Inherited a collection of FS books - unsure how to sell them

Hi,

I should preface this by saying I have no interest in the books themselves and I'm in the process of dealing with the estate - the books weren't left to me specifically.

I have an assortment of Folio books which I'm looking to sell. A photo of the titles: https://i.postimg.cc/fLr2KVzn/1000031032.jpg The vast majority have never been read and are in like-new condition.

I'm looking for some advice on the best way to sell them in the UK as a bundle. I've approached a local bookstore and had an estimate of £130 which seems far too low.

Any suggestions would be greatly welcome, as I'm a bit lost.

Thank you!

Far too low is an understatement…!

I suggest an hour’s research on eBay or AbeBooks and then listing them individually for maximum return

Or sell them to me for £150 ;-)

I'll second the comment above - that price being offered is a disgrace frankly and selling them individually will get a LOT more money - caveat being it's a lot more time consuming.

I'd give you £250 btw ;)

This bookshop specialises in folio purchasing, I'd send them your collection and see what they offer as a benchmark.

https://www.thefoliovault.com/

Selling the Mycenaeans and the Minoans as a bundle would get you more than £130

These guys buy Folio collections as well:

https://www.ardis.co.uk/

>1 januaryfolio: Might want to name and shame that bookstore, they were looking to rip you off.

It is getting very hard to dispose of books, even high quality ones. Even the public library where I live in the states will no longer take donations. Our largest used bookstore will give only one dollar for a hardcover regardless of whether it is leather, signed, etc., and they are gradually replacing their bookshelves with comic books, DVDs, and video games.

Like it or not, book collectors such as ourselves are becoming scarce. I don’t try to sell books, but instead give them to friends, family, and charities, and even that is getting hard to do.

>1 januaryfolio: You could list the entire collection on eBay or split into smaller groupings but offer the option to collect in person. First try listing the full collection in a single listing. Seeing as you already have two offers, start the auction with a 'Starting Price' equal to the higher offer and see how that goes :)

Almost the entire collection consists of popular history texts, which have a limited appeal. They're not sufficiently up to date for serious history buffs, and often intimidate the general reader. Here in Canada I've bought a number of them secondhand, e.g The Rosetta Stone for $15, the boxed South American set for $40, and so on. The only examples that fetch more are leather-bound -- even the spurious leather found in FS "quarter-bound" series-- and boxed sets. The Canadian dollar is worth .60 pounds. Most booksellers will want to examine a collection in situ, for which there is a charge, with or without a sale, and they'll sit on the store shelves for some time. The cheapskate offering a lowball price isn't going to get rich on it.
Being left someone's library is to put it mildly a mixed blessing. I'm leaving my 2k+ to a niece who has volunteered for the job. She'll probably keep the 40-50 limited editions, and if she has any sense dispose of the rest to a bookseller who is optimistic enough to take them. The alternative is to undergo the horrors of Ebay for months.

I recently helped a friend sell off her father's Folio collection. He left her 78 books, none high-demand titles. I spent a couple hours on Friday night checking prices on Abebooks and eBay, made a For Sale post in the relevant Facebook group, and sold 36 of them by the end of the weekend. Another dozen or so trickled out the following week. It wasn't a particularly difficult process; the most annoying bit is finding correctly sized boxes for mailing. I'd use eBay only as a last resort.

I would echo Jayked's comments, but you should be able to do better than £130. One option is to put the books into an auction - even after paying the auctioneer's fees you should expect to net in the region of £200-250 or so, possibly more on a good day. You would need to choose an auctioneer that lists on one of the online platforms, such as easyliveauction or the saleroom.

>6 mazzyhope: "Might want to name and shame that bookstore, they were looking to rip you off."

I wouldn't jump to that conclusion - we don't know whether the bookshop saw a picture of the books or not. Bookshops are likely to be a little wary of being offered a collection of "60 Folio Society books", in case they are all from the 1960s-1980s.

Contrary to most others’ experience, I’ve found eBay the best option, with no issues so far. The cut they take is a bit steep these days, I admit, but still worth it for the rigorous protections and processes they have in place.

Facebook seems to be much higher risk that a sale will fall through, as the buyer isn’t held to anything.

Agree that the collection you’re selling is not particularly desirable to a broader audience given its focus on history…lovely condition though. I’d be tempted to sell it in 5-6 lots on eBay.

Quite blown away by the number of responses. Thank you so much, the information provided is extremely helpful! I've reached out to the specialists to see what estimates I get. Trying the bundle on Ebay might be a good call, I'm not sure I have it in me to sell them all individually!

Really appreciate the steers regarding them not being particularly desireable. Describing them as not 'good enough' for history buffs, but a bit intimidating for a casual reader sounds absolutely spot on for the original purchaser!

EBay charges about 15% in fees for books, but there is more structure around the transaction. You have to set up an account, link your bank account, and so on.

Facebook is less structured, but PayPal provides some protection, but you may have to set up an account if you don’t have one. Most people on both eBay and Facebook are good people.

I’m both situations you’ll have to photograph it, find buyers, wait for payment, and box up all the books, deal with delays in shipments, etc.

The amount the bookseller is offering saves you from a lot of that trouble, but it’s a pittance.

As with all other things, the more effort you’re willing to put in, the higher the reward.

One advantage with Facebook, from my perspective, is that I could simply take a group photo of the spines of the books, and wait and take close-ups of specific books only as people expressed interest in them. If I'd been selling on eBay, I would have had to do a close-up photo set of every individual book. With Facebook I could skip taking the time to photograph books no one was interested in at all.

>14 januaryfolio: You can also try posting a picture of the entire bundle on Gumtree, allowing for either purchase of the whole bundle in one go by someone, or for their sale one by one. There are no fees on Gumtree and buyers would normally come and collect in person (so no hassle posting). The disadvantage is that it's usually only people who live locally to you, or within reasonable driving distance, who'd be interested. Depends where you live :)

>15 What_What: EBay charges about 15% in fees for books...

Easily remedied by increasing the list price by 15%, i.e. passing the fees to the buyer. Interested buyers will be happy to pay whatever they think the books are worth to them.

>18 mr.philistine: True. And you're more likely to succeed with a higher price on eBay than on Gumtree.

>14 januaryfolio: I wouldn't say they weren't particularly desirable tbh; I think that's a great collection for the 'armchair' history student - without wishing to sound too patronising by using that term.

Assuming you are based in the UK for the following:

Ebay IIRC take 10% at present including postage costs - I would factor that in, if you do sell as a job lot and get an offer from outside the UK. Postage would be heinous - to qualify for protection, you would need a tracked service as well.

If you do go down that route - ebay regularly do a promotion for 70% off Final Value Fee's - if space permits, and you wish to maximize funds, I would wait for that to come around.
This promotion seems to happen 1 a month(ish) from memory for last year.

However, to put into perspective - say you sell for £300+£50 postage - ebay fee's will be £35 -
on promotion you'll pay £10.50 in fees - whether the £25 saved here is relevant to the size of the estate you are dealing with.

As an executor, you probably have an unenviable list of tasks to do, so a job lot or selling direct to a bookseller (providing the price is acceptable) may be the best option.

Edit; just to add to avoid confusion - paypal aren't linked to ebay in the UK anymore - not sure outwith - fees get paid directly to your bank account from ebay. your selling costs are marginally cheaper.

>18 mr.philistine: and >15 What_What:

I used to sell my books on eBay, but the reality is the cut is more like 40% not 15%. There are PayPal fees on top of the eBay fees. Once one factors in the EBay Fees, the PayPal Fees, and the bubble wrap and quality boxes for shipping -- it was about 40% of the cost. Even then I was doing it to give the books a good home -- not really making much money on $20 and $30 books -- it was a lot of work to post good photos, and descriptions.

Then eBay shifted to requiring social security numbers so they could track how much you sold and (presumably) file that with the IRS. As I was losing money on each sale (ie I sold books for less than I originally purchasedd them), I didn't want to have the additional hassle of trying to prove that I was not making money on the books. As there seemed a chance that it would then be treated as income and I'd have to pay taxes on top of the fees, I quit selling on ebay.

-Shawn

>21 sdawson: I think your information is rather out of date, at least for private sellers. eBay stopped using PayPal as the default payment method some time ago. It now handles all payments itself and deposits the money directly to your bank account. This is included in the quoted fees.

In the UK the fees are 12.8% plus £0.30 per listing. Postage can be charged to the buyer at cost and many people will have an ample supply of boxes and packing materials from the abundant quantity of goods they order online themselves.

As >20 Ignatius777: says, eBay frequently offers big discounts on the fees, at which point you can sell there for very little cost at all.

I have never seen eBay in the US offer any fee discounts--is this a UK-specific thing, or am I just somehow not eligible for any of these offers? I do sell frequently on eBay, albeit not books.

>21 sdawson: Thanks for chiming in. EBay now handles the entire transaction, and their fees are supposedly about 13%. However, they also charge that amount on the shipping cost, and they also charge it on any taxes the buyer has to pay depending on their location. If someone outside of the sellers country makes the purchase, they also charge an international fee. Essentially, they charge a fee on every noun used to describe a transaction.

Packaging should really be lumped into the shipping cost though, especially as books require thoughtful packaging.

>23 ambyrglow: I think it’s either more in the UK, and/or for less frequent sellers. I used to get it many years ago, but no longer, even though I hardly need to sell books on eBay anymore.

>24 What_What:

It’s worth noting that, in the UK at least, eBay regularly reduce fees for private sellers. Fortnightly over the last year I have been offered a reduction in selling costs of 80% and previously 70%. I only use eBay when these reductions are in place. If I were the seller I would open an account and wait for these offers. It might be worth selling a couple of books in the expectation that a new account would then receive discount fee offers.

Whilst eBay buyers might be challenging I have found buyers purchasing Folio books are fairly decent.

>21 sdawson: Since the OP wishes to dispose the books as a bundle and also does not wish to engage in individual sales, enabling ONLY 'Collection in Person' as a delivery option on eBay seems worth a try. An interested bookseller in the vicinity or further could make contact. Most importantly, packing and postage are avoided. And of course all other fees charged by PayPal, eBay or even VAT should be added to the 'starting price' if listing an auction.

I do not wish to be involved in this particular transaction as I have far too much work on at present but I have sold several Folio Society and other book collections for third parties (usually widows not wanting to keep their late husband's books) on the basis of 50:50 of the net proceeds go to me as seller and the other 50% to the legal owner. The seller does not have to do anything once an agreement is reached as the collection of their books, their listing on ABE or wherever, dealing with enquiries from potential buyers and posting orders to customers is all my work. I have met some very nice people through this type of bookselling. In all cases these third parties wishing to get rid of unwanted books approached me having seen my selling FS books on the internet.

>20 Ignatius777: "As an executor, you probably have an unenviable list of tasks to do, so a job lot or selling direct to a bookseller (providing the price is acceptable) may be the best option."

I would concur with this. I would also suggest that you give Robert Newbury of Ardis Books a call. Robert specialises in the sale of Folios and I have always found him to be fair in my dealings with him. About three years ago I offloaded a significant number of books to him and in many instances I was happily surprised at the price agreed. Could I have got more selling individually? Of course, as I had a lot of sought after titles, but taken as a batch and to relieve me of the expense and time of dealing with individuals and the postal system, for each book, it was an easy choice to make. I would imagine that the executor will have a similar choice, with the principal aim being ease of disposal along with being able to justify the price achieved for the estate.

NB I have no connection with Ardis other than as someone who has both bought and sold via Mr Newbury. There may be other dealers who specialise in Folio of whom I am not aware.

I am happy to second your recommendation of Robert at Ardis Books as a leading seller of Folio Society books and he can be contacted at: rnewbury@ardis.co.uk.

>22 ubiquitousuk:, >24 What_What: and >25 pse1:,

Thanks for the corrections and updates. Yes, I was speaking of my experience selling books on eBay in the United States before I stopped about two years ago. It sounds like they have improved since then.

-Shawn

Again, another thank you for the continued discussion. It's all greatly appreciated and really valuable!

re: Ardis Books, as a buyer I'm not a fan simply because their listings only ever include one low quality photo of the book.

>32 mazzyhope: Good point. However, that being said, personally I've been pleased with the accuracy of the listing, delivery, and overall service.

>33 LesMiserables:
Consistently accurate listings allow for operating on trust and lets trustworthy sellers save time and bandwidth by taking fewer photos! I have only bought from Ardis two or three times but have also been happy with those transactions.

As a very frequent Ebay seller in the U.S., though not often books, I'll confirm what others have said. While they may discount fees outside the U.S., it just doesn't happen over here. The payment process is actually well streamlined. You can add a "handling fee" to cover the cost of materials - I do, but it's a small amount. I get a lot of boxes and packing materials from the grocery store and from friends who get deliveries. Selling the entire collection in one go can be done, but will probably net a lower total price than selling them individually. But, it is much less work and you don't have to worry about what to do with any titles that don't sell.

EBay is advertising another 70% off fees event this weekend for me in the UK. Assuming this is not a personalised offer, it could be a good opportunity to offload some books for anyone in the country.

>36 ubiquitousuk: Not personalised as I have received it too.