1L.Bloom
Hello all,
I've looked through some threads to make sure I'm not asking something that's been answered elsewhere. I haven't seen exactly what I'm looking for.
I'm looking to move to Europe from the US in the near future. It's become obvious to me that I will need to downsize my life to a large degree. Seeking advice from those who have made similar moves in their lives. Is it better to try to have a large auction house sell my book collection or work through eBay over time little by little? What other options should I consider?
Thank you!
I've looked through some threads to make sure I'm not asking something that's been answered elsewhere. I haven't seen exactly what I'm looking for.
I'm looking to move to Europe from the US in the near future. It's become obvious to me that I will need to downsize my life to a large degree. Seeking advice from those who have made similar moves in their lives. Is it better to try to have a large auction house sell my book collection or work through eBay over time little by little? What other options should I consider?
Thank you!
2English-bookseller
Provided you are up to doing the selling and packaging eBay should give you the best income.
You could ask a bookseller to sell on your behalf and 50:50 might be an acceptable basis but you will need to choose a good bookseller and insist that your books have priority over their existing stock.
Generally booksellers in both the US and UK are having a very tough time as inflation hits the disposable income of consumers. So not the best time to try and sell a collection! If you had relations or friends who could look after your books until the book selling market is better that might be the best option.
You could ask a bookseller to sell on your behalf and 50:50 might be an acceptable basis but you will need to choose a good bookseller and insist that your books have priority over their existing stock.
Generally booksellers in both the US and UK are having a very tough time as inflation hits the disposable income of consumers. So not the best time to try and sell a collection! If you had relations or friends who could look after your books until the book selling market is better that might be the best option.
3HonorWulf
I've moved quite a bit and have had to store books in climate-controlled storage from time-to-time, which is a good option if you're not sure the move is going to be permanent or have some books that you really don't want to unload. But, yeah, if you're going to sell and have the time, then eBay is probably your best bet. If you have a lot of Folios to move, there's a FS Facebook page for this as well.
4copperstatelawyer
You’ll net more if you DIY, but it’s going to take a lot of time to move low volume SKU’s at high prices.
Part of the service the bookseller does is give you money upfront and take on the time risk.
You could also adopt a hybrid approach. List everything at what you’d want to sell it for, then keep dropping the price each week by a %. A month or two before moving, liquidate what’s left at a bookseller, but shop around and find the highest bidder.
Part of the service the bookseller does is give you money upfront and take on the time risk.
You could also adopt a hybrid approach. List everything at what you’d want to sell it for, then keep dropping the price each week by a %. A month or two before moving, liquidate what’s left at a bookseller, but shop around and find the highest bidder.
5abysswalker
If you're going to catalog your collection for a bookseller anyways, might I suggest creating a csv file in the format LibraryThing accepts and then uploading it here? You never know who might reach out by private message to indicate interest.
You can find an example of the csv format here:
https://www.librarything.com/LibraryThingSample.csv
It should be largely self-explanatory, and the import process will ignore columns with names it does not understand.
Once you have a csv spreadsheet file containing the books you want to add to your collection, import it using the "universal" import method:
https://www.librarything.com/import
Just a thought.
(This is the method I use to catalog my books in general, and it is quite flexible and efficient. I store my catalog in a offline file that tracks a lot of other info that LibraryThing can't handle well and every once in a while sync my LibraryThing catalog to this file, which is a single upload operation. Pro tip: don't include ISBN, at least not in the column LibraryThing expects, to avoid it trying to be too smart.)
You can find an example of the csv format here:
https://www.librarything.com/LibraryThingSample.csv
It should be largely self-explanatory, and the import process will ignore columns with names it does not understand.
Once you have a csv spreadsheet file containing the books you want to add to your collection, import it using the "universal" import method:
https://www.librarything.com/import
Just a thought.
(This is the method I use to catalog my books in general, and it is quite flexible and efficient. I store my catalog in a offline file that tracks a lot of other info that LibraryThing can't handle well and every once in a while sync my LibraryThing catalog to this file, which is a single upload operation. Pro tip: don't include ISBN, at least not in the column LibraryThing expects, to avoid it trying to be too smart.)
6folio_books
>5 abysswalker: Pro tip: don't include ISBN
The main drawback with cataloguing Folios (none of them have ISBNs) actually works to your advantage in this situation.
The main drawback with cataloguing Folios (none of them have ISBNs) actually works to your advantage in this situation.
7elladan0891
>1 L.Bloom: What other options should I consider?
Have you considered the option of moving your books with you? )
You can downsize by offloading furniture and other things. Or you could do a hybrid approach - keep Folios/LECs/Private Presses, offload the lesser books.
But if you do decide to go with thewrong original option and sell your nice books, I'd recommend at least something along the lines of the approach suggested by >4 copperstatelawyer: first individually list at least the most desirable/valuable books, then if time allows list the rest. Then, whatever doesn't sell you can give to a bookseller.
Auction houses - I'm not so sure about. Expensive Private Press books could be sold through an action house. But how many of those do you have? Would they really save that much space? But even those I'd try to sell through ebay first. And as for regular Folios, let alone lesser books - I don't think auction houses are the way to go.
I moved across the pond back and forth more than once, but I have to admit I've never considered permanent downsizing. However, I'm pretty sure I'd never think of getting rid of my books. I was raised in a very small 2-bedroom flat, and yet there were a few dozen of barrister-like bookcases lining a wall of the living room, a wall of the hallway, and a wall of my bedroom. Even a very small space can fit a lot of books gracefully. But that's your decision to make, of course.
Have you considered the option of moving your books with you? )
You can downsize by offloading furniture and other things. Or you could do a hybrid approach - keep Folios/LECs/Private Presses, offload the lesser books.
But if you do decide to go with the
Auction houses - I'm not so sure about. Expensive Private Press books could be sold through an action house. But how many of those do you have? Would they really save that much space? But even those I'd try to sell through ebay first. And as for regular Folios, let alone lesser books - I don't think auction houses are the way to go.
I moved across the pond back and forth more than once, but I have to admit I've never considered permanent downsizing. However, I'm pretty sure I'd never think of getting rid of my books. I was raised in a very small 2-bedroom flat, and yet there were a few dozen of barrister-like bookcases lining a wall of the living room, a wall of the hallway, and a wall of my bedroom. Even a very small space can fit a lot of books gracefully. But that's your decision to make, of course.
8LesMiserables
>1 L.Bloom: FWIW I moved all of my books with me from the British Isles to Australia: a good few hundred at the time, alongside my other household belongings by sea freight.
