Have alot of books to sell - auction or classified (some v. rare) - and Q's about 'shops'

[ASecretLemonadeDrinker]

I have alot of stuff to get rid of on Ebay (tried amazon before - nothing sold) but am unsure if it'll do better as an auction or buy it now, or how or if to set up a shop. If I set up a shop is that getting into trade territory and I have to pay tax etc? Googled one book last night and saw it at £266, $1995 and $2995 but dunno how to sell it best and others. Thanks if you can help

You could try calling your local second hand book shop and see what they offer you. But I always find for most things ebay is great. no a shop will take so much off you in fees i dont think it is werth it. but It may work for you im no expert lol

Look for a specialist dealer on AbeBooks - they'll pay you a reasonable rate for the rare books

Ebay the rest

I also have some old books which I want to sell. I looked on e-bay and saw some similar ones, so then went into local secondhand bookshop to ask if they were interested (obviously would sell to them at much reduced price). The man was horrible . He was really quite nasty and sarcastic when I mentioned that I knew a little about how much they were worth. He held his shop door open for me to leave and said I could sell them myself if I was such an expert. I slunk out.

I am wary of e-bay for books because they have to be described very accurately - yellowing, foxing, missing dust jacket, written dedications, etc can all seriously affect the book's value and a buyer could come back to you and say you had misrepresented the item if you had failed to point out that, say, someone had written "Merry Christmas from Auntie Jean" inside the front cover.

I had a rare(ish) book, and took it to a auction house that specialised in books. It got a great price, and even after paying the fairly high commission, I still got more than I probably would have on ebay.

I personally would talk to a real-live specialist bookshop rather than googling or ebaying. you will get a more realistic value and they are more likely to buy what you have at its proper price.

if your nearest bookshop can't help, they will definitely know where to go to get advice or to sell the books.

We had a guy come once and offer £100 for a selection of books he picked out, a few of which that were very easily £50+ and no one else was terribly intrested as they are specialist books (aircraft etc). I will look into a specialist for the rare ones I guess and give the others a go @ 99p starts. Thanks

Don't dismiss ebay just yet.
Book dealers buy books from you and most of them then sell them on ebay.

I'm in a rush now but can come back here later and discuss this more with you (if you want) - I sell books on ebay (and have done for years)

What do you do about p&p these days? I believe you can't charge for it. What if you have several old tomes which weigh about six tonnes?!

If you take some time researching your books it will give you some idea of their value. You need to look at different editions and conditions etc. If you start off with bookfinder .com you will get an idea of how many are currently on the market and for what asking price - search through for your particular edition. Eg Searching for a a milne now we are six will bring up 1000s of books for 1p, but narrowing it down to a first edition first print will be a whole new ball game (and a nice summer vacation)
Remember that the search results will give you the asking price, not what the item has sold for (it may never sell)
Once you have an idea of it's value you can decide whether to ebay it or if, it's a juicy one, take to a real auction. I wouldn't try to sell to book shops/dealers as, as I have said, they will buy them from you at the lowest they have the cheek for and then ebay them themselves. Real books shops these days really don't make their money from live walk in customers but from using the shop as a store and they sell online. (worldwide viewing)

If you decide to ebay the books, take your time with the listing. A full description of details, condition etc with lots of photos (free with photobucket) check out the cost of posting with adequate insurance and insert this in the listing so that you get a world wide audience. If you are hoping to get £100 for a book, ask yourself how long you would have to work in an office for that amount - then 45 minutes spent on a good description doesn't seem so bad.
An example of how a good description can work - a man listed a book a couple of years ago; he knew it was rare so he put it on for £500. He didn't put much in the listing, but it sold for £500. The buyer then relisted it and spent time detailing everything about the book - it's condition, its history...the lot. He got £80,000 for it.
I was in a rush last week and listed a lot of 3 books together. I got £21 for the three. If I had taken my time I would have realised that if I listed then separetly with individual searchable keywords I would have got £80 for just one of them!

I won't ramble on anymore - but if you want any help with your books I am more than willing.