- Can you sell anything besides books for our organization?
- Do you sell books for organizations other than Friends of the Library?
- How much do your internet consignment services cost?
- If we sell online with Last Bookstore, will there be any good books left behind?
- Most of our book sale revenue comes from bookdealers -- will we still make any money at our sales?
- Why shouldn't our group sell our own books online?
- We already have someone who sells for us or says they can, for less of a percentage than you.
- Do you offer training if we want to set up our own online bookselling operation?
- How and where do you sell the books?
- What sort of records do you keep?
- Do we have to sign a contract to take advantage of Last Bookstore's services?
- What if we want our unsold books back?

Can you sell anything besides books for our organization?
Yes. We can sell DVDs, CDs, audio books on CD, and VHS.

Do you sell books for organizations other than Friends of the Library?
Yes. We sell books for any nonprofit that wishes to fundraise with us. We also sell books on behalf of for-profit organizations and individuals who wish to raise money for homeless children. Please contact us at 213.617.0308 or sellbooks@lastbookstorela.com if you are not a Friends of the Library group and wish to fundraise with us.

How much do your internet consignment services cost?
There are no upfront costs. Your organization never pays us a cent. All of the profits from selling your books online will go to your organization. Our expenses incurred through selling the books usually equal about 30% of the gross sales -- this covers transportation, listing, storage, shipping supplies, and other expenses involved in running an efficient organization. Even with these expenses taken from the sales, you will receive net profits at least double or triple your current revenue.

If we sell online with Last Bookstore, will there be any good books left behind?
Of course. You'll be surprised. Most of what we take would be of limited interest to your customers -- technical, obscure, or scholarly in nature. We only take about 10-20% of your inventory to sell online, and most of that is non-fiction. We take very little fiction and surprisingly few coffee table books.

Most of our book sale revenue comes from bookdealers -- will we still make any money at our sales?
Yes, you will. Chances are you are giving away 90% of your potential profits to bookdealers -- revenue which should go to the library. We have found that as the aggressive bookdealers stop coming to your sales, more regular readers return because the atmosphere is much nicer and they don't have to fight for books anymore. Other Friends groups we work with have experienced the same or even better sale returns. Also, when you partner with us to sell books online, we are able to distribute books from our own donation pool to your group, which gives you a richer book sale inventory than you would have otherwise. We can also provide free pickup services for your donors, so that you may be able to acquire larger collections easier than before.

Why shouldn't our group sell our own books online?
Well, it's a full-time operation. You need lots and lots of storage, a detailed organizational system, a shipping department, several full-time workers, customer service -- not to mention the technology and experience to know which books to sell online in the first place. We have the system all set up and worked out to maximum benefit to you, with very minimal changes to your current operation -- there's no reason not to work with Last Bookstore.

We already have someone who sells for us or says they can, for less of a percentage than you.
That's great! If you already have someone you like, give them a try. However, if you want to give us a trial, we're confident we sell more books faster and at better prices than any other service, with the added benefits of more donations and free donation pickups. Plus, we're friendly.

Do you offer training if we want to set up our own online bookselling operation?
We'd like to, but we are so busy selling for libraries and other charities that we don't have the time or resources to devote to training. With no upfront costs to your organization, there's no reason not to simply have us help.


How and where do you sell the books?
We currently sell mostly on the websites Amazon and eBay. Although there are many other sales channels, those 2 sites attract the majority of online buyers and offer the quickest sales at competitive prices.

What sort of records do you keep?
For all online bookselling agreements, we provide a printed list of all sales with your monthly check. This can also be emailed as an Excel spreadsheet. Upon request, we can also provide an Excel spreadsheet or list of all unsold inventory we are storing for you. We record the books we take to sell once they are listed online at our warehouse. If you wish to assign a volunteer to record or count the donations at the time we sort them with you, you can certainly do so.

Do we have to sign a contract to take advantage of Last Bookstore's services?
We offer an initial 3 month trial with no contract. Once you see how easy and profitable it is to partner with us, we do ask to sign an agreement with you on a yearly basis.

What if we want our unsold books back?
No problem. We can return any of your unsold inventory to you at any time.