Flipper/Rehabber · Rahway, NJ · Member since 2017 · 137 posts · 123 votes
Hello BP,
I am in contract with a house in Red Bank, New Jersey and supposed to close this week. I told the seller to leave behind anything she didn't want and I would take care of all the cleanup.
She ended up leaving behind all her books (roughly 2,000 if I had to estimate).
I tried calling a bunch of places to donate them but I'm not having much luck. Some charities will only take up to 2 boxes but there are hundreds of boxes. Does anyone have any suggestions or know of any charities or companies that will take this many books?
I would post it on Craigslist under the FREE section. I see people all the time scoop up free stuff, then sell it at flea markets to make extra money. Let them dig through what's good and what's not.
Whatever you do don't buy out a small bookstore with the intent to donate them to local schools and libraries. If you do however do that make sure not to have them unloaded in your parking spot in the garage. If you also do that well I think you get the idea......it sounded like such a great plan help the schools help the libraries not my best charitable effort lol
Agree with @Dawn Anastasi. I actually found a number of semi-collectible items in various houses. I did not have time to market any of it online for money and since I always try to get the rehabs done as quickly as possible I just post ads on Craigslist saying "Please come take it. Free. If you don't want it I'll need to throw it away." This works. People will email you and come get it. A while back I made the mistake of actually keeping some semi-collectible items at my place thinking "Oh, I'll sell this stuff someday." Before I knew it I had accumulated a lot of boxes of junk. Ugh.
There are a few smart phone apps where you can sell books based on ISBN Number (there are also websites)
Contact local used book stores
Contact a local University Library (they would be more interested if it's a collection specific to topic...as an example, the University of Denver has the largest cook book collection in the West - and they aren't a culinary school)
Contact a local Public Library
Offer to sell them all at once on eBay (local pickup required)
I heard of a non-profit recently that sends books to prisons US-wide. I cannot remember the name of it, but there may be something in your area that does the same?
I wrote off almost $10k on my taxes last year in legitimate charitable donations from things abandoned in my properties. It'd be a shame not to turn those books into a financial benefit.
I recognize what you really need is to identify where to actually take the things. But, if it's worth $3500 in tax savings, maybe it's worth someone's time to rent a UHaul and drive them to wherever they need to be taken.
There are a ton of hustlers who scan books with Amazon app or other and ship them into Amazon to be sold for profit. There is a guy out here who goes by Reezy Resells I think (saw some of his social media stuff) and he has a bunch of connected people who would probably take the whole lot for a bulk price.
Would defnitely consider selling these on Ebay or Amazon. It might take a little work but it's free money and the experience you gain from selling on Ebay/Amazon may lead you to enjoy the ecommerce business.