One unavoidable challenge of selling used books is figuring out just how exactly you’re going to store them all. When you’re first starting out, you’ll probably have them in your home. Be careful where you keep them. It’s not necessarily a bad idea to store your books in your garage, for instance, at least as a temporary measure. If you do, however, beware of moisture. The same goes if you rent a public storage space. Moisture is your enemy, it will damage your books and destroy your profitability. But regardless of whether you’re operating out of your home, a storage unit, or even if you step up to a small warehouse, you still need to decide how you’re going to store your books within that space. I’m talking, of course, about shelving.
Shelving is an interesting problem in and of itself. There are a number of ways you can go, some better than others.
Dorm Room Chic
You can always go the “cheap” route: makeshift shelving made out of cinder blocks and planks of wood. Admit it, you’ve at least considered going this route at some point in your bookselling career. I know I have. The problem, other than making your storage space look like a library built by frat boys, is that it’s actually not that cheap. Worse, it’s not that safe. Using a shelving system that actually poses a threat to your inventory is just bad business.
Mr. Handyman
Another seemingly cheap and effective option is to build your own bookcases from scratch. Again, I’ve tried it so you don’t have to. It’s time consuming and just not cost effective. I wouldn’t recommend going this route either.
Used and Abused
What could be wrong with getting cheap (or even free) used bookcases? Well, a lot actually. If you go on craigslist, you may find plenty of bookcases, but using an variety of different bookcases will bring you a variety of headaches. Bookcases with different heights, widths, number of shelves, etc. will cause you nothing but trouble in terms of organizing your inventory. Making it easy to locate your books is one of the primary functions your storage system needs to provide. Mismatched bookcases just don’t fit the bill.
Mass Production is Your Friend
An option I can recommend is pre-fab build-it-yourself jobs. Ikea’s Billy line in particular has worked well for me. They may be more expensive than other shelving you can scrounge up here and there, but they’re good for your books, and they’re good for organization, which means they’re good for your business.
Industrial Strength
If and when you get to the level of volume seller, you’re going to need something a little more heavy-duty. The majority of the books in my warehouse are stored on metal “gorilla” shelving, the kind you can get at Costco or through industrial supply companies. Truth be told, they aren’t actually as good for the books as my beloved Billy bookcases, but when you start dealing in high-volume business, you really need a high-volume solution.
Anyway, that’s the breakdown of the main options I’ve seen and/or used myself. Do you have a different take on any of the shelving options I’ve gone over here? How do you store your books?
Tags: selling used books, storing books
Well thought out and thorough post. I’ve also checked out your other posts and really like your writing style. Maybe to can write for my blog sometime.
At the moment I store most of my books in boxes. (although my more rare or expensive books are placed on bookshelves). I personally don’t like this but is necessary due to space constraints. Would you consider this acceptable? What about Dust and the possibility of bugs? Is it better to get a closed bookshelf as opposed to an open one?