You need to buy books to sell books. There’s no two ways around it. In Part 1 of this guide I discussed buying books from libraries, bookstores, remainder dealers, and thrift stores. Now let’s look at some of the other resources experienced booksellers use to build and maintain their inventory.
Estate Sales
This is where you will find a lot of the old school Book Scouts practicing their craft. Estate sales are not about “scannable” books. Here you’re looking for real quality, rarer books, older books. Estate sales have become very competitive. There will be expert book buyers with years of experience and keen eyes, as well as not-so-experts playing the numbers game buying up just about anything. Do not be afraid to make a mistake. Even if you end up buying books you can’t get much money for, books that perhaps aren’t as valuable as you might have thought, it isn’t a really a loss. What you’ve actually done is spent a little money to learn a valuable lesson that will benefit you over the long term. Keep in mind that you aren’t only a book buyer, but also student, investing in your own experience and knowledge.
EBay
There are good opportunities on EBay, especially if you specialize in collectable books. You can find people who sell used books by the lot. In fact, I’m one of them. I sell wholesale on eBay all the time. It’s a win-win situation. I get to move inventory without having to find individual customers, and you get a good price on books you can turn around and sell yourself.
Yard Sales
Yard sales are a still a largely untapped resource, and for a good reason: it’s hard. Just finding the ones that actually have books can present something of a challenge. I suggest that if you spend time going to yard sales, do what I do. When I go to yard sales I’m not just there to buy books, I’m also buying ham radio equipment, old electronics, old documents and papers, etc. If there’s anything you have a little expertise in, invest in that too. If you don’t know much about other collectibles, find something that interests you and spend a little time and learn about it. It will make going to yard sales worth your while.
Classified Ads
I can’t speak from experience about using newspaper ads. However, there is a colleague of mine who often goes to different shows in different cities. Before he goes he always takes out an ad in the paper in his destination city saying what days he will be in town. He’s actually done very well over the years using this method.
CraigsList
The main challenge in buying books on Craigslist is that it can be difficult to sort through all the clutter. From time to time you will find that family or household which is really just trying to get rid of a bunch of books they have had sitting around for years. The catch is that you will usually it in the garage sale category rather than the book category. The book listings will generally be booksellers just like you. When you do find that quality listing, you have got to be fast. If you don’t get there in the first couple hours, it will probably be gone.
These are your best bets for steadily increasing and replenishing your inventory. If you’re serious about selling books, you’ll probably need to use some combination of most or all of them. If it all sounds like hard work, that’s because it is. Selling used books is not for everyone. It is increasingly competitive and requires a serious commitment of both time and effort. But if you are willing to put in the work, these resources can be incredibly valuable and put you well on your way to success as a bookseller.
The key to the whole thing is that I know the types of books each store wants. If you know what they are looking for, you have a pretty good idea of what they will buy.