Quote:
Originally Posted by fduniho
One of the main reasons I have for wanting to sell my used books is to make more space. With ebooks, that isn't an issue. Before ebooks came along, I normally bought used books, and for the most part, the prices were higher than what I have been paying for ebooks. Thanks to being able to check out ebooks from a couple libraries in New York City, it is now also much easier for me to check out what I want to read from a library, and thanks to promotions and public domain books being free as ebooks, I've been able to get lots of books for free that I wouldn't be able to get for free as physical books. So, there are trade-offs. Although we don't get a 2nd hand market for ebooks, it's often easier and more affordable to get ebooks, and keeping ebooks doesn't generate any clutter. Since those are trade-offs I can live with, I won't worry too much that ebooks have no 2nd hand market.
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As someone who used to fund my reading habit by selling off what I'd read on Half.com and then eBay and also Amazon Marketplace in order to buy new books, it's overrated. While there is a market for used books, the amount of money you get vs. the time you put in to photographing, writing a description of condition, etc... it's barely worth it.
And if you don't put the work in, sales are worse. I think I sold as well as I did because of good descriptions and photos.
Before eBooks were a thing, I did, with the aid of the library, keep my reading habit afloat, but with ebooks so easily available and so many people having switched to ebook reading, I wouldn't want to try now, so the fact that there is no secondary market for ebooks doesn't worry me one single bit.
As I do buy some OOP vintage books, there's a trend that is
great for buyers, but not so much for sellers. I've noticed that 95% of the time or better, if I make an offer for a book on eBay, it is accepted! Secondhand booksellers are having a harder time selling.