Oh gosh, I do love books and my fellows bookworms! But what if you inherit a lot of books and don’t know what to do with them? Here are a few options:
- Bin them: might not be super ethical, but it’s certainly the quickest option
- Donate them: pack them up and donate them to your local charity shop or school
- Sell them: there are companies who might pay (although not much) for books in good conditions
Of course every client has some restrains, whether is time or money or logistics. You just need to find a good balance!
So many books on books
One of clients inherited a few bookshelves packed with reading material. Some cooking and recipes books, travel and touring guides about British landmarks, and various tailoring how to manuals.
I am honestly always fascinated when I look at someone else’s bookshelf. I feel like learn so much about them and what they like, what their hobbies are, and what passions they have.
Since my client was not planning to keep any of them, we looked at disposing… but how?
We looked at all the options, and we decided to do a mix of all, depending on popularity of the books, conditions, and overall value.
Lots and lots of books!
It's scanning time!
You can find a few websites where you can sell your books online. What are the steps?
- You create an account and use the app to scan all the barcodes.
- Start filling up a box with all the books accepted by the app.
- Pack them up and arrange for collection.
That is it!
We ended up using World of books (but there are other apps) and started scanning all the books in good conditions. After going through all of them, we managed to get about 30% of them valued, packed, and ready for collection.
Packed and ready for collection!
A couple of weeks later, once World of books received the boxes, it seems like they misplaced a few. However, even thou not 100% of books were recorded through, it was still better than nothing!
Don’t forget there are similar companies for tech, like CEX, so always check out online!
Next, the rest of the books were packed up and either dropped them off to a charity shop or recycled.
“After hearing about the work Fran does and, in a somewhat overwhelming position to clear a house for sale, I made contact.
R, South West London
She had a great energy, was very helpful, practical and effective at taking a chunk out of the work and getting the ball rolling. Once we had a plan (which she is also good at!) we set to work.
She was attentive at listening to the issues and willing to step in where it made a difference. When money is tight, its hard to commit to extra costs, but it helped pave the way to a job done.”
