Mind if I ask where in the midwest you are?
Donate to a senior citizens center, and make SURE you get a receipt.
Your tax deduction will be greater than ANYTHING you could sell them for.
And the seniors appreciate the value of the printed word.
I gave away thousands of books when Hubster and I made our final move. It was gut-wrenching, but I survived.
(besides, I probably still have thousands more…YOU know how it goes!)
~VOW
Aside from specialty books, I agree with the above (even specialty books might get you a bigger tax deduction). Basically, if you value the books at $100.00, you’re saving about $15 - $35 in taxes.
I had a huge collections of books as well (easily a room full), but they’re all technology oriented (think detail specs of HTML v1.0 type). They’re all being sent on to their last and greatest use as alternate heating in my wood burner (as fire starting materials). If you just want them OUT, try putting them on freecycle as fire starter materials and demand the people pick them up from your house.
I live in Missouri.
I may have read it wrong, but above I thought I saw someone mention some kind of amazon trade system. I can sell my books to amazon for credit with them? At times I read two to three books a week, which can get expensive even with eBooks. I’d love to be able to have credit with them rather than a bookstore that is 35 miles from me and doesn’t not help to declutter my household.
I really appreciate all the input. I’ll probably put some of the more popular titles/expensive books for sale online and donate the rest. For example, one of the books I have is American Desperado. It is about the biggest cocaine dealer in the history of the US or at least up there with them. It is a big, bulky hardcover that I have the cover for still and cost me $42.00. I imagine the best route would be to try and sell those books.
Thank you for the advice about getting a receipt, I wouldn’t have thought of that.
This won’t apply to all books. I’ve been offered a credit for newer books a few times. I noticed this when I went to the book’s page to check the reviews, and there was an option to sell the book back to Amazon. They’d pay postage and I’d get Amazon credit (not money). But a few months later when I checked again, the offer wasn’t there. I suspect they offer the credit when orders are coming in and they’ve run out of stock. If the book gets a second printing or interest wanes, the offer disappears.
ETA: The hardcover of American Desperado is available used at Amazon starting at $10.
Unless the book is very special – like a rare first edition – there is little money to be made from it.
Missed the edit window.
Another drawback to selling individual books at Amazon is that you’re required to use new shipping materials. If you describe a book as “Like new” or “Mint condition”, you’d better use a box and some padding, because if the book arrives with dented corners, you’ll hear about it from the buyer.
You’re also required to ship within 48 hours (or is it 24?), so plan on frequent trips to the post office, if you’re lucky enough to make a sale.
If I were you, I’d look up your books at Amazon, see what they’re selling for, and then decide. You’ll be competing with hundreds of sellers who sell their books for a penny plus shipping.
God, that price is depressing.
I don’t have time to read all the responses right now…apologies if this was already posted.
My suggestions is to donate them to a public library. I work for one. History books in great condition are always welcomed. You say that you are emotionally attached to them – by donating them to your local library you will be able to see them on the shelves once they are circulating… and you will have the pleasure of knowing that others are enjoying and learning from them. You can also ask for a donation tax-deductible receipt. It will allow you to decide on your own what to list their value at. Consult an accountant with this perhaps, so you don’t raise any red flags with uncle Sam. Good luck!
Do you have Half Price Books where you are? I love them for decluttering, because:
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They buy anything. Yes, including textbooks. No schlepping books from one used bookstore to another, only to have all of them reject some of your books.
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They pay cash. They don’t offer store credit, so there’s not as much temptation to buy more books to replace the ones I’ve just sold. It is still a big discount bookstore, so there’s still some temptation, of course, but less.
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At least around here, they tend to be located in strip malls, with parking right outside the store. They have carts that you can use to take your books from the car into the store. You don’t have to park a block or two away and make several trips to bring in all of your books.
Check Amazon for an idea of what you can expect to get for your used books. They will probably have used copies of a lot of your books. You shouldn’t expect to get much more for them than the prices you see there.
You can either sell books on the used book market, to people who want to read them, or to collectors.
Collectors are very picky. In a large enough collection you might find a handful of books that collectors want. Abebooks is a good way to work out which ones if you have the time - but bear in mind you have to find exact matches. Also, there are plenty of overpriced editions there, so look for the median. Ebay prices are meaningless as far as I can tell.
Last time I looked at the used book market, hardcover fiction and biographies were worthless - nobody wants them. Paperbacks are probably easy enough to sell in bulk if you don’t care about the price.
Private schools MAY be interested in textbooks and reference materials.
~VOW
Actually, that price is quite high for a used book.
At our public library, ALL donated books are sold. Even if they are on the buying list. When I spoke to one of the head librarians (not a page!) about it, she was quite unhappy about the policy, as I was donating a big load of books that she could have used (my daughter reads the Sookie Stackhouse books, and I had half a dozen of those in excellent HB along with some other excellent HB books). Yes, we got a tax receipt, but the books themselves never went onto the library shelves.
FYI, I averaged about $5/box of books at Half Price Books. Most of mine were hardback bestsellers, though.
I would second the library. You will get more of a tax deduction than you will ever get on the market AND you will be encouraging a new generation to love the books you love.
I haven’t read the whole thread.
What do you mean, your wife put her foot down?? You live there, too.
I also have prolly 1,200 books and live in the country AND own TWO kindles. So there. Like you, I love having my books around. It’s not like you have thousands of gerbils.
I have been married twice (divorced once, widowed once) and in my world, spouses don’t “put their foot down” about things like this. If I were married to you, I would never ask you to get rid of your books. And no husband/boyfriend of mine ever felt like he was entitled to comment on the number of books I have.
[/gratuitous opinion]
You could try Hastings. There several in Missouri. They buy and sell used books, as well as selling new books, video sales and rental. I don’t know how much you’ll get for them.
StG
If it makes you feel any better, I was offered $12.20 for a law school casebook (textbook) last week. It’s the most recent edition (not scheduled to be replaced until 2015), it’s 990 pages, it’s in as-new condition including a supplemental CD-ROM, and it cost me $248.00 four months ago.
Indeed. The vast majority of books (paperbacks, anyway) seem to go for £0.01 plus postage on Amazon. I bit the bullet and took a whole load of old books to the tip a few months ago. If you read it, watch it or listen to it, it’s worth bugger all these days.
I’ve gotten rid of a lot of books over the years. My experience is that it isn’t worth the time to try to sell them. Your time can be measured in dollars and cents, and it’s unlikely that the amount you’ll make by carting them from one used bookstore to another will cover the cost of your driving and your time, even if you don’t value your time highly. Find a charitable organization that has an annual book sale and donate the books to them. Take an honest deduction for the donation. That is, don’t deduct what you personally think they’re worth but what the charity can sell them for.
There are items that even charitable book sales don’t like to have donated to them because it’s so hard to sell those items. They’ll be stuck with dumping them in the garbage, and it costs them to have the garbage hauled away. Nobody wants your old magazines. In particular, don’t try to donate your fifty years worth of National Geographic magazines. If they catch you leaving them at the charity’s collection site, they will tie you to a stake, pile up all the National Geographic magazines around your feet, and set fire to them so they can burn you at the stake. They generally don’t want old encyclopedias. They generally don’t want old textbooks.
Senior centers would LOVE a set of old encyclopedias!
~VOW
What about prisons? Do they take book donations?