Do Your Library Friends eBay?

Recently, I approached our Friends group about using eBay as a way to possibly get more money for some of the more valuable materials that come to us as donations or that we were finding as we weeded our extensive reference collection.  In particular, we weeded a gorgeous old book with a wood cover and hand-colored illustrations which we figured out was very rare and highly collectible. (Indian Costumes by Seton. Only 499.00!)   Our Friends had previously sold materials on eBay through a third party, but the commission was a hefty 50%. With some staff support, the Friends were agreeable and we are now eBaying.

I can't say "Do this!  You'll be rolling in the dough!" since we are starting small and have yet to see the end of our first auctions.  Rather, I'm just offering a few things to consider since this is a question that comes up on listserves pretty often.

• If your Friends are hesitant, consider having a staff member set up an account and then training Friends members to participate as sales are made.
• Offer an eBay class and look for volunteers among your enrollees. Some libraries offer a commission to non-Friends volunteers who may have expertise.
• The first and best place to go is to the Friends of the Library USA (FOLUSA) website. There are lists of other Friends groups that are veteran eBayers.  In addition to being able to see other online sales efforts of Friends, we learned that many of them are quite generous about sharing their expertise and experience.  The staff member who is working on this project got invaluable advice from other Friends.
• If you have a nearby used bookstore, make an appointment with one of the staff who might be willing to give you a tutorial on grading and describing used books. For folks who just want reading copies, book condition isn't such a big deal, but collectors are a finicky group.  You need to be as accurate as possible unless you want to deal with lots of returns and complaints.
• Spend some time going through your donations and check various bookselling sites online. You likely will be surprised at what is valued by book buyers. Old doesn't necessarily translate to valuable.  And pretty doesn't necessarily mean desirable. That crappy 1950s pulp fiction novel that you're inclined to toss into the dumpster might well be worth more than the expensive pristine 1988 art/history/cinema encyclopedia that you're withdrawing. 
• If there are 30 other copies of a title available for sale online, price it to sell for the in-house booksale.
• It takes time to build a presence and to get your seller ranking up (important to many buyers), but if the staff time spent on such a project costs more than you're taking in (after a fair trial), it's not a good deal.

We're excited because we already have a decent bid on a hard-to-find reference title.  If you want to follow our progress (or give us tips!) our eBay ID is lacrossepubliclibrary.

Comments

[Lisa Small]

What a great idea!

[Lisa Small]

What a great idea!

[Matt]

You may have better luck getting an Amazon seller ID and seeling your used books there. People identify the Amazon brand with books, and their tools and procedures for selling are quite simple. Their commission seems more reasonable than ebay's, and they handle the money for you. All around less trouble than Ebay, and less fraud as well.