Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion

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Random Chit-Chat > What do you do with your old books?

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message 1: by Bella (last edited Jul 14, 2010 08:02AM) (new)

Bella Foxygobble (dcrain02) | 77 comments I have been in the process of slowly unpacking our book collection and shelving it. HUGE job. LOL In the process I have found (many) duplicates and books I am no longer interested in holding on to.

I plan to use PBS, but many of these are in in what would be considered "acceptable" condition and I don't think think they meet the criteria for swapping at PBS. Should I just donate them?


message 2: by Dee (new)

Dee (austhokie) | 7316 comments you could donate them to a hospital, there are also online places you can look for sending them to deployed personnel overseas (lots of us can't carry books with us everywhere, so we have to make do with what we can find) - personally, I had a kindle, but I know lots of others relied on those books


message 3: by Carolyn F. (new)

Carolyn F. I sell a lot on Half.com and buy a lot of used books on Amazon.com or Ebay.com. If you sell on Ebay, group them by author. Some of those old never republished books go for quite a bit, so check out the prices first. You may make some real money.


message 4: by Bella (new)

Bella Foxygobble (dcrain02) | 77 comments Carolyn F. wrote: "I sell a lot on Half.com and buy a lot of used books on Amazon.com or Ebay.com. If you sell on Ebay, group them by author. Some of those old never republished books go for quite a bit, so check o..."

thanks - I was thinking of ebay, but I didn't want to deal with the fees. Never tried half.com. I'm going to get used to PBS first before putting up for sale. With three small children life can get a bit hectic!


message 5: by Mary X (new)

Mary X (marymaryalwayscontrary) | 1103 comments I use bookmooch.com for the ones that don't work for PBS.


message 6: by Sandy (new)

Sandy | 205 comments I usually either pass on books that I'm not going to read again to a friend or trade them into my local used book store for credit.


message 7: by KimKirt (new)

KimKirt | 1638 comments Sometimes I donate them to Friends of the Library (used books where sales go to the library fund). Sometimes I just pass them on to a friend, others lay in a stack at home waiting for me to decide to do with them.


message 8: by Daffodil (last edited Jul 15, 2010 09:56AM) (new)

Daffodil (daffodil--ripcranberry) | 1058 comments I had a huge rummage sale once and got rid of a lot of them by pricing individually and offering a plastic grocery bag full for a certain price. After the rummage sale, I took the best condition and most popular authors to the local used book store and used them for trade. The remaining boxes (and there were still boxes left) were donated to the library for the shelves or quarterly book sale. If I'd thought about it I would have taken some of them around to local nursing homes and donated them there also. Even after all that, I still had just as many books that I couldn't bear to part with yet and kept.


message 9: by Kathy Anne (new)

Kathy Anne (kathyanne) I have tons of relatives that all live close by and we have like a USB and bring and take from it-the only way I can save money with a bad library and no
UBSs bookstores close by.


message 10: by Kim (new)

Kim (catmommie) I spread the wealth: Our church has an ongoing book sale table, so I leave some there. I offer some on Freecycle. I also used to leave some at the dialysis unit when I was there.


message 11: by Ashley♥Alexis (new)

Ashley♥Alexis | 309 comments I mostly keep them. If it's a book I know i wont go back and read I usually go to a library that does that "leave a book, take a book thing" I love that. you find some treasures on those book shelves.


message 12: by AH (new)

AH | 75 comments Books that I don't plan to keep and re-read are packed up and sent to my local library for their annual book sale. They really appreciate it and the proceeds are used to buy new books for the library.


 Danielle The Book Huntress  (gatadelafuente) | 350 comments If I like a book, I keep it. If I don't, I give it away to someone who wants it, or donate it to the library or Goodwill. If I have the time to go to the used bookstore, I might accumulate a bag of books to take ther.


message 14: by Denise (new)

Denise | 318 comments I am going to be facing this issue very soon (in the next couple of weeks. I am moving cross country and I have more books than furniture to move (most of the furniture is bookcases). When you move cross country you pay by weight. Books weigh a lot. I bought 100 boxes to pack books in and I hope that will be enough. I am having a mover come give me an estimate and when we were talking I told her about the 100 boxes and she was like "that could weigh over 6,000 lbs--and I said yeah so? But in order to just have 100 boxes (about the size of the boxes that reams of paper come in for your printer) I am going to have to get rid of bunches of books. I really don't have the time to put them on the different websites to sell so I will probably donate quite a few to my Friends of the Library for their yearly book sale. I may also take some to a senior citizens home that is close to my house--I need to call and see if they would be interested. I won't bother with Half Price Books. One time I took a whole carload of books (trunk and back seat). It was pouring down rain, I carried a couple boxes in and asked for someone to come out and help me. The guy from the pricing desk came out and offered me 50 cents for the whole carload. I asked him to go get the two boxes that I had carried in and I donated the whole lot to the library. Fifty cents, can you believe it???


message 15: by Ez (new)

Ez (ezrah-rah) | 387 comments I use PBS, but I've also donated books to the local library or turned them in at our used book store for credit. There is also a Half Price Books near us and they buy used books. You may not make a huge amount, but at least they pay cash and I haven't had them turn away a book yet.

http://www.halfpricebooks.com


Jim son of Jim (formerly PhotoJim) (jim_formerly_photojim) | 5294 comments Denise wrote: "I am going to be facing this issue very soon (in the next couple of weeks. I am moving cross country and I have more books than furniture to move (most of the furniture is bookcases). When you mov..."

You know Denise, there is somebody who lives in Columbus who is an avid reader who might be willing to take a few books off your hands. (*Jim whistles innocently and looks around)

I've used HalfPrice a few times. The most I eve got for a load of books was $120. Then again, it was a big load of books.


message 17: by Courtney (new)

Courtney K (cklueh) | 510 comments I trade them for more old books at our used bookstore. I've been trading old books of mine for board books and picture books for my son.


message 18: by Kelley (new)

Kelley (shewolf0316) | 0 comments I sell them at teh UBS and if they are ones that can't be sold (like ARCs I don't want to keep for whatever reason) I give to a friend I know I can trust to not sell them later or I *gulp* destroy them. But I hate doing that so try to get friends to take them first.


message 19: by Sandra J (new)

Sandra J Weaver (sandraweaver) | 366 comments I take paperbacks I no longer want to my local UBS for trading credit. Any books he won't accept, which includes hardbacks, I give to one of the local thrift stores.


message 20: by Ari (new)

Ari (moochew12) | 159 comments If it's something I don't care to read again, I'll swap it on swaptree. Or sometimes I will sell them at half price bookstores, but those stores usually don't give enough value.


message 21: by Andrea (new)

Andrea (lillieblue613) | 86 comments Sometimes, I go to the used bookstore and trade them in. I usually donate them to our library system. They either add them to the paperback racks or save them for the semiannual book sales.


message 22: by Gigi (new)

Gigi | 1149 comments If I liked the book, I keep it. If I didn't or had an extra one, I'll put it on GR book swap.


message 23: by Kate (new)

Kate (literarykate) | 109 comments I'm taking 4 bags of books to Half-Price tomorrow. I hope I get some good offers. If not I'll save the ones they won't take for my local library sale, since most, if not all of my books are in excellent condition. While going through my boxes of books in the basement I found these two books:

Allure (Sonnet Books) by Jo-Ann Power Trust Me by Jayne Ann Krentz

Has anyone read them? I haven't read them before because I think they're my mom's that she got at a library used book sale years back. Both sound very interesting and I'm excited to add them to my TBR list.


message 24: by Kate (new)

Kate (literarykate) | 109 comments Well I think I did pretty well at Half-Price today. Made $40 and was able to buy 6 books there and had $6 left over. From there I went to my local bookstore and bought three more books using the $6 from Half-Price and some of my own money. All in all, a successful day especially since I cleaned up my basement a little. :)


message 25: by Sandra J (new)

Sandra J Weaver (sandraweaver) | 366 comments Kate wrote: "I'm taking 4 bags of books to Half-Price tomorrow. I hope I get some good offers. If not I'll save the ones they won't take for my local library sale, since most, if not all of my books are in ex..."
Trust Me was the first Jayne Ann Krentz book I read, and I loved it. Desdemona is a great heroine, and I loved her extended family of eccentric actors. There's a lot of humor and a bit of mystery in the book. The romance is good, too.


message 26: by Kate (new)

Kate (literarykate) | 109 comments Thanks Sandra J. I'm looking forward to reading it.


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