How to get rid of craft and cooking books?

This is a mostly non-food related question. I have hinted around about this a bit, but I'm in the process of moving (not sure where yet, but that's another story!) and I'm taking this as a good opportunity to seriously declutter. I have a bunch of cookbooks and craft books in Japanese and English that I want to part with.

Most of the books I want to find homes for are in new or very good condition. No splattered books with stuck-together pages! There are a few that are a bit worn, but are out of print so may have a rarity value.

The question is, what's the best way to do it? eBay? Etsy? Amazon Marketplace? Something else? Put up a list here and see who wants something?

Anything left over will go to a local used book store, but I wouldn't mind making a little moving-cost money from them.

Your suggestions?

[Update:] Thank you for your suggestions so far! I think I will start with a list here, and then move onto the other options. Given that for most people the shipping will be overseas, I'll put a very small price on the books themselves, since my primary goal is to find good homes for them. (Thinking about donating the proceeds to a charity like the World Food Programme too.) Stay tuned :)

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Comments

Maybe you can "put a list and see who wants something".

Personnally, for books I sell on eBay and some other french internet websites.

Ooh, I definately think that you should put a list up on your site. I've been thinking about buying some Japanese Cookbooks aswell and this way your readers have first selection. :)

I seem to remember that eBay prefers books to be sold via half.com. I've sold a few textbooks that way.

Another avenue I've found to work really well is bookmooch.com. You do have to pay for postage to ship, which may be prohibitive for you if you get takers not in your area, but you can filter requests by geography.

If you put up a list of books here, though, well, I'd be happy to look at it too. :)

You might want to look into selling through Amazon. I've often seen out-of-print books available through sellers affiliated with them.

(Was 4, but Ed beat me to it.) None of these make money for you, but they're kind of cool.

It sounds weird, but hold a wee contest with (some) of them as the prize. Let people know up front they're previously-loved books. I don't think this would come across as 'ghetto' because people are interested in conservation and recycling. You could call it the Recycled Book Love Fest or something like that. :)

http://www.bookmooch.com/ People ask for books. You send them. You ask for books. People send them.

http://www.freecycle.org/ You put up the stuff that you want to get rid of, and people ask for it. It's a pretty neat way to get some bizarre things. My mom got me a hunter from Maine's 'critter' recipes - a long wooden card catalog box full of recipes for woodchuck and squirrel and deer. I have to admit that I have not tried any of the recipes. :)

I third the idea of putting up a list here. I would definitely be interested in buying a Japanese craft- or cook-book or two (...or more...)! :)

You could try Powells.com. They buy used books and pay for the shipping to them. You can do the whole transaction online. Be warned that the prices they pay aren't great, but it might be worth a try.

ohhhhh... id like to buy some!i think you may be able to shift some on this site for money

I think a list on your site would be a great idea.

Also, depending on how much time you have, half.com is how I get rid of my unwanted books, although some of them have been listed for a couple years with no takers.

I definitely think you'll get interest from readers. I'm curious myself :)

My favorite way to sell used books is on Amazon, but your books will have to be somewhat valuable to make the effort worthwhile (as is the case with all online selling options, really). The problem there might be with time, since with Amazon, you just kind of wait for someone to come along and want to buy your book. If time is an issue, an auction might be a better option.

At first I thought of eBay or Amazon, but since you have so many people that you have so much in common with right here, why don't you do the list? I'd love to see what you have as well. it's also appealing for people to buy multiples from the same Seller. It saves both parties money on shipping.

I think it's a great idea too! Being an avid reader of ur blog, I'm definitely interested in ur book list.
Look forward to it!

I would definitely mooch from you if you put them on Bookmooch! :D

I don't think I'll use bookmooch...since I'd have to pay for the postage to send it to people. That might work within Switzerland but for overseas I'd have to spend a lot of money! (and it seems to me that bookmooch is good for people who are looking to gain as many books as they're looking to give away, which is not what I want at the moment)

My great aunt owned a used bookstore for many years, and she bought and sold rare books through this website: http://www.abebooks.com/

Your money concerns for using bookmooch ARE valid, of course, but did you know that you don't HAVE to get more books? I joined BM to declutter my bookshelf, wanting mostly to shed myself of books but too guilty to simply throw them away. I read in an interview that the creator was surprised to discover how many people use BM to pass along books they've read, but then buy new ones rather than mooching! What do they do with their mooch points? They donate them to one of the many "charities" who have BM accounts. These are places like Libraries, Prisons, Schools in the middle of Africa--there's even a program that lets you give your points to a sick child on extended stay in hospital. That one's probably my favorite. I'd have been really thrilled to get to pick whatever book I wanted when I was a kid in that situation.

But I can surely understand why you want to sell them; your books look valuable!

For about two years after Amazon launched their used book marketplace in Japan I sold several English books a week at good prices, making about $3,000 in the process (I sold a small architecture book for 5,000 yen, my best sale) before the market prices dropped.

The data entry is the hassle. I just did it bit by bit. You need to get a couple of hundred books up to get any sort of weekly volume in sales, then replenish when the number goes down. With Amazon you enter the ISBN and a price and you're done. With other options you'd actually have to enter book desriptions and the like: Avoid that!

Problems: Inventory management: You need to keep the for-sale books separate from everything else and be able to locate sold books fast. Also, you need to print shipping labels, have packing materials like bubble bags, and get the packing list printing routine down so you can send the books out fast when orders come in.

Slightly illegal tip: you can print your for-sale books on the back of the packing list and you might get more orders from the same person. (That technically disqualifies the shipment from book rate, but don't tell.)

ABE is for bookstores, not individuals, but most bookstores sell via Amazon. If there's no ISBN Amazon won't take it, so ABE is the only option.

Selling books takes time. If you're moving and want to get rid of them fast, a used book store may take them, but most want them for free, or virtually free. But used bookstores generally will not pay you for books or will offer peanuts. Amazon is best. Or at least telling the used bookstore that the books are already on Amazon, but you're wondering if they could take them off your hands faster might get you a better price.

i'm downsizing my crossstitch collection
garfield,care bear cousin,precious moments
bears,patrotic, and so much more ...I have them
in protective covers....would you be interested?
please email me @ elc808nlh@yahoo.com