Buying Books at Estate Sales - Tips, Tricks & Tactics
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- I decided to make a video on how I go about buying books at estate sales.
This video includes how to select a good sale to attend by collecting information and how to proceed forward on it, questions to ask. Developing a mental image of the layout. What to bring. Tactics and procedures to use to ensure you get the items you want.
I hope you find this information helpful and have fun!
Please Like & Subscribe to The Book Peddler TH-cam Channel, stay up to date on Book/Antique Picks, In/Out Store Activity and Book Reviews!
Buy Me a Coffee: www.buymeacoff...
Instagram: @thebookpeddlerofsmithville
Like The Book Peddler on Facebook: / the-book-ped. .
Like The Book Peddler Warehouse on Facebook: / 61552251452394
The Book Peddler is located at 5266 State HWY 41 Smithville Flats, NY 13841. Hours are: Fridays & Saturdays: 12-6 PM OR BY APPOINTMENT!
The Book Peddler Warehouse is located at: 5259 State HWY 41 Smithville Flats, NY 13841. Hours are: Saturdays: 10-4 PM
Thank you for watching, if you find value in this video consider donating to my in shop coffee fund, follow the link: www.buymeacoffee.com/thebookpeddler
It's not the ones that you get that you remember, it's the ones you didn't get that you wish you would have. Good video Phil !
Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed it! I don't let it happen anymore! To this day I think of a couple potential buys that I slept on, can't get em back but it stung!
Wow! Who knew book buying was such cut throat business? This was fascinating.
It can be, I've witnessed some, have heard a lot of stories. For the most part though it's been wonderful where I'm at but where competition is heavier definitely have that gaurd up. Thabjs fir watching!
Some of the BEST advice I have heard is (and it relates to so many different things): "your network is your NetWorth" and, " "You make your money when you buy",. Bro, awesome vid. Great channel. I used to binge listen to TH-cam while working at home so I stopped and only allow myself one video per day now haha and have been listening to your's. Thank you.
Yeah that's really important advice and very true. "You make your money when you buy" I've been saying that for years and I first learned it from an old antique dealer I work with and other book dealers of course have said the same. Taking the emotion out of buying can be a hard lesson to learn initially but after a few times realizing you may have spent too much on a pick or individual buy you sharpen up for sure, at least I have. I turn down now just as many as I buy. The first statement too, if I were to lose it all today or start over I know I would be fine in acquiring material and restarting a building based on that, I would do it better too! That's good you limit your time on youtube and the social sites, it becomes a major addiction for many. Glad you're enjoying the content man! Thanks for the comment!
Great video, Phil! Thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to put it together. :) Some of my favorite tips were: bringing along family members or friends to help out (Rise and shine, Sis! Let's rock and roll!), staying focused on the task at hand (Wow! Look at that awesome big screen TV! No! Don't look! Keep going...), determining the layout of the house and where the books are located (is that a toilet I see next to the bookcase? Must be the bathroom..), using heavy duty book bags to store your haul in (That's MY box! Get your hands out of it! Whack! Whack!). Oh, and don't be intimidated by the scanners! (Ooh! Look at that HUGE spider!).
You got it woman! Hahaha, I'm glad you enjoyed it thanks for watching, now go conquer those sales!
Very useful clip. I've been hunting books at estate sales for a few years and completely agree with everything you mention here. Good stuff.
Glad you enjoyed it. Tried to be as throrough as possible on how I approach them, so hopefully people find it useful. Thanks for watching!
Great content! You have given some valuable advice here. I really enjoyed the fact that you mentioned the advantages of a partner in this business. Thanks!
To me it's huge and makes a BIG difference having anither with you
Thanks for watching!
Awesome share! I'm going to an estate sale tomorrow. This was a great pep talk.
Good luck man, kill it! Thanks for watching!
Phil thanks for the overview, it was well thought out. Obviously you have been out there.
Absolutely, thanks for watching Warren, hooe you've been well!
Great information! Thanks!
Thanjs for watching!
Really good info! Thanks for doing this video.
Thanks Cobey! Glad you enjoyed it!
Fantastic video. I do much the same, especially trying to zero in on room locations from listing photos. But getting there 2.5 hours early! Wow. I’ve never done that, but maybe I should. It makes sense if you are serious about it. Thanks for the insights and inspiration.
Some are worth it, if I see desirable material I sacrifice my sleep to make sure I'm getting my hands on it!
All the information that Phil suggested is spot on, thanks. Bring a light preferably a head lamp as there are many situations in which a room may be dark. We like to use IKEA tote bags as they are strong bags. Be very cautious of "hold areas" at an estate sale, I do not like them as funny things occur. Don't dismiss the idea of offering to buy all the books at an estate sale if they meet your criteria. Thanks again Phil.
I'm happy you commented, head lamp, absolutely... as well as the reat of the info you shared. Hope someone reads your comment, I forgot to ask people to talk about their approach! Thanks for the comment brother! Happy pickings!
Phil the mental mapping makes complete sense to me, a perfect way to get what you came for or are after directly. You shared lots of great tips here, hope many folks got help from this vlog.
Thank you very much Christine for the comment, glad you enjoyed it! I tried to be thorough so hopefully people find it useful!
Once again a great video You have shared valuable information and insight Great Phil!!
Glad I came across your channel. Lots of helpful information on here. I appreciate you sharing!
Glad you enjoy it, hope you continue to, thanks for the comment 😊
I'm new to book selling. Still researching platforms online. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I’ve been hitting up estate sales this year. There is an estate sale company in my area that has books priced as such, “Pre 1930 $10. 1931-Present $5 a piece.” Ridiculous in a way for an estate sale. I told the one lady that owns the company that she has the books overpriced for an estate sale.
Yeah most of that is probably priced to high on my opinion as well, clear sign they're probably clueless in what they're doing but that means there could be a great opportunity to purchase some sleepers in places like that as well. Best of luck on the hunt!
@@thebookpeddler Yes! You stated it perfectly. I bought a book at an estate sale on the last day so everything was priced nicely. Got You Are Only Human Once by Grace Moore - Signed by her in 1944. She was a famous Opera singer back in the 30’s.
Hey Phil. Thanks for the gold here. I both scan barcodes and look with my eye for older gems, like you do, and find that it’s the best of both worlds. Always a lot to learn about what is good to sell, but I find the scanner helps me train my “eye scanner” as well. When something dings, I always take some time to register what it is, and I try to take that information to the older books as well. I also research no barcode books on google before I pay for them most of the time. Do you also check up on books before you buy at all?
Also, can you make a video about how you handle pricing and repricing? I would be curious to see how you price for the store vs online. How often do you reevaluate the market and change you prices, if ever? I assume you don’t use a repricer.
Really appreciate your videos and perspective since you’re an Ebay/physical guy who focuses a lot on older books. It’s a different model than mine, but your vids have inspired me to look for other things, like stuff that can be sold as lots on Ebay, magazines/ephemera, and really taking a hard look on most books without a barcode to see if it could be a gem.
I could definitely try and make a video on how I go about my pricing, it does vary a bit, I'll try and write something out so I thoroughly cover it and put my thoughts out there.
I used to scan and sell amazon fba and duplicated a scalable model, there were a number of reasons why I got completely off of it but that's for another time.
I don't try and knock scanners, many do far more sales than me, they remind me of what I read in a book not to long ago about book scouts and how the scout didn't need to know anymore than what was desirable to sell, the minutia of the author, the relevance and impact of a work etc. Didn't matter as much to them, they knew if they bought it right they could make the flip and expect a nice return. Scanners just made it easier and should be taken advantage of.
I never used a repricer and I have some thoughts about them that I definitely will address in the video.
There's a course that a very successful book seller makes his employees take on recognizing a valuable book when out in the field or in his ware house. If I dig it up I'll send it to you, I can't fully vouch for it because I haven't taken it but if this guy I know is recommending it, I'm sure it's worth it's weight in gold.
Not to sound like a "know it all", because I'm not, but I don't really need to look up books before I buy and most of the time I can't. Its become instinctual on some level. As long as it's bought right it's hard to go wrong and when you buy large lots you can nearly judge a portion of the lot to know what to pay for the entirety. Usually in a 50 box lot I can look through 10 boxes and already have a good idea of what I should pay. I'm a nut job and like going through most of them which I have to stop doing because it takes up time but usually that number I have in my head after I go through a bunch ends up being the offer. Maybe it's the same for you with scanning? After you scan a certain portion on a lot you can determine it (?) and if you have an outlet for the ones you wouldn't put on the market all the better.
The strong points on ebay is being able to lot books, magazines, ephemera together, book lots sell great on ebay for me. Also the collectable and rarer books or vintage etc. I like to list there because you can write a proper condition description and the buyer can see for themselves 12 pictures and angles of the book so they know exactly what they're getting, I never have to deal with returns because they know exactly what they're getting.
Sorry this message was so long but hope it was worth it for ya! Can only click in so much and hope it wasn't too much!
Btw, I don't believe there is ultimately a quick way all the time to learn every detail, some trial and error and trust your gut instincts. The more you handle particular material the more you'll learn, there'sno substitute for that. And if you muck up so what you'll learn, you'll make the money back and gain in knowledge.. Have a good one brother, glad you're enjoying the content.
Thanks! Took notes. If you ever remember what that course is, I’d be very curious. Also if you ever make that pricing video happen, I’m sure everyone will enjoy it!
👋🏽📚
Hello KateyReads! 😁👋
It is never worth looking at each piece of ephemera if you know what you are doing. I look at the top few, a middle few and the bottom few in case they staged it to look better than it was. Then I check the price, if it looks good I take it all home. So much money to be made there. :-)
That's exactly what I do! I should have asked people to leave their tips as to how they approach so thanks for commenting this!