You may worry that an unscrupulous dealer will use their superior knowledge to undercut you. But in fact, as a great amount of business is done via word-of-mouth in the trade, offering a reasonable price is in the dealer’s interest as it will help to preserve their reputation and also encourage people to bring more books to them. Unlike at auctions, dealers are happy to buy books on any day of the week. If you want to dispose of books quickly and without fuss, going to a dealer is an excellent option. As Frew says, “To sell a book on one’s own you have to be in command of the language of book description. It is laborious, time consuming and not totally successful – you won’t always sell all your books. If you sell to a dealer he’s more likely to take all your books.”

To sell a book on one’s own you have to be in command of the language of book description. It is laborious,time consuming and not totally successful

relationship. Get into a seller’s good books, pay attention to the market, see which dealers are buying books at auction.” In order to ensure that you are getting a fair price he recommends that you go along to the auctions and fairs. “Fairs are a very good way of getting an overview because you can get to see a lot of dealers all under one roof. You get an idea of how the trade is actually functioning, the different levels of it.”

THE INTERNET

The internet has revolutionised book selling and sites such as e-Bay have helped to open up the market to the novice. With a digital camera and little knowledge of computers and the

web, a UK seller on e-Bay has access to a staggering 11.5 million potential customers. Specialist book websites facilitate many tens of thousands of books sales each day. The value of books sold in 2005 on Abebooks was more than $150 million. Sadly, although such figures suggest a potential goldmine, these sites are probably not the best place for a beginner to start selling. Indeed the major sites such as Abebooks and Biblio.com actively discourage private individuals from uploading their books by charging subscriptions or listing fees. Abebooks charge booksellers a monthly subscription fee of £17 to list up to 500 books, and commissions of eight per cent on each book sold. Biblio.com offer sellers a choice: either a flat commission of 15 per cent with no listing fees, or a small listing fee and seven and half per cent on each sale. They do this to ensure that the

As with the long established auction houses, the best dealers are steeped in book history and have decades of knowledge and trade know-how. “Most firms have been in operation for a long time,” says Frew. “They’ve done their apprenticeships, these are solid and knowledgeable people who understand books well.” If you intend to sell books regularly then building a good relationship with a sympathetic dealer is key. It is important to do your research: check them out in one of the trade titles such as the Antiques Trade Gazette, look at the adverts in Rare, and also online to suss out a dealer’s prices and stock, and most crucially whether they belong to one of the book selling associations – the ABA or PBFA in the UK, the ABAA in the US, for example. All member dealers have codes of practice and also guarantee right of return if books are poorly described or fakes. According to Julian MacKenzie at Shapero Books, you’ll get the best results if you build up a trusting relationship. “The thing about coming to dealers is that you’ve got to know who you are dealing with,” he says. “You can’t take a rare book to any old dealer and expect them to make an offer. You need to work with dealers, get to know them and establish a

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