I thought I’d do a quick post in response to a comment from Malcolm of Dropped In on one of our recent posts…

He said that he sold a lot of books and cds on Amazon. I have sold a number of books and household items on eBay and also on Craigslist but have been struggling as to the best way to handle some of the things we own. And of course, get the most money. I could do an estate sale when we are ready to move, but they take a commission and I’m not sure it would be the best in our rural location.

So, here goes:

Books – we have many hundreds of books. I don’t know how many. A lot of mine are first editions – I collect mysteries (Grafton, Lockridge, Hillerman, AE Maxwell, Ed McBain, Earl Emerson, Robert Campbell, Lia Matera, Marcia Muller.) The Lockridges are from the 40’s and 50’s and have wonderful campy covers and are worth some money. There are also many more regular books and paperbacks…that have minimal value. I guess those go to the garage sale.

I also have a number of first edition Yeats and Cather, among others. I’ve been in contact with a bunch of antiquarian booksellers, posted pictures, etc. and they have expressed interest but would like to see them in person. Maybe a trip to San Francisco is in order? I could put them on Abe Books but then I’m stuck with the price I put on them – or if I did use eBay I might not have the right people looking and sell too low.

Furniture – We have number of pieces of antique furniture that I should make arrangements with an auction house in Seattle to sell.

Art - We plan on bringing most of our artwork to Mexico, but there are about four pieces that we plan on selling. These will probably go to the auction house.

CDs – As you saw in previous posts, I have about 350 cds to dispose of. Malcolm sold his on Amazon. I did a quick look this morning on a small pile of them and they were worth from $2 to $40. Mostly in the $4-$8 range. How long will it take me to put them on Amazon and mess around with the mailing, etc? I have to decide if this will be time well spent or not.

Aaaugh! And this is just to get us to the point where we can stage the house!