This year, I’ve taken to selling stuff – mainly my business, HR, management, learning and development books to get some pocket money.
Nothing too much mind you (it’s a long game) but I’ve realised that I have some great books which could be references that others may need now in the workforce.
The only books I’m thinking of keeping are the actual handbooks or my “go to” references where the knowledge that is in them doesn’t change with time. I paid a lot of money for them when I bought them so unwilling to part with them just yet.
Everything else, well, it’s going to be sold one way or another.
So I created an eBay site this year and I’ve slowly been selling my books.
It’s so easy to add books to the site simply by scanning the book’s bar code and it finds the book. Add in your details regarding price (it adds estimates of postage based on your country) and that’s it. Listing them is quick and easy.
I think the hardest thing is coming up with a price. I don’t allow auctions. I try and keep it a bit cheaper than others (the site tells you the median price) because I want the book to sell. The buyer pays for the postage and eBay takes a small percentage of the sale. Sometimes, people contact me directly and offer cash upfront for a stack of books and they come and pick them up.
I continually add books to my page as others get sold over time. Every day, I look at my bookshelf and see the books that were so important to me then (Leadership, Community, Learning, HR, Marketing…) and they’re all meaningless to me now.
It makes you realise how life changes and how irrelevant things become. I do hope they’d be of use to someone else now – as they were to me back in the day.
Already I can see the ones that will be on the shelf for a long time and of which, if they don’t sell in a few years, they’ll go into hard rubbish.
That’s all the e-Learning design stuff about out of date software. Also all those non-fiction books by so called influencers back in the day are all a bit passe now.
Some people prefer to pick up the books and it’s always interesting to chat to them about them. However, it’s making me realise I need to have a stash of envelopes because I’m always running to the post office to send stuff out.
EBay makes it easy whereby you can print your own labels and then send it out but…..as I don’t have a printer because that too, broke down, I just have to make the trip.
Might have to ask around to see if anyone is willing to offload a printer…🤔
Righto. Off to the post office I go. More books to send out.
Feel Free to Share Your Thoughts