Books

I wanted to start a topic and get others experience and advice on books found in storage lockers. Particularly old books. Have you ever found a high value book? Ever sold a large quantity?

My situation is this - My latest storage locker purchase contained a lot (8 boxes or so) of very old books. A lot of pre 1900's all the way to the 1940s. There are several first editions and even some with an authors signature. There is even a 'set' of Mark Twain books, of course they are not first editions. So far I have been looking every one up on ebay, pulling the ones that show a successful sales history and putting the rest in boxes. The books going in boxes far exceed the ebay ones, but a lot are still first edition pre 1900 books. The books are in pretty good shape considering their age.

Im going to start by listing them as a lot on craigslist in several local cities, but are there any other success stories or suggestions out there?

There's gotta be a rare book store down there by you. I'd take them there. Amazon does okay with old books.. I think putting them on craigslist will not yield you the results you're looking for. Rare books are all about condition. I think a book store that can inspect each book, and they're knowledgeable about what exactly their looking at is going to be the best and easiest way to unload them.

There's gotta be a rare book store down there by you. I'd take them there. Amazon does okay with old books.. I think putting them on craigslist will not yield you the results you're looking for. Rare books are all about condition. I think a book store that can inspect each book, and they're knowledgeable about what exactly their looking at is going to be the best and easiest way to unload them.

The thing is, I think any book a store would be interested in are the ones that sell on ebay. So I'm left with trying to sell the other 150-200. I dont think I could feel good about throwing all those old books in the trash, even if they dont have much value.

My very first locker had a lot of very nice old book in it (pre 1900's) . In my experience with them I have found the following

Most people only want really popular authors.
If you can find someone who wants to buy quantity be prepared to basically give them away.
If it is the right book people will do anything to get it. (I had a lady drive 200 miles to buy a first edition 2000 Leagues Under the Sea because she had to see it in person first)
I found books are not easy to sell online because of the above (they want to see it if you are not a proven dealer)

Good luck with them. Book people are an odd lot.    

Book stores may buy more than you'd think. Of course they want the more popular authors, but they should also look at thing like historical context. A book written by a confederate general will be more obscure than the popular authors of the time, but to a rare book store, it's a good buy to flip through their sales channels.

On books that old I can't really help you.  For newer books I pull out any cookbooks or childeren books.  The rest go to second and charles for store credit.  2 tubes of books netted me a little over $100 in store credit.  The stuff they don't want I just let them toss in the "free books" bin.  So I don't have to mess with them.  I then use the credit to buy stuff I want or can re-sell in store.  I'm sure I could make more money researching each book, listing them, etc.  But I don't have time for all of that anymore.

I wanted to start a topic and get others experience and advice on books found in storage lockers. Particularly old books. Have you ever found a high value book? Ever sold a large quantity?

My situation is this - My latest storage locker purchase contained a lot (8 boxes or so) of very old books. A lot of pre 1900's all the way to the 1940s. There are several first editions and even some with an authors signature. There is even a 'set' of Mark Twain books, of course they are not first editions. So far I have been looking every one up on ebay, pulling the ones that show a successful sales history and putting the rest in boxes. The books going in boxes far exceed the ebay ones, but a lot are still first edition pre 1900 books. The books are in pretty good shape considering their age.

Im going to start by listing them as a lot on craigslist in several local cities, but are there any other success stories or suggestions out there?

Just because they are not selling on Ebay doesn't mean they are not valuable. Are you using TerraPeak and/or Worthpoint to find older sales histories on those books? Don't count on Ebay's 30 day sales history to give you a complete picture of those books worth, especially at that age, first edition, author signed, etc. Also try AbeBooks to research old book values.

I've sold books in the hundreds (not thousands yet) on both Ebay & Amazon. Most of the time you have to be patient and wait for the right customer. Often you can sell valuable books quickly on Ebay for 10-25% of the "fair market value".

Just because they are not selling on Ebay doesn't mean they are not valuable. Are you using TerraPeak and/or Worthpoint to find older sales histories on those books? Don't count on Ebay's 30 day sales history to give you a complete picture of those books worth, especially at that age, first edition, author signed, etc. Also try AbeBooks to research old book values.

I have been using a combination of ebay, amazon, and general google results. Thanks for the suggestion of Abebooks. So far the best finds have been a copy of Gone with the wind, and a few mark twain books.

The screwed up thing of it is, books don't bring crap.  I like to collect old books, 1800's and later and where I live at they go cheap.  I think that sooner of later books will be a thing of the past.  Money wise, there hard to get anythng out of them.