Selling Books on Ebay Need Help Please

Selling books on eBay can be a fun and profitable way to declutter. Start by sorting your books into categories, assessing their condition, and taking clear photos. Write detailed descriptions with relevant keywords to attract buyers. Use sturdy packaging and accurate postage. Be patient, respond to messages quickly, and consider offering combined shipping.

I sell mine on Ziffit or WeBuyBooks. You don't get much for them but they can collect if it's a heavy box (there is a weight limit on each box), and they supply labels. Plus if you check the price on each site you can sell it at the highest. I've had one or two nice surprises for books I didn't realise were quite rare.

Compared to all the faff of EBay with postage costs and EBay charges I decided it was worth cutting my losses.

Or you could try to auction batches of them. An auction house will tell you give you an estimate, but it won't be much probably.

I'm just about to sell off some first editions I bought about 40 years ago. If I'm lucky I might get the price I paid for them even though they are in good condition and 70 years old.

There is currently no extra fee for having your postie pick up any parcels that you want to send - he'll even bring a label if you don't have your own printer.

I would sell them in bundles they seem to sell better than one single book and you can send 2kg Small Parcel for around £3.19 second class through EBay

Books are difficult to sell on ebay, the purchaser has to also pay postage which makes them expensive for a second hand book which can be purchased from a charity shop much cheaper, I read a lot but would never trawl ebay for a book.

A boot fair or a table out side your house might be better.

Unless the books are rare/collectable/first edition/signed/mint etc you might find this is a lot of effort for not much return. You could try listing a few items to see how it goes but I wouldn’t spend days/weeks listing hundreds of books that were published in vast quantities until you have tested the waters.

I know how it can be. I like new contemporary fiction and non-fiction. I will buy a book as soon as it’s published for £8.99 or £9.99, read it and then think, what now? The sensible thing (to me) would be to donate to the county library service (which is part of the London Libarary Consortium so a huge network of libraries) but they don’t want them. The local Oxfam book shop will only sell hardback fiction for a £1 as they say paperbacks are more popular, more portable. I have this nagging feeling that I should try to get some return but in truth it’s hard work. So I end up giving them to friends or I donate them to Oxfam onine using Yodel’s free postage service as they do seem to get a better price for the cause.

But that doesn’t help you get a decent sum back for your own books. The plain fact is that you probably won’t.

Hardbacks are heavy so are expensive to post. Royal Mail charge from £3.19 for a small package and that's without tracking. Free collection is included. I've found it to be an efficient service.

Books need carefully packaging so they aren’t damaged in transit. Corners get bumped and broken very easily. You are going to need strong card, bubble wrap and brown sticky tape or buy specialist reinforced packaging similar to the kind bulk retailers use.

Factor in label printing costs, paper and ink and clear tape or glue sticks. If you are selling in bulk these costs can add up especially if you have a cheap printer that runs through ink cartidges quickly.

You can charge the customer for the cost of P&P but will they want to pay £5.00 for a £3.50 book that they can probably buy for less, new or near new, from a large retailer who can absorb the costs.

ebay take a commission of 12.8% of the total amount of the sale + 30p per order (includes VAT) plus a regulatory operating fee of 0.42%. These fees are charged on the selling price plus P&P so factor at least a £1.00 for a book priced at £3.50.

Unless the book is something special you will find it hard to compete on price with the big used-book sellers s e.g. World of Books, Abe (which is a shopfront owned by Amazon) and the many other small to medium-sized sellers who sell though these platforms simply because they are buying up books cheaply on apps like We Buy Any Book or Ziffit.

Most used book sellers seem to be doing offers at the moment: Buy Two Get One Free, Buy Three Get One Free suggesting that times are hard or stock warehouses are bursting at the seam. They have the volume to absorb the loss.

As a regular buyer of used books too, what I have come to realise is that pricing is very erratic (sellers prefer to say dynamic). The same seller can be selling the same book across different platforms for widely varying prices which makes me suspect that third-party platforms are controlling pricing.

There is a book for sale on eBay titles ‘How to sell anything on eBay’. It is only a couple of pounds second hand, might give some useful tips. I often buy books second hand and most of the sites buy books. These days I think good condition paperbacks sell better than hard backs, people just do not have the room to store them.

Why don’t you advertise them as a job lot on a site such as Gumtree as the postage will eat away a lot of the price you will get for them? Also some people advertise in local papers that they will buy books, a good many years ago I had a lot of books I had bought for my studies and some other fiction books, I contacted the person advertising, he came to the house and I was quite surprised at how much he offered me for them. This was before Kindle though.

Thanks for all your help. I will look at them all and see.

There are a number of websites that buy second hand books. You scan the ISBN code and they advise the price they'll pay. I pulled up two of them and used the highest price. You have to pack them up tightly in boxes and they're collected from home for free. Some offers were very disappointing as original price was high but better out of the house than stacking up.
There are also second hand books for sale at a much reduced price. Point your DH to these if he's desperate to buy more.

I agree you need to do some research before listing yours. If there are dozens the same and they're not selling then you're onto a loser. I don't bother unless I can offer something different or cheaper or better in some way. There has to be something that makes your item more attractive to buyers. If it's just a book then maybe yours is brand new, or you'll just have to offer it cheaper. If your book is out of print it may be worth more, obviously that depends on rarity.

I used to sell on E-Bay some years ago but then stopped and have now lost my nerve slightly. I have gathered loads of things to sell, must get on with it. Trouble is, I find it so tedious. The photographs and description have to be good, then wrap it, weigh and measure, calculate postage, calculate selling price, put it online, I'm exhausted just thinking about it, but I hope I will be all right once I get going.

Collection by the Postman is free, you just pay the normal postage. But I think the other couriers collect too so there should be no need to carry stuff anywhere. If you have to carry it then why not buy a shopping trolley. I can recommend a Hoppa trolley which holds an amazing amount of stuff, or a four wheeler if you need more stability.

You can sell books via Amazon, you get a much better price than eBay.

Pay the small extra fee and get your books collected by the postman.they will also print off the address label for you.

Have you looked at ‘completed listings’ on EBay? It will show you how much the books actually sold for and if they have actually sold.

Books on eBay can take forever to sell, they are often better sold in batches rather than individually, don’t forget to add the packaging costs to the price, to protect them they should be wrapped in bubble wrap and cardboard, otherwise they can be crushed in transit.

Alternatively have you tried ‘We buy any books’ ? you scan the barcode and if they want them it will come up with a price, package in a box and send it off. Again get the Royal Mail to collect or a courier if it’s cheaper.

Books can sell very slowly on eBay, so be prepared to keep them on your shelves for a while.

I prefer Vinted, & I am going to list some books this weekend. I like how the buyer sorts their own post- found eBay such a faff

Thanks for your comments ferry. These are all things I've thought about. There is much to consider. I think I'd have to do a few at a time if I did sell them on there. I have many cd's too. I might be better trying to do a few carboots. There are always a few in my area. I sent a load of stuff to Vintage Cash Cow and was delighted to get £300 when I only thought I would get about £50. I am getting another small box of stuff to send to them.
I am really having a clear out.

Moonwatcher, you say the books are on ebay for £3.50 - are they actually selling? Or are they just listed?

Have you calculated the postage costs and what method you'll use for posting? You'll need to give an estimate of when the winning bidder or buyer will receive the books. You say you can't manage to carry many books - but if you sell a lot, the buyers will expect to receive them in the estimated timeframe - how will you get them all to the post office - or are you just going to list a few at a time?

What are you going to pack them in, and have you factored this into the buying price? Your printing costs?

Do you have a Paypal account? This is how the majority of people send and receive money on ebay.

I only ask all of this because at first glance ebay seems simple, but it really can be quite a faff and take up a lot of time. Buying on ebay is pretty straightforward - selling not so much.