>User Profile > alsoldbooks > All-About-Me

I am not a professional book dealer. I am simply a retired honest grandfather, with 5 children and 9 grandchildren, selling part of my family's eclectic collection of books, postcards and pre-stamp postal covers. They are being sold with the ethos of finding a happy new home for an item that would otherwise be wasting its life lying on my shelves, or sitting in a box in my cousin's garage, whilst he wastes heat keeping it warm. I have been selling books on line for less than a year on another site and have very good feedback.

I know nothing about collecting or selling postcards, so I have asked advice on eBid forums. My shop selling postcards is based mainly on the advice received on these forums.

I opened my bookshop, initially with just a few books. I have now closed my shop on the other side so my listing should get faster. I have about 10,000 books to sell; most are pre-1970, some go back to 1870 or even before. Many are in German; religious, classics and fiction. The English books are primarily history and historical biography, plus photography and many other subjects. All will be of interest to someone. I would welcome an email to ask for subjects or authors you are seeking, as this exercise with previous enquirers on another site has helped me decide which books to list next, and has uncovered books that people have been seeking for ages.

 I will try next to open a pre-stamp postal cover shop. Again I have no knowledge of the subject and will depend upon advice from forum members. 

I do have some experience with books and pricing, having been an auctioneer in a real time auction room in one of my previous lives. I compare prices on auction sites and professional booksellers sites, take book condition into consideration and then try to give the best value, including carriage.

I always charge £1 per consignment for packing materials and driving to the post office. I never charge the £1 on any additional books bought at the same time. Recently I sold 12 books for £19.98, packed them in a box for £1 packing & carriage, added the post office fee of £9.30 for 6 kg. That's a lot of interesting reading for £30.28, average £2.50 per book delivered, and one was £7.50, another £5.00, pretty good if you live on a remote island; as my buyer did. Yes! The internet has its benefits.

Seller - Steven Hunt, 18, Wind Hill, TN27 0BD - email  stevenhunt at talktalk dot net