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Sourcing Books at Estate Sales and Reselling on Ebay

Hello Readers! In my absence from the site, I’ve been busy exploring a particular flavor of side hustle. This has morphed from a momentary curiosity into something fascinating, profitable, and frickin’ FUN. I’m talking about reselling.

That’s kind of a gross word, I know, lol. Whenever I hear it, I imagine a slimy looking fellow with sunglasses and a large open trench coat full of knockoff watches and other junk trinkets for sale. But regardless of the negative connotations, if you’ve ever walked into a used record store or bookstore, places most people would agree can be pretty cool, you’ve entered the domain of a reseller. Buy low, sell high. It’s a time honored business model that’s alive and well today more than ever.

Reselling Online

Now I know this is a new topic for the website. But ever since I read The Millionaire Fastlane by M.J. DeMarco and a couple books by Chris Guillabeau a few years back, I’ve been interested in the idea of the side hustle/self-owned business. For the past three months or so I’ve been sourcing books and selling them on eBay. I don’t know much about selling on Amazon, but that could be a viable option for you as well.

This does not mean that the website is turning into a site all about reselling or about side hustles. However, the side hustle, financial freedom, and financial success is an area I’d like to address, if only in my own small way. Many of us would benefit from more money in our pockets each month. And being financially savvy, healthy, and successful is part of being a well-rounded optimized human.

If you’ve considered a reselling business as a side hustle, or are just curious about the concept, this one’s for you. This article is going to be focused on sourcing, that is finding stuff out in the wild to sell, specifically at Estate Sales. My own chosen niche is books, but much of the following article could be adapted and applied towards other items or niches. With that in mind, let’s get into it.

Out In The Wild- Estate Sales 101

Estate sales are amazing places to find almost anything. If you’ve never been to one, usually the estate is the home of someone who has (sadly) passed away. The family hires an estate sale company to help them sell off their belongings because it’s a whole house worth of stuff and in most cases they don’t know what else to do with it. All the sales are different, but in many cases there will be high quality items that have been gently used at oftentimes rock-bottom prices.

Whether your area of interest is art, mid-century furniture, skateboards, comic books, vintage glassware, gun parts or almost anything else, you can probably source some good finds at an estate sale. So as you make your way through the article, just keep in mind that as I talk about books, you can apply many of these same concepts to other items.

I like selling books primarily because I like books themselves and reading. So with that inherent interest I have some knowledge already. My first piece of advice is to go after something of interest to YOU. Books might work for you, but if that thought bores you to tears, pick something else. You’ll be spending significant time looking for finds and listing them, so you should have some authentic interest.

In my opinion, the absolute best place to source books for resale is at estate sales. You can also try thrift stores, garage sales, and library sales, but estate sales are better overall.

If you’re new to estate sales, the first thing you’ll want to do is download the estatesales.net app. The website has its uses as well, but the app is more convenient for most things and when you’re out and on the go it’s much easier to navigate. Once you’ve done that and searched up sales in your area, you need to pay attention to the 4 sections sandwiched under the sale dates and above the pictures. Here you’ll find the location of the sale, the Description/Terms/Directions, contact info for the estate sale company, and finally there’s a section where you can pull up any notes you’ve made on specific pictures.

This section is so critical because the details of the sale vary with each estate sale company and sometimes vary with each sale, even under the same company. Some allow all manner of payments to include credit cards and a variety of payment apps like apple cash, venmo, and cash app. Some are cash only. You don’t want to show up 2 hours early to a sale just to find out you can’t pay for the items you’ve chosen. This info section will also tell you if there’s a sign up sheet. Sometimes it’s available an hour before the sale, sometimes it’s online, and sometimes there is no sign up sheet. Directions on parking, whether it’s a gated community, etc. will appear here. Long story short, MAKE SURE YOU CHECK THE DETAILS.

Now that that’s out of the way, you’ll recall I said that estate sales are the best place to source items, especially books. Here’s why-

Better Research

You really don’t know what you’re going to get when you roll up to a library or garage sale. But with estate sales, depending on the pictures available, you can do a bit of research before the sale. You can often see the spines of books in pictures and that will give you a better idea of what to expect at the sale and if it’s worth your time at all. Go ahead and look up a few of the more interesting sounding titles on eBay.

Don’t just look at current listings, but use the filters to check past sold listings. This will let you know what people are actually willing to pay for an item. Even if the pictures aren’t so good, you can usually tell enough to get a feel of things. Are the books shelved nicely in bookcases or stacked haphazardly all over the room? Does it seem like the collection is more fiction, only non-fiction, or a mix? How does the condition of the books look?

Quality + Volume

While library sales often take the prize on sheer volume, some people keep huge home libraries. Some people straight up hoard books. And if you find the magic combination of someone who hoards books and they happened to collect a certain type of desirable book (particular genre, antiquarian books, valuable non-fiction books, etc) you may have hit the jackpot. In fact, sometimes the collections are so good and so large that you don’t need to worry as much about showing up early as there is plenty to go around for everyone.

Frequency

Where estate sales really top library sales is in frequency. Library sales can be truly huge Superbowl level events for a bookseller, but the bigger, better ones only occur every so often. Estate sales happen every week. It might happen that you find good estate sales don’t happen that often in your area, but even a not so good estate sale sometimes has potential. I’ve found really good gems in collections that they didn’t seem to belong to. This is one of the fun aspects of treasure hunting at an estate sale. You never know what you’re going to find and if you’re willing to look, you might find a diamond while sifting through a sea of useless junk.

Get in There and Compete

There was a time when I first started going to estate sales that I used to get pissed at resellers. The idea that one of them could score the exact book I wanted, not care at all about the content or literary merit, and then turn around and sell it for $100 when I wanted to buy it for $3 was maddening. But eventually, instead of continuing to be frustrated at missing out, I just decided to get in there and play by their rules. And that’s my answer for any out there who might also be frustrated. Whether you are going to a sale to get something for your own collection or to source something to resell, you have to get in there and compete.

If there’s something highly collectible or desirable at a sale you’re going to, you can bet that others want it too. It doesn’t matter why they want it. That is irrelevant and you shouldn’t get hung up on it. If it’s important to you then you need to best position to yourself to get it. That includes checking the details of the sale, so you find out about sign up and it may include going early to the sale. How early?? Well, how bad do you want it? Don’t expect to show up to a sale one hour before start time and expect to score a highly desirable item. If you decide you’re willing to go really early to get it, you just have to make your best guess as to how early is early enough. I can almost guarantee you that the first few people in line will be resellers who show up super early like it’s their job because it is. If you want to win, you have to beat them at their own game.

Look for Indicators

Okay, now you’re in the sale. You’ve already done your homework and grabbed the most desirable things you were able to research. What about other things you spot in real time? Well, like a lot of things, learning about which books are desirable or valuable, is a process that you get better and better at through experience. Each new sale is an opportunity to learn. You’ll see things you haven’t seen before, look them up online, maybe learn from others and over time your instincts get better honed. However, there are some signs you can look for that may lead you in the right direction.

While waiting in line at one sale, an acquaintance that is former Army mentioned the concept of indicators. I think there is a way to apply that to books. Indicators are signs that may tip you off to the fact that a book is valuable or at least, may potentially have value. If a book displays one of these signs it bears further scrutiny. Usually at a sale, if I see a book with one of these signs, even if I don’t recognize the title or even the author, I will pull it and look it up.

Signs That a Book Has Value (or Potential Value)

Mylar Jackets. That’s those plasticy-looking coverings that libraries often use, although you can buy your own to protect books in your collection. If the book is rare enough, even an ex-library book can be valuable, but if I see a book in a mylar jacket with NO signs of it being ex-library (no stamps, no little card pocket) then I get excited. Why would someone cover a book in a mylar jacket? This is collector behavior. A lot of times it is because it’s a first edition, or maybe it’s signed, or is otherwise valuable. Pick it up and look it over.

Slipcovers or slipcases. These are the little cardboard boxes that special editions of books come in sometimes. Again, this is not a guarantee of value, but is an indicator that this book bears further scrutiny. If the slipcase itself is covered in cloth or leather that’s even better. Really nice reissue companies like The Folio Society often issue slipcases with their books.

Really nice bindings. Books with bindings that have nice extras are ones to watch out for as well. This is especially true of older, antiquarian books that were published before, say 1920 or so. Caveat here- antiquarian books are by no means my specialty, but I am always trying to learn more about them. Some things to look out for are all cloth-covered books, leather-bound, or even just faux-leather bound. Decorative boards, marbled boards (that fancy swirl pattern) or spines with raised bands can be indicators of quality and value as well.

Look Thoroughly

At estate sales, especially if there are a lot of books (or items) people will go for the obvious stuff first and then move on to another room without looking thoroughly through everything. Make sure you look high if there are high shelves or cabinets. And especially look low. People are reluctant to squat down and dig through items. I have found many worthwhile things while looking low. Always look behind a row of books on a shelf to see if there are additional books behind. This is referred to as “double-shelving” and there are often gems hiding behind that first row.

Once you’ve looked through a room or even once you’ve been through the whole house, go and look again. You’ll spot things you missed the first time. I once went back to the most obvious bookcase in the house, one that I and all the book people had already been through. I found a nice set of books that looked like it was priced at $75, which is why everyone passed on it. But when I looked closer, it was actually priced at $22. I bought it and later sold it for $225. At another sale, after going through all the rooms and as I was just about to check out, I found a $300 book sitting on a shelf that wasn’t even in the pictures advertised for the sale. Look thoroughly.

At the End

These bits of advice will hopefully help you at the next estate sale you attend. Sourcing items is just one aspect of reselling, albeit the most enjoyable for most sellers. If you have questions or are interested in other aspects of reselling (listing, pricing, shipping, etc.) I can cover those in another article or articles, so just let me know if that interests you.

I should state that I haven’t been doing this reselling thing for very long, but have definitely found enough success doing it that I for sure plan to continue for as long as it’s enjoyable and profitable. Maybe that’s a good thing for you all to know as well, is that it doesn’t take all that much effort or money to get started. The barrier to entry is very low, and if you’re smart about what stock you buy (don’t pay for than $5 or so for a book) then the risk to just give it a shot is also low. Good luck out there!

Next up, we’ll get back to one of the foundational areas of the site- The Dark Knight, and more specifically, his physical training. Thanks for reading 🤘.