If you’re looking for a way to bring in some extra cash, why not see if you have any books or records lying around that you could sell?
Even if your possessions are on the older side, don’t assume they’re worthless – records in particular have been making a huge comeback, with vinyl sales recently overtaking those of CDs for the first time in over 30 years. You never know – someone out there could be willing to pay good money for a book or album that’s sitting gathering dust on your shelf.
Here, we look at some of the best places to sell your old books and vinyl records if you’re looking to give your income a boost.
What kinds of books and vinyl records fetch the best prices?
The most valuable vinyl records out there tend to be early or limited pressings of popular older releases. Even though later editions and reissues often boast better sound quality, the most expensive records tend to have some kind of historical value or exclusivity that make them prized among collectors. Even test pressings – records made to test how an album fares on vinyl before it enters mass production – can fetch a pretty penny from a band’s enthusiasts.
For example, one of the most sought-after Beatles records is a version of their compilation album Yesterday & Today with a cover that was quickly withdrawn from the market and replaced for being too controversial – a mint edition copy bearing the original cover sold for nearly £100,000 in 2013.
Even if you suspect you don’t have anything quite this valuable in your collection, it can still be worth figuring out which pressing an album is if you’re looking to sell it. An original pressing is the very first release of a vinyl record, and these tend to be more valuable than reissues as they are generally produced in smaller quantities.
Identifying a first pressing can be a bit complicated, as there’s no standard way for labels to catalogue records. You may have to do some internet searching and see if the record jacket or the vinyl itself can give you any clues. Some telltale signs are that most copies of albums produced before the 1980s will not have a barcode on the record jacket, and the more wear and tear a record has, the older it is likely to be.
In a similar vein, the books that are most likely to raise eyebrows – and prices – are first or rare editions, preferably with the front covers and all the pages intact. For example, the initial run of the first Harry Potter book only produced 500 copies, and credits the author JK Rowling by her first name Joanne. Copies from this initial run are now worth tens of thousands, with one being auctioned for around £70,000 in 2019.
You can usually find out what edition a book is from using the copyright page on the inside of the front cover.
Newer books or records, or new copies of very popular ones, will rarely fetch you very much, though you may still be able to achieve a decent price if you have kept your copy in good condition.
What is the best way to sell vinyl records?
Vinyl is experiencing a real surge in popularity at the moment, with collectors young and old snapping up copies of their favourite albums. If your collection is taking up space, why not see if you could use any of it to make a profit through one of these avenues?
Discogs
Discogs is an online database and marketplace where users can sell vinyl, CDs and cassette tapes to other members. The site is popular among music enthusiasts, meaning you may find it easier to fetch a good price for a particularly valuable or obscure record.
Since the website doubles as a music database, it will be able to use other people’s sales figures to give you a fairly accurate suggestion of how much you could sell your records for.
One downside of Discogs is that you can’t include your own description of the item or attach photos to prove its quality – instead, you will have to select the option that best describes its quality from a list (“Mint”, “Very good”, etc.).
Listing an item on Discogs is free, though the site charges a fee of 8% of the item’s price when you make a sale.
Ebay
Ebay is one of the most popular online marketplaces out there, and you can use it to sell just about anything, including vinyl records. Plenty of buyers won’t mind if a record is second-hand, particularly for an older release, as long as it still plays well.
Attaching photos of your items and being honest about their condition is always a good idea, as customers can leave negative feedback or request a refund if they feel cheated.
Ebay doesn’t charge for listing items, (unless you manage to list over 1,000 in a month), though it does charge a fee of 12.8% of the total value of the order (item cost plus shipping) when you make a sale, plus a fixed 30p charge.
Local record stores
If you don’t want to bother with uploading your collection to a website or fussing with postage and packaging, you can always visit a nearby record store and see if they’re interested in buying from you. While larger chains like HMV or Fopp don’t tend to buy old records from customers, independent stores often will.
Try bringing in a list of the records you’re prepared to sell and seeing what kind of offer the owner makes. If you live in a city with multiple record stores, you can go around a few of them and see who offers you the best deal. Bear in mind, however, that this usually isn’t the way to get the best value for your collection, as buyers will want to buy from you at a bargain price so they can add a decent mark up when they come to sell the records on.
Vinyl-Wanted
If your priority is offloading your records rather than fetching the maximum price, then you can sell through Vinyl-Wanted. You simply call or email them with details of the records you want to sell, and they’ll get back to you with an offer. If you accept, then they offer free collections, free postage, or they have offices where you can drop them off. Other websites that offer similar services include MusicMagpie and Vinyl Tap.
What is the best way to sell CDs?
Most of the sites listed above for vinyl will also work for CDs, but you can learn more about the best ways to sell in our article Where can I sell my old CDs and DVDs?
What is the best way to sell fiction and non-fiction books?
Even with e-books and audiobooks growing in popularity, there will always be a market for good old-fashioned hardbacks and paperbacks. Here are a few of the best places to sell your used books.
Ebay
Ebay remains a great marketplace to sell just about anything online, and used books are no exception. As with records, aim to be honest about their condition and be upfront about any faults to avoid negative feedback from buyers.
Again, Ebay doesn’t charge for listing items, (unless you manage to list over 1,000 in a month), though it does charge a fee of 12.8% of the total value of the order (item cost plus shipping) when you make a sale, plus a fixed 30p charge.
Amazon
Despite its massive status these days, Amazon originally started as a bookseller, and its marketplace still makes a useful place to sell books directly to buyers online. However, as it is so widely-used it may take some time for your book to sell if others are offering the same item.
To sell items on Amazon, you can either opt for an individual or professional selling plan – the former will cost you 75p per item, while the latter costs £25 per month to sell as many books as you want, so unless you are offloading a mammoth amount of books, you will probably be better served by the individual plan.
You will also have to pay a referral fee of 15.3% (or 5.1% if the item is less than £5.00) and a closing fee of £1.
WeBuyBooks
If you want to offload a large number of books quickly rather than spending hours hunting out the best prices for each individual item, WeBuyBooks or a similar site like MusicMagpie may be your best bet. These sites ask you to scan or enter the information for your books and will then make you an offer to buy them altogether. If you accept, they will send you the things you need to post them over for free. Bear in mind that WeBuyBooks has a minimum value requirement of £5 that you’ll need to meet in order to sell.
Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace can be a really convenient place to sell, allowing you to list items in a matter of minutes. If you opt to exchange the books in person, it’s free to use, but you’ll be charged a 2% fee if you send items by post via the platform.
Can I sell textbooks second hand?
If you or your child has recently taken a class or university module that required a textbook, then these can actually be fairly easy to sell through the avenues listed above. If the syllabus doesn’t change much for the following year, or a certain book is a popular choice among universities, then textbooks can often be sold quickly to members of next year’s cohort. Many people won’t mind if the book is already annotated or highlighted as long as it’s still usable.
Bear in mind, however, that textbooks can go out of date or be dropped from a syllabus quite quickly, so if you have any lying around that are more than a few years old, these can be much harder to sell – though of course this will vary depending on the subject.
Finally…
If you have even more things lying around that you’re keen to get rid off, check out our guides How to make money from your clutter and 5 tips for downsizing your belongings to find out the best ways to convert your clutter into cash.
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