Selling stuff on sites like Music Magpie

[Icehaven]

I've got a load of books, some CDs and a few DVDs I want rid of before we move. I've hauled them around the West Midlands across 7 different moves for the last 17 years and have finally accepted I'm probably never going to use or even pick up about 90% of them again and they are in fact a giant ballache so I've been looking at using one of these quick sale sites like Music Magpie just to get a few quid for them.

I'm not expecting much, but even £20-30 would be better than having to box them up and move them again but I'm a bit concerned about the T&Cs around their 'quality assessment'. Seemingly you use the app to value your stuff, then send or have it picked up for free and they decide whether or not it's in good enough condition for them to pay you, but if they decide not they don't return anything due to the "sheer volume of items they receive", so you've effectively given it to them for nothing, and what happens to it then (landfill, Amazon for £00.01p) is up to them. The only exception is individual items worth more than £15, but there can't be much like that they decide they don't want, given most of their stock will be old CD albums and paperbacks worth about 17p.

The cynic in me can't help but expect an awful lot of things are going to mysteriously fail their quality assessment, and I'd imagine you don't have a lot of recourse given they've got your stuff and you've already agreed they don't have to send it back to you if it doesn't meet their self-set criteria. Has anyone used these and had good/bad experiences with them? I can't even give the stuff to charity shops as all the ones near me have signs out begging people to stop leaving donations as they can't take anymore, and without being too mercenary I could do with the cash even if it's only a few tenners.

[bgmnts]

I've done it twice and they've been very fair with me, to give them credit. Only one out of like 30 items was rejected and I got a good price.

[I.D. Smith]

Is that how it works, with regards to no returns? You effectively give them the stuff for free and hope they pay you something for it? If so I'm kind of glad I never used themself years ago when considering pawning off loads of my old CDs for a bit of extra cash whilst unemployed

[Operty1]

I have used webuybooks.co.uk on many occasions and they have given me decent prices, plus i think they are doing home collection over a certain amount which really helps if you can't shift many boxes around easily.

Whichever you choose, before submitting, i would look on their twitter to see if they are doing a promo code, they sometimes put these up and it adds another 10-15% on final offer.

[Operty1]

Regarding returns, if anything is rejected i believe they will return it to you but it costs you from what they are offering.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I'd probably just dump them with a charity shop because it's easier and they money they give is a paltry amount.

I don't think their QC is very thorough, I bought used cd's for pennies off amazon marketplace that have come from music magpie and had the right artist, but the wrong album in the case.

[Icehaven]

Is that how it works, with regards to no returns? You effectively give them the stuff for free and hope they pay you something for it? If so I'm kind of glad I never used themself years ago when considering pawning off loads of my old CDs for a bit of extra cash whilst unemployed

On Music Magpie's site it says they can't return anything that fails the quality assessment because they receive so much stuff (presumably a lot of it in crap condition).
I get that they have to have some policy in place for when they get sent damaged things but it just concerned me that I'd send a hundred books and half of them wouldn't make the grade, but it sounds like they're a bit fairer than that. 

[Icehaven]

Regarding returns, if anything is rejected i believe they will return it to you but it costs you from what they are offering.

That sounds a bit better than MM's no returns policy, might try them instead cheers.

[Operty1]

That sounds a bit better than MM's no returns policy, might try them instead cheers.

Just looked at the site and they are offering an extra 10% so if you have a lot of stuff it might be worth doing. I got rid of a ton of books mostly graphic novels and text books, and was quite surprised at the return on some of them.

[bgmnts]

I wouuld recommend Ziffit by the way.

[Operty1]

I wouuld recommend Ziffit by the way.

icehaven - just wanted to say that i'm a big Daniel Clowes fan, and though i don't know, nor have i ever met the man, but i think he would nod his pencil towards We Buy Books... i think he would think Ziffit to be a bit... show-offey.

[Icehaven]

I wouuld recommend Ziffit by the way.

Just tried the few test items I tried on MM and Ziffit offered roughly twice for all of them!

[Operty1]

i Hate Daniel Clowes!

[Icehaven]

i Hate Daniel Clowes!

Me too now, it just valued my copy of David Boring for a whopping 80p (not that I'd sell it, I'm just using a few books I have to hand as an example.)

[Hand Solo]

PROTIP: If you're worried about the condition any of your CDs or books being a bit tatty and not getting the full 58p or whatever the app offers you before posting, do what I did and hide a £10 or £20 pound note inside to bribe the quality control supervisor.

[Mr_Simnock]

Just had a quick go on the ziffi site, it offered my £4 for the Taschen 'Book of Symbols' but only 59p for Shadows of the State (Lewis Bush). I have no idea how it came to those evaluations but I would double check a lot of my books before selling them on, 59p for shadows of the state is bonkers, try finding your own copy for less than £50.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Some of these sites live and die on reputation and word of mouth referrals so I would expect a baseline mediocrity at the very least, from any sector where there's at least some competition.

[robhug]

If the app says somethings worth £5+ don't send them that as it'll be worth at least 5x

[Colin Sanction]

If the app says somethings worth £5+ don't send them that as it'll be worth at least 5x

Just pasted the ISBN13 barcode for Julian Cope's The Modern Antiquarian & Krautrocksampler and it's offering me £6 each. Tried KLF's The Manual and it's offering me £6.

ziff off

[Hand Solo]

I don't quite understand what algorithm it uses to price stuff, surely it's based on aggregate data collected from similar items sold on various other apps/websites with an obvious markup going to the resellers?

I've had several rare books I've wanted to sell for years that have showed up over £500 on Amazon or Abebooks in the past, but I've put them on ebay for much less and they don't sell showing though they're listed at that price doesn't mean the market is dictating the price. Unfortunately the one I have close at hand is hardcover and has no barcode on it, the others are in a box in a cupboard somewhere so I can see what ridiculous prices these places give me.

EDIT. Yeah most of my rare books don't have barcodes but I managed to find one with an ISBN number so put that in and it offered me 47p for a book I know is worth at least £150, fuck this.

[Captain Z]

41p could be yours for just one 'Keane - Hopes & Fears'. That's actually about 41x what I expected.

[Goldentony]

we had a That's Entertainment up til a few years ago in town, and there's a load of CEX's, and my advice after having seen them is if you have any physical media that isnt some sort of unique edition or sentimental value then put the fucking lot in the bin, there's one place for copies of FIFA, Black Books, Family Guy and PSP games and it's space somewhere, fired off into the fucking vacuum of NOTHING

[Hand Solo]

41p could be yours for just one 'Keane - Hopes & Fears'. That's actually about 41x what I expected.

'Somwhere Only We Know (The Bottom Of The Bargain Bin)'

[holyzombiejesus]

The money they offer is insulting. Fucking cheeky cunts. Even Ziffit, which is the better of the three mentioned on here are offering risible amounts.

Editors of McSweeney's - Art of McSweeney's      £0.40   
Hemingway, Wayne - Mass Market Classics: A Celebration of Everyday Design      £0.52   
Garner, Ken - The Peel Sessions: A story of teenage dreams and one man's love of new music      £1.20   
Bubblegum Music Is The Naked Truth: The Dark History of Prepubescent Pop, From the Banana Splits to Britney Spears      £1.30   
Martha Langford - Window-Shopping Through the Iron Curtain      £1.10   
Sam Knee - Memory of a Free Festival: The Golden Era of the British Underground Festival Scene: Counterculture Festivals in Britain 1966-1986      £1.40   
Richard King - How Soon is Now?: The Madmen and Mavericks who made Independent Music 1975-2005   £0.90   
Iwago, Mitsuaki - Snow Monkeys      £0.55   
Fransman, Karrie - Death of the Artist   £0.50   
Kelly, Richard T. - The Name of this Book is Dogme95      £0.50   
Jones, Graham - Last Shop Standing: Whatever Happened to Record Shops?           £0.33

I'd rather shove them on Facebook Marketplace for the same price, or burn them.

[Danger Man]

EDIT. Yeah most of my rare books don't have barcodes but I managed to find one with an ISBN number so put that in and it offered me 47p for a book I know is worth at least £150, fuck this.

I don't think 12 handbound copies of Barely Legal counts as a book, Handy.