Where to sell books?

[verybighouseinthecountry]

I have a lot of brand new books that I've received as presents that I don't want. I usually just send books into the charity shop, but thinking a couple of pounds per book might be useful at this time of year. I tried the we buy books app and they were giving 27p per book. Is it worth putting the job lot on Facebook? Or any other suggestions?

Download the app - We buy books - and swipe the bar code on the back. If you giving them away offer them to a local secondary school for the library.

World of books are super easy to trade with and if you have enough they even come and collect!

Edited to add you won’t get a lot that way but if you’ve enough it all adds up as some are with more than others!

Look at eBay for recent sold prices (*) to get an a
idea of what they are worth.

(*) search for the book on eBay, ignore the current asking prices (they may be unsold for a reason), and then use the filters to select sold / completed transactions and you will see what your books might be worth.

Books sell well on Vinted. We buy books etc don’t give you extra money for being new but you can get a bit more for new and unread on Vinted.

I asked a friend exactly this question earlier today as I need to have a cull. She recommended World of Books.

I put some on Vinted a few weeks ago. They sold within hours

How do you sell on world of books? I've got 20 and I would like £30 for the lot, is that ok?

I thought Vinted was for clothes only!

I buy most of my Books from World of Books, so this would be my first port of call if I wanted to sell.

World of books will only offer you pennies really you won’t get that much!! Vinted you can sell books if but them up a a couple of bundles of similar stuff to try and shift them!

World of Books is like Music Magpie - they’ll decide the price and whether they will actually buy them. Most 2nd hand books aren’t worth much, they are looking for the diamond in the rough mainly, and pulp a lot for recycling paper.

Download the app and scan the bar code on each book. World of Books tell you how much they will pay you. I found this to most commonly be 48p per book. I had the odd unusual boom that was £1.87 but Game of Thrones were only 10p each.

Box the books, free collection through the app. WoB’s check the books when they arrive with them. I'm expecting a lower offer now they have them, perhaps for books with charity stickers, price stickers etc.

It was an easy process. The app seems to ‘stop’ at a point and shows as ‘this book isn't wanted’. I think it maybe to do with the weight of the collection.

My books totalled £24.85.

I'm sceptical of these book buying companies, I had a brand, new (well unread) hardback book on Gardening, by a well known writer/gardener, large format, lots of full colour photos
It cost £25 and they offered 37p. So I took it to charity shop (along with a number if similar books). I'd rather give them away.

Schools - that's a good idea, I'm going to.investigate that.

Just following up on my recent WoB transaction.

Surprisingly nothing knocked off the agreed price, all books accepted at what was offered.

Really pleased with an easy process. There is an additional £5.00 for your first trade. MM6C797033 if used before 13.12.2025.

Glad it worked out for you. I made an account, scanned my nearly new books, some of which are still bestsellers at £19.99 and got a paltry £7.47 for 16 books. I then have to buy a box within certain dimensions and drive to a drop off point several miles away. I'll just give them away!

I must say I was surprised!

I tried this with CD's as well. Completely pointless. I gave them, and a load of books, to the hospice shop, they sell them for £1 or £2 and I would rather support that tbh.

We've just sent our last lot to local Oxfam Books specific shop. I’d rather generate a bit of money for charity, and keep good quality second hand books local for others to enjoy. The shop is in a ‘well read’ suburb, so tend to pick up good finds when I’m down there too. The Young Adult shelf is the best I’ve ever seen!

I have done both We Buy Books and World of Books before, scan both as the price difference can sometimes be a lot. I find it’s not worth it unless you have unusual books. Popular fiction is about 50p each!

Yes, as above our books were mainly 48p, up to £1.87. A good amount in all. All accepted, no reductions when they arrived at World of Books.

Interestingly, just today we dropped off boxes of bric-a-brac, small electricals, clothing and books at our local charity shop (clearance of late MiL’s house and some of our stuff).
Of all the items, they refused the books!

Our charity shops are coming down with books, hence why I haven't just dropped them off. I'll maybe email the local school and see if they'll be of any use.

We’ve had a major book cull in the past few months (as in hundreds) with a mixture of Music Magpie, World of Books and We Buy Books. Sadly, nobody pays much but we don’t have anything massively valuable (mostly things we bought from charity shops but have decided to be ruthless about as we won’t read them).

Anything they won’t take goes to charity.

However, I’ve recently got onto Vinted and just started cautiously uploading books there - I’ve made one sale and plan to try more. I wouldn’t rely on it but it’s worth trying if you have new or interesting books that are scarce on there.

I’ve found it depends what you’re selling. Academic books, and niche non fiction can fetch more than newish novels on WBB, I suppose because they’re harder to source. A couple of times I’ve been offered over a fiver for a book, but they reject loads.

I've been thinking that in order for me to be able to buy second hand books cheaply from these sites that someone has to sell them cheaply in the first place. This makes me feel better about it. Will go with WBB as they collect from you. I assume you don't have to package them in a box first, or do you?

World of Books sent DPD on a named day. We packed into a grocery box (or two). Collection is free. All linked to the ‘trade’.

I've posted a code above which will give an extra £5. MM6C797033

I've ‘encouraged’ my partner to buy from WoB’s…although we got nearly £25 back, I didn't total up what he had spent in the first place! Just pleased to have a clear floor!

In general second hand books are almost worthless. If you look on Abebooks or Amazon, you will see they sell for £3-£5 including postage. Specialist or limited editions can hold some value.. The mega-listers like WOB and WBB use scrapers, to check the price listed by other sellers, then set their price to be 1p less. Do you have a local book exchange, most of the near by villages have one in the disused phonebox.