How to sell secondhand books in South Africa
A practical guide for beginners and struggling sellers.
Thinking about starting a small secondhand bookselling business?
You don’t need a shop or a huge warehouse to get started. But there is a big difference between selling a few unwanted books and building a business that generates regular sales.
The basics are simple: find good stock, price it sensibly, describe it accurately and make it easy for buyers to find.
Where can you sell secondhand books in South Africa?
You have several options, and you don’t have to stick to just one.
- Dedicated book marketplaces, such as Bookle
- General marketplaces, such as Bob Shop
- Facebook Marketplace
- Facebook groups
- WhatsApp, particularly if you already have an audience
- Your own website or online shop
- Physical markets, fairs and community sales
Online marketplaces can make it easier for people who are already looking for books to find you. Social media can be useful for building an audience and bringing attention to particular books.
How many books do you need to have in stock?
Don’t expect regular sales from a shelf of 20 or 30 books. That’s not enough choice for most online buyers. Even 100 books is still a relatively small selection; some books will sell quickly while others may sit for months.
There is no magic number where sales suddenly become consistent. It depends on what you’re selling, how desirable the books are, your prices, how easy it is to find your books online and how often you add new stock.
The important thing is to keep building your stock and learning what your buyers actually want.
How do you build a good inventory?
Finding books cheaply isn’t enough. You want books that people will actually want to buy.
Good places to source stock can include:
- Charity and hospice shops
- Estate sales and house clear-outs
- Community and school sales
- Facebook Marketplace
- Private sellers clearing books
- Bulk book collections
- School or university clear-outs
Pay attention to what sells. If certain authors, subjects or types of books consistently move, look for more of them.
Don’t buy a large collection simply because the price per book looks cheap. A cheap book that never sells is still money tied up in stock.
What secondhand books sell well?
There is no single list of guaranteed sellers, but some categories tend to have a reliable audience:
- Popular fiction and bestselling authors
- Children’s books and popular series
- Afrikaans books
- Christian books
- Educational and academic books
- Popular book series
- Collectable, unusual or harder-to-find titles
Demand also changes over time. A book that sells quickly in one market may sit for months in another.
That’s why your own sales history becomes valuable. It tells you what to look for when you’re sourcing your next batch of books.
How much should you charge for a secondhand book?
Don’t base your price only on what you paid for the book.
Look at:
- The book’s condition
- Edition and publication details
- Whether it is still in demand
- What similar copies are selling for
- Your selling fees and other costs
- What profit you need to make
A book that cost R10 isn’t automatically a good buy if you can only sell it for R15 after all your costs.
Your aim isn’t simply to sell books. It’s to sell them at a price that makes the business worthwhile.
Why does condition matter?
Buyers need to know exactly what they’re getting.
Be honest about things such as:
- Writing or highlighting
- Names written inside the book
- Torn or missing pages
- Creased covers
- Damaged or loose spines
- Water damage or stains
- Foxing
- Library markings
- Damaged or missing dust jackets
A lower-condition book can still sell. The problem is when the condition isn’t accurately described.
How do photographs and listings help you sell?
For secondhand books, the buyer is usually buying that particular copy, not simply the title.
Use photographs of the actual book and, where relevant, show the:
- Front cover
- Back cover
- Spine
- Page edges
- Any significant damage or markings
Your listing should clearly give the buyer the information they need, including the title, author, condition, edition, series or volume number, ISBN where relevant, and any important flaws. This also gives search engines useful information about the book.
A vague description such as “Great book in good condition” doesn’t tell a buyer very much.
How do you keep your inventory organised?
You need to know what you have, where it is and what happened to it.
A simple spreadsheet can be enough when you’re starting out. Keep track of things such as:
- Book title and author
- Purchase cost
- Selling price
- Where the book is stored
- Where it is listed
- Date sold
If you sell on more than one platform, keeping stock numbers up to date becomes especially important. Selling a book you no longer have is an easy way to create an unhappy customer.
Should you sell books in bundles?
Sometimes.
Bundles can work particularly well for:
- Book series
- Books by the same author
- Children’s books
- Books around a particular subject
- Lower-priced books that may not be worthwhile to ship individually
A bundle should make sense to the buyer. Don’t simply put slow-moving books together and hope someone takes them off your hands.
What about shipping?
Books need to arrive in the condition in which they were sold.
Protect them against crushed corners, bent covers and moisture, and make sure your packaging costs and time are included when you’re working out whether a sale is profitable.
Shipping can also influence what people buy. A buyer may be more willing to purchase several books from the same seller if they can combine them into one parcel.
Can you make a business from selling books?
Yes, but it takes time.
A bookselling business isn’t built by listing a few books and waiting for them all to sell. It involves continuously sourcing stock, pricing it, listing it, keeping it organised and learning from your sales.
Some books will sell quickly. Others may take months. Some may never sell at the price you originally wanted.
The businesses that grow are the ones that pay attention to those patterns and use them when buying and pricing their next stock.
What mistakes should new booksellers avoid?
A few common ones:
- Buying books simply because they’re cheap
- Starting with too little stock and expecting constant sales
- Buying far more stock than you can manage
- Pricing based only on what you paid
- Overlooking condition problems
- Using poor or misleading photographs
- Writing vague listings
- Forgetting to keep stock records
- Ignoring how buyers actually search for books
Start small, but think like a bookseller
You don’t need hundreds of books sitting in your house on day one.
Start with stock you can manage, learn what sells and reinvest in the books that make sense for your business.
The goal isn’t to sell every book quickly. It’s to build an inventory that gives buyers a reason to keep looking, while giving you a better understanding of what is worth sourcing, listing and selling.
That’s how a few books can gradually become a proper secondhand bookselling business.
Final thoughts
Selling secondhand books in South Africa is not a quick-income system. It is a structured retail model that rewards consistency, better sourcing, and smarter pricing decisions over time.
Successful sellers are those who:
- Understand demand
- Source carefully
- Price realistically
- Deliver good service
- Stay consistent
- Improve their systems continuously
Start with what you can manage. Pay attention to what sells. Let your business grow from there.