[Music]
hi
welcome back to another video i am here
today to do a video that i promised
a while back when i did my unhaul video
i said that i would also do a companion
video to that where i talk about
how i sell books and
where i sell them how i price them
etc etc and so i will go over
all of that here in this video so if
you're interested in that
stay tuned this is the most i've planned
for a video in my entire life
in the age of covid that we are all
living in going to a bookstore and
selling books maybe for
store credit uh might not be going
on even if that bookstore was open they
might not be doing
buybacks right now because of coven and
because of the
danger of just like touching everything
so if that's the case
then here are some online options but
also just
here are some online options step one is
choosing which books to sell
so go ahead and look through your unhaul
pile
and some things to consider as you're
looking through them
are whether or not they have a lot of
damage
if they have a lot of highlighting or
like notes inside you can still sell
those you'll just have to sell them at a
very
at a much lower price and you also
might or again you'll also want to like
include that in the pictures that you
post
those might be better to sell in like
two
friends or like but just by posting a
picture
oh my god just by posting a picture on
twitter or something and seeing if
anyone wants it for like five bucks
that might be a better option for like
heavily scribbled in
things notice if the book is newer if
it's signed
then that would be a good one to sell if
it's hardback
those are always selling a little bit
better if it's a super hype booked
it'll probably sell so keep those in
mind as you're kind of
getting your pile together but also like
don't
pre pre-cursor to all of this
don't get your hopes up too much in
selling all of these books have a plan
for what you're going to do with the
books if you don't sell them because
otherwise they'll just sit on your your
d-pop or your instagram or whatever
they'll sit there forever
and then they'll just like take up space
and if the goal of this is to like get
rid of books to
to get marie condo your life then
you'll want to for sure just have a plan
like maybe if they don't sell within
like a couple weeks or a month
then maybe you have a place that you can
take them to donate
[Music]
i was talking so hard step two where to
sell
so you might already have a local indie
bookstore that you can go to sell them
and that's like
so easy they might even be doing online
selling my local bookstore is powell's
and well the one that i prefer is
powell's
and they have a whole process
i'll show it here where you can sell
books online so you can sell them
from anywhere i think in the us
you can look just enter the ibsn numbers
and it will give you an instant quote of
how much they'll buy it for
you have to get a maximum of either
seven
books or i think like 8.99
in store credit or something to be able
to qualify to like actually send them so
they're not just gonna buy like
a single book from you it has to be a
larger amount
and then once you do that you'll approve
uh approve that if you want to sell for
like the quoted price
and then you just box them up and send
them in there are a lot of
restrictions with this obviously they
have to be in good use condition
they also can't be like book club
editions um there can't be any writing
inside
things like that so make sure that you
check out
like the all of the qualifications to be
able to actually send a book in before
you do it
otherwise you might be very disappointed
said though the ibs send number i think
is different for like book club
specific books so i think it would tell
you anyway
if they wouldn't be able to take it but
still good to double check
and sometimes you don't know if it's a
book club pick like
they like to be sneaky about it another
option is instagram
you can take pictures of books and you
can just post a price
and say dm me if you're interested and
then people can just then
or cash up you or paypal you and
you can just send them the books that
way
that's pretty easy the only thing was
that is that then you have to go
into the post office to get a shipping
label
although i think the usps might have an
option
to just print off shipping labels at
home i think
i will verify that here can also
i've seen people just post like a stack
of their books they're getting rid of to
like twitter
facebook i'm i don't go on to twitter
and just say like if you want any of
these let me know like
three three books each or something like
that
and that's a good way to just like get
rid of books quickly
um there's also things like
they're also various apps you can use i
don't even know what all of them are
called
but the one that i'm going to be talking
about here that i specifically use is
depop
which is more used for like fashion and
vintage clothes and stuff like that but
i just
i have sold clothes on there
and it's like so straightforward it's so
user-friendly it's designed to be really
similar to instagram anyway so it's
like not much harder than posting an
instagram post i think it's easier
honestly
because you don't have the social
ramifications of posting a book for sale
but yeah it's super easy and
i will show you how i sell them
there step three taking photos
so i mean if you make if you
already take instagram photos like
you're probably better at this than i
am if you make youtube videos then you
know
all about finding the good lighting
which i am obviously
not doing same rules apply here just
find
good lighting i take the pictures
outside because
this house is like really
dimly lit all the time it's hard to get
good lighting in here
because of like the trees constantly
blocking the sun you can do the classic
like
hold the picture up against nature or
something i just think that's easy and
i think it looks nice without putting in
a lot of effort
you can also find a nice natural or
natural or like neutral background so i
have just a plain black scarf that i can
use
i also have an excess of baby blankets
currently because i am
seven and a half months pregnant and
have
baby blankets so i used this cute little
panda one for some of the
pictures and they turned out okay but
i obvious what i'm trying to get at here
is if you have like an interestingly
patterned something then you can also
use that as a background
or it can be like on your bed if there's
good enough lighting
you know there's also in on depop
a video option so you can take like a
little video of you like
turning the book and showing all of the
details and that's kind of nice
i haven't personally used that feature
but
it might be nice to try out and what to
photograph
i suggest photographing obviously the
cover
the back the spine and any damage
so when you're looking at your book and
you're looking to sell it
note if there are any like rips in it if
it's a paperback or in
the pages itself if there are any like
excessive like folding creases if there
are any tears if the spine is broken
or just general like aesthetic issues
and again if there's any like
highlighting or writing
inside then just like take a picture of
one of those things and just let the
buyer know that that is there i honestly
don't put a lot of effort into this like
i don't even edit them
i just do all of this on my iphone by
the way
i don't use a fancy camera or anything
like that
but if you want to edit them i would
focus on
making them just a little bit brighter
and like higher contrast so the colors
really pop
and that will be more likely to grab
someone's eye
as they're like scrolling through book
depop looking for
pretty covers step four is listing
the book so place the cover photo first
obviously and then the rest of your
photos it can be
two photos it can be i think up to like
six photos
obviously the more photos you post the
more likely it is to sell just because
the more information the buyer has
write out the title of the book and the
author and their name you can include a
description of the book if you'd like
and i think including a description will
also like
trigger search things so if you're like
this is a young adult
sci-fi horror that has queer and
disabled representation or something
like that then
that might like pop up in the algorithm
i'm not totally
sure how it works but if you like are
really looking to sell these books then
i would definitely suggest
writing out the description i usually
just link to goodreads so people have a
place to like
check it out real quick if it's a book
they haven't heard of
because i'm lazy i include
uh just a list of like any of the damage
so if there's like a
folded corner or if there's if the spine
is broken
or if there's writing inside just like
note that maybe note like what pages
they're on
if there's any like stains or anything
like that just make sure you note it
down below because you don't want
someone to get the book
and then be really pissed off that it's
not like the high quality that they
assumed it was
because you didn't specify otherwise and
then for tagging i just tag with like
relevant information to it so
i'll do like the age range of the book
like if it's a young adult if it's adult
if it's middle grade
and like the style so if it's a graphic
novel
or a manga or something like that
or paperback or hardback i'll specify
that as well
you can tag genres and subgenres
and i also usually will just add in like
the title again or
the author's name again in the tags
and i also just like to add in any
representation in case someone's just
browsing for queer books on depop or
like books with ace rep or something
like that
which i do so i appreciate people who
tag them step five
pricing so this is mostly up to you
obviously from like the clip i showed
of selling books at powell's
you really only get like maximum like
three dollars back for a book and that's
if it's like
a nice hardback that's not gonna add up
very
well i mean it's good to just like get
those books out and then get some
get some nice book credit but if you
want
to try to make a little bit more and
maybe
start on depop and then go to pals
maybe if they don't sell on depop and
yeah mostly it's just
up to you like obviously don't
be ridiculous there are some books
on d-pop that are
a hilarious price and like some people
sell arcs
on depop which is like
not ethical don't sell your arcs on
depop just donate them
if you like really want to make sure
that it sells but want to get the most
out of it then i would just do some
research on that book specifically
i would look and see if anyone else has
listed it on depop and maybe list it for
a similar or
cheaper price obviously if you price
them cheaper they will sell faster
but there's also the shipping that goes
into it and we'll talk about that next
but if it's like a really hyped book or
if it's in really good condition it's
brand new or
it's even signed by the author or
something like that then
don't be afraid to price those a little
bit higher
also now bella is eating right next to
me so
you're welcome for the dog eating asmr
step six
is shipping so when choosing
how to ship on depop i highly highly
highly recommend for just like
ease to
so to use depop's shipping
label option and to just select
based on weight you can do your own
shipping
and like go into the post office or
to fedex or ups or wherever you want to
ship through
and do it there and like try to find the
best quote or
whatever that's fine it just takes a lot
of effort
and with depop you can just print out
the label at home
super easy when you are choosing
your shipping option will usually prompt
you to include
shipping in the price but if you're
selling a book for five dollars
and shipping is 450 then you're only
making a profit of like 50 cents
so i just do it separately and i just
price my books a little bit cheaper
and it seems to be fine also be honest
about
the weight of the book obviously when
you choose the shipping label
because usps at least will definitely
send it back
if it is underweight there's
international shipping
i don't know about that so i think
it's pretty
like simple to go through that process
on depop like
they make it pretty easy i just haven't
done it because
international shipping is usually like
20 plus dollars and
i feel like at that point i would rather
just like send them
the a new version of the book from their
local bookshop
you know but you can also add it in
later if someone messages you directly
wanting you to ship it internationally
so i just don't with it as far as
like
actually putting the book together to
ship i just
reuse paperbacks and it is the cheapest
thing ever
cut the bag so it's a flat piece of
paper turn it inside out put the books
inside
and wrap it like a christmas present and
then just tape it up with packaging tape
and then i print out the label from
depop and i tape it on the front
and that's literally it that is all i
have to do i can put it in my mailbox
and the mailman will whisk it away if
you're using your own
shipping i and like going into the post
office or
potentially printing it off from the
post office
website just make sure that you get a
tracking number
and you attach the tracking number to
the order
because if you don't and their book gets
lost in the mail
then they're gonna say you never sent
the book and they're gonna ask for their
money back
when the book has definitely been sent
i also if i'm like
really worried about it i'll also
sometimes just like take a video
of me like putting the book into the
thing like into the dropbox at the
post office because you know you just
you just need that evidence sometimes
especially with depop it's like
kind of i don't know it's like official
but it's not like
you're not like an official business i
think that's all that i have to say
about selling books make sure that you
like provide
feedback to the buyers of the book
and because that just help i think any
engagement and interaction is helpful
for selling
and yeah also you can
go through and follow people who are
also posting books and kind of get that
mutual connection
they might also buy some of your books
because they like books obviously if
they're selling them but also utilize
your social media platforms and post
that you have listed books to your
instagram or your twitter and
or your facebook maybe your grandma will
see it on facebook and want to buy
some of your i don't know horror manga
who knows i don't know your grandma that
is all that i have on this topic
let me know if you do anything
differently or have any additional tips
for selling your books online um
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or if you have any more questions
something that i didn't go over feel
free to ask them
in the comments and i will do my best to
help you
good luck