We encourage you not to judge a book by its cover – books still have value in new condition.
New books can sell for crazy prices. There is no rhyme or reason but we have seen a copy of a book in new condition sell for $145 while the same book in very good condition sells for 3.99
Main guidelines
- Books MUST appear in NEW condition. Damaged books are not entered into our inventory. See damage examples below
- Books MUST be wholesome. We are unashamedly Christian. If you wouldn’t tell your pastor about a book you’re reading, don’t send it to us.
What does NEW mean?
- Stickers on the outside of the books are fine. We are pretty good at getting those off without damaging the book.
- No lose spines or pages.
- Hardcovers which should have a dust jacket have a jacket which is free of wrinkles, tears, and stains.
- Paperbacks have no visual creases in the spine.
- Internal pages are free of all writing, highlighting, stains, dogears, tears etc or heavy yellowing.
- There are no nameplates, names, or dedications written in side the book. Autographs from the author with out a personal dedication are permitted.
- Books do NOT have remainder marks (usually a ink mark appearing as a dot or a swipe on the edge of the pages)
- Books should contain all parts (ie if a cd/dvd/promotion is included it should be intact and unused – CDs/DVDs must be sealed in plastic and promotion or online codes must be unused)
- no mold or mildew
- workbooks are ok as long as they are not filled out with writing.
- Coloring books, promotional books, books marked NOT FOR RESALE, are not permitted.
Oversized Books
Books which are over-sized (like an Atlas or coffee table book) are cost prohibitive to ship and should not be donated. However, if you have them, use our contact form and send us the isbn (inside of cover on the copyright page) or the EAN (the 978-) barcode number below the barcode on the back of the book and we will let you know for sure.
Other Book Sizes
There is a sweet spot for shipping books. Our sweet spot are books which are what we call 961 books – 9 inches high, 6 inches wide, 1 inch thick. This is just a rule of thumb but books of this size are relatively cheap to ship and we can actually make money for our beneficiaries on shipping fees.
Books that Don’t sell Well
- Chicken Soup series
- Billy Graham books
- Outdated books (ie Microsoft Excel 2008)
- Any book you would consider to be unwholesome
- Promotional inserts/books (Dolly Parton books sell VERY WELL)
- Newspaper inserts
- Computer/Programming books with missing CDs/DVDs or publication dates older than 3 years ago.
- Instruction manuals and inserts
- Dictionaries
- Scholastic books less than 50 pages
Books that Sell Very Well
- Books on the Amazon Best Seller list (updates hourly – remember any book which is wholesome is acceptable)
- Technical / Computer books – recently published with unsealed CDs/DVDs
- “Dummies” books
- Reference books
- Children books
- History
- Cookbooks
- Home design/plan and improvement
- Christian / Inspirational / spiritual
- Diet and exercise
- Self Help
- Just get books in new condition and let us make the call.
The system works when the guidelines are followed. Help us grow. Your donated books are humbly appreciated.