We had our first used book sale this year... made $400. I think we will try again next year. In my opinion, it's free money and we can only improve. I think we priced too low... most books were 50 cents.
We had tons of books left over to donate too. There is no room to store them.
So we had the used book sale this past weekend....
We did everything right, we advertised advertised advertised!
Had alot of volunteers, over 6,000 books, LOW prices etc.
Mother Nature was on our side with beauitful weather....IT JUST HAD TO BE A SUCCESS RIGHT?????????
NOPE!
Well kind of, we didn't lose money after expenses we made about $650.00.
It was alittle disappointing, not because of the low sales,(althougth that kind of stinks!) but because of the absolute lack of support from our school families. We have a poulation of approx. 700 students and I would say maybe 20 families came to shop.
We are working very hard at getting families to come together to do a great many things to improve our school, we do alot for the school, and students and try to come up with creative fundraisers so we don't have to ask the families to give more money for dues, or to sell more stuff because thats what they have asked of us...
AAAGGGHHH!!
OH WELL....So we have made a childrens hospital and a veterns organization very happy with our book donations we are making with our many many left over books so something good came out of it.
Thanks so much for the great suggestions! Fundraising mom....WOW thanks for the freecycle.org suggestion! I posted on there last night and have gotten tons of replies...I picked up about 5 boxes of books today and have had alot of willing people that will be dropping right to the school next week. What a great suggestion. I was alittle nervous but it seems to be working out great! Thanks!
Another great resource is freecycle.org... You can make a post looking for books and you will be surprised at how many people will donate. What is also good about this site is that you do not need to advertise you personal information.
Before selling all the books I would look up some of the older ones on eBay just to make sure that they are not real valuable. There are places on the web that list the authors that people collect. Some not so old books can sell for thousands of dollars. Here are some price guides that I know of: 1stedition.net/booksellingblog.com/www.bookride.com/
The best way really is just to get on eBay and do a completed search to find out worth of books.
One more thing on Craig's list - thousands of sincere people use it every day, but there are also scammers. I've used it myself many times to get rid of things (for free) or sell. But I personally wouldn't publish any personal information in my ad.
In your case, I'd hope it was all just generic information - the date, times, address of the school - whatever. But I wouldn't put, for example, my own phone number to "call for more information".
Some people do - but I'd suggest playing it safe.
By the way - it's probably a good place to solicit book donations as well as advertise your event.
P.S. If you are ever looking for supplies for a project, keep your eye on the "free" section. It's AMAZING what people will give away. For example, we did a float one year and found a paint store that was moving and giving away a lot of stock, people getting rid of excess lumber, etc. If you are the type to visit garage sales and keep your eyes open for extra craft supplies or other items a teacher might use, check Craig's list.
Hi,
Good Ideas! I did check and no one else is running a book sale that weekend. I checked out Craigs List and have posted an announcement! Thanks Thanks Thanks for the suggestions
