How to Attract 75 Eager eBay Buyers or More For Every Book You Sell on eBay!

Like many other people I’ve often extracted prints and advertisements from old magazines and sold them on eBay and been shocked at the prices some people will pay.  But what I didn’t know in my early days of selling pages torn from old books and magazines is that very high profits are also possible for maps taken from vintage atlases and, like most similar projects, it takes just a few minutes to list each item on eBay, if you follow a few simple rules.

We all know what atlases are, they are books filled with maps, and, in Victorian and earlier times those maps were generally plain backed, not double sided as happens today, and they were often hand coloured or with borders marked out individually by artists.  Early maps from atlases were often printed on parchment or cloth backed paper, making them sturdy and with greater perceived value than any atlas based map you’ll encounter today. This meant, once removed from the atlas, the maps resembled a work of art, quite unlike their modern day, double sided, mass printed counterparts.  And they sell like hot cakes on eBay as you will very soon see.

You will often find maps, usually folded, inserted between the pages of an early encyclopaedia and these are also profitable sellers.  But with some exceptions, mentioned later, maps that are folded are much less popular than full page maps taken from large size atlases and these are the type you should focus on.

The big exception to the rule about avoiding folded maps, reminds me of an atlas I bought a few weeks ago, for £10, at a flea market at Gateshead Stadium.  The atlas, dated 1878, contained 75 maps of which three were damaged.  The others were in perfect condition and had plain backs which is always a major benefit.  Most maps are folded at the centre but for quality atlases, like this one, the publishers used a tag to bind the map into the atlas so the actual map remained free of the binding.  My maps were in perfect condition and, having listed the publisher details, maps sizes, date, and such just once, I created a template from which to list the remaining 70 plus maps.  It took me less than one day to remove the maps from the book, take photographs, write descriptions, and finally to upload my maps to eBay, starting price £9.99 each.

Most maps sold at £9.99 or more, sometimes much more, on their first listing.  The remainder should also fetch 50 per cent or so orders at £9.99 each.  What’s left after the second listing should be uploaded ‘£9.99 or Best Offer’ and most should sell within two or three months.

Avril Harper is the author of ‘Make Money Tearing Up Old Books and Magazines and Selling Them on eBay’ which you can read about at www.magstoriches.com