of secondhand books then really. You don't have time to go to shops, so my final suggestion is to Google search "buy children's books

Or there’s the other suggestion which I’ve already said thank you for and I have ordered books from that website?

It isn’t covid I’m worried about so much as general germy unpleasant stuff. Inevitable with toddlers.

Board books can be easily wiped with a Dettol wipe if you are worried.

I’ve cleared a load of toddler books to a charity shop recently. Dc is 10 so they haven’t been licked or sneezed on for a long time. In fact some are pristine.

Join a library!

@Mammyloveswine

Op i signed up for usborne books..i havent made much but i definitely havent lost!

Ive basically just got some lovely books very cheap or free!

Its a hassle though op.. i dont regret it and if you sign up and sell to schools you can make quite a bit..do your research!

But how do you approach the schools though???

We are members of the library, thanks, but getting to the library and then returning the books can be a bit of a pain. I suspect we’ll use it more when the children are older. As it is I have ordered some more books from the above link and I’ll keep my eyes peeled for bargains elsewhere.

@Diamondsapphire

We are members of the library, thanks, but getting to the library and then returning the books can be a bit of a pain. I suspect we’ll use it more when the children are older. As it is I have ordered some more books from the above link and I’ll keep my eyes peeled for bargains elsewhere.

Beware, with Usborne at Home you have a minimum order amount to reach. When I was with them, it was £100 a month I think. If you don't reach that for the first 3 months then you're billed the full RRP for all the books in your starter kit as punishment! 🤛

That’s a lot! Must be to stop people doing what I was thinking of doing!

You can just buy directly from the Usborne website as far as I know - but I expect it's at cover price.
I don't see how being a rep would have saved you money though because as I said earlier when I have bought from a rep it's always been cover price. So where would you be making a saving?

I assumed that you would pay less since if you’re selling them on you’d have to make a profit. Years ago I ‘sold’ neals yard like this - I was my only customer.

Oh I see. Makes sense if you get them at 'sellers price'.

If you haven't got time or money enough to go to a shop you certainly haven't got time or money enough to run an usborne account for sole use.

Round my way there are lots of Usborne MLM bots. It's scam-tastic as others have said. Sadly, the less successful ones end up with garages full of stock that they then try to flog at £1 or £2 per book on facebook selling groups, just to recoup some of their losses. So that's one way to get the books cheap... 😬

The only usborne hunbot I know who makes any money does so with so called fundraising campaigns where she does some sponsored reaf off or whatever, everyone donates money and she in turn 'donates' her blessed usborne books to some unsuspecting school ie the campaign is to give herself the money for the books she donates. Dodgy. As. Fuck.

read off

Look out for local library book sales. I've got dozens of books for 10p or 20p each from our local library- really good ones. Also, Facebook marketplace for cheap usbourne ones!

@Karenetta

If you haven't got time or money enough to go to a shop you certainly haven't got time or money enough to run an usborne account for sole use.

Well, we’ve pretty much established I won’t be, but why?

What is so time consuming about it, out of interest?

I’m sure the pyramid scheme thing is dreadful, but I do genuinely rate usborne books. They’ve been excellent for years - I have some great ones from when I was little. They are very very well done, across all age ranges. The language age grading is done very well too, so it’s pretty easy to pick which ones are good for wherever your kids are up to.

So I have no advice at all on where or how to get them cheaper. But I don’t regret anything I’ve spent on them over the years! Used to get ours from either bookshops, Amazon, charity shops (if I saw a good one in there) but mostly from a woman who sold them at my work, along with loads of other stalls that would come round once every few months. She was pretty helpful, genuinely loved books, and I had no objection to buying from her.

The ones that remind me of the old style “ladybird” books were particularly well done - at the time (2010 ish) Ladybird books were going through a horrific misjudged rebranding, with rewritten badly scanning, half rhyming and half not text, and rubbishy illustrations. They’ve reverted back to much better versions now, but I was so thankful for the usborne ones, which filled that gap v nicely. And their myths and legends books for all ages are good. And the “see inside..” ones. And the small fact books. We still have a huge collection, though nowadays the boys will look it all up online

Obv we had a huge variety of other books from other places, but i do think they do their thing very well.

If you don't fancy/have time for charity shops, then fair enough, but setting up as an Usborne seller isn't the way to go.

My friend did Usborne for a couple of years. She bought the started kit (about £40/50) which included a variety of books to get started, but a whole mix of different ages/interests. Then she received 20% commission on sales, I can't remember if she had to pay postage. The books were generally the RRP but occasionally there were things on offer, you can see prices on the Usbourne shop. I agree the Usbourne books are lovely, but have a look elsewhere and if they're more than 20% cheaper, it won't be worthwhile. Plus there are so many other publishers that produce lovely books, don't pin yourself to just one.

Thanks - I definitely wouldn’t be going for it given you have to buy a minimum every month as I wouldn’t be looking to sell to anyone but me. I’ve done this twice before with MLMs so wondered if it was a go-er for Usborne. I didn’t expect it to turn into an analysis on charity shops!

Check local facebook groups
Library - I don't think we bought lots of toddler books or even early readers, they outgrow them so fast, I didn't want to spend money.
Library trips were a day out for us, nice walk, books and later a coffee.
The Works
Charity shops

@Diamondsapphire I'd definitely have a look on Facebook marketplace too, I've seen lots of bundles of cheap or free books people are getting rid of as their children get older. I used to buy my kids lots of books from The Book People but haven't shopped on there for a while.