Old Books

Used Book Terminology

Even though there's always room for interpretation in anything subjective, these terms do provide guidelines for a book's condition.

• New: Unread and in perfect condition as if direct from the publisher. No marks or damage.
• As new: In perfect condition without marks or damages, but has been read.
• Fine: In excellent condition, just not quite as crisp-looking as a new or as new book.
• Very Good: Some signs of wear but without any stains or tears.
• Good: What you'd think of as an average old book. All the pages are intact but there may be some tiny tears.
• Fair: In worn condition but all the pages are there. There may be some stains but nothing that makes any part of the book unreadable.
• Poor or Reading Copy: The pages are there but may be loose, discolored, or stained. Booksellers typically do not sell books below this level, ones that are not readable because of missing or heavily stained pages.

Finding Old Books

Books published after 1970 almost always have an International Standard Book Number (ISBN), a (virtually) unique identifying code. Most of these are ten digits long, but books published after 2007 will have 13 digit numbers. This standardization makes finding old books far easier than almost any other collectible or antique.

Online Sources

AbeBooks is the largest online shopping resource dedicated to used books, with 13,500 sellers and more than 100 million books. You can also set up a wish list for a book not currently in stock and get an automatic email if one of their sellers adds it to inventory.

Amazon.com and eBay both have extensive selections of old books. One of eBay's affiliates, Half.com, which is fixed-price rather than an auction site, has a vast supply and several Wish List features that allow you to buy automatically if a book at or above a certain condition and at or below your desired price should enter the system.

Offline Sources

Of course, used book stores are magnificent places to find books. Some are generalists, others specialize, and others are generalists with a few special collections.

Many old books, especially paperbacks, never get listed for sale online because the sale price isn't worth the bother. You can often get old books very cheaply at garage or estate sales. Library and school book fairs are another way to find old books by the hundreds or even thousands. To find book sales near you, you can use search engines like Book Sale Finder. Some library book sales, particularly the larger ones, also have collector's items like autographed or rare books.

Pricing Books

Book prices depend most of all on demand, which is driven by topic, rarity, condition, and any special features such as limited editions or autographs. Age is one of the least important aspects, unless an old book is at least 300 years old! Even autographs don't necessarily increase the book's value, now that authors go on so many book tours and sign so many copies.

Selling Your Books

Usually the easiest way is to take your books to a used book store. If you have a large number of books, some make house calls. You can usually make a bit more if you sell them yourself online, though this can be time consuming, you have to keep them around, and of course you have to wait for somebody to want your book.

If you want to sell online quickly and are less concerned about making the most possible money, you can list your old books significantly below the standard asking price and hope that you can trigger some automatic buys or wish list hits.

In some cases, donating books for a tax write off can actually be the most effective thing to do when you balance both time and money. Almost all libraries will accept donations for their collection or sale (Find your local public library) and so do many hospitals and other charities with resale shops.