Many people have been downsizing and decluttering their homes during the lockdowns. Like a lot of people, you may have a number of books that you have read and no longer want to keep. If you’re finding that you’re running out of shelf space, here are some options for you where you can move on your books…

1) Sell Your Books Online.

You can try to sell your books yourself online through sites like Ebay or Amazon. However, it is a lengthy process listing dozens of books and describing their condition, and it may take some time before they actually sell. You also have to sort out the postage yourself and deal with any unhappy customers. If you have the time and patience then selling your books online is definitely an option.

2) Sell Your Books To A Second-hand Bookshop.

There are numerous Second-hand, Independent Bookshops up and down the country who will buy your books from you as long as they have the space and the books are in good condition. It is best to ring a bookshop first and arrange an appointment for you to bring your books to the shop or for the owner to come to you (if you have hundreds of books). Usually the owner or staff will look through your books and make you an offer on what they can take, which you can either accept or decline. It’s a quick and easy way to get rid of a lot of books in one go, and you’ll make more money from it than selling your books to mega-online book buyers. You’re also helping the local community by keeping an independent bookshop open and well stocked.

3) Sell To A Mega-Online Book Site.

There are quite a few mega-book buying sites like, zifit or webuybooks, you just scan the barcode on your books and they will offer you a price per book. If you accept their offer, they will send you a pre-paid postage label for you to send your books in a box, then once they receive your books they will pay you (assuming they’re happy with your books). It’s great for getting rid of a lot of books in one go, the downside is that you’ll be lucky if you’re offered more than 5p per book.

4) Give Your Books To Charity.

You can donate your books to charity, though you won’t receive anything in return, just the good feeling that you’ve done something good for the world. The downside is, a lot of charity shops are inundated with books, and when they have too many books, they get rid of the extra stock. Either by binning them or by giving them away to mega-online resellers that you will see on Amazon with thousands of listings and reviews. Great for Amazon, not so great for independent bookshops.

5) Repurpose Your Books.

Sadly, some books just can’t be moved on, either because they are in poor condition, or because they’ve had their day and no one wants to buy them anymore. Hundreds of thousands of books are binned every year, but if you’re a creative person like me, you could make some cute paper crafts out of your old books. Just search ‘book paper craft ideas’ online and you will see hundreds of cool ideas.