Cascade Alliance

Technique Tuesday: Online Media Sales

Imagine receiving thousands of donations of media, very exciting when you consider the potential online sales right? Not without knowing the best practices towards selling them!  Maybe your store doesn’t have space for an expansive media selection, or you’re looking for another way to bring income to your store.

Below are some of our best practices for selling books and media online.  Marketplaces we use include Amazon, eBay, Alibris and Abe Books.

1. 1.Check the condition of the item. We use a disc buffer to fix minimal scratches on incoming DVDs, CDs, and video games.
2. 2. If the disc needs to be buffed, make sure there is a monetary cap to best use staff time. Put all the potential media in a pile and scan on Indaba (the online book selling software we use).
3. 3. If the item is worth $15 or more, it can be listed online.  If it’s worth less than that, it can go into the retail store.  If it’s in bad condition it should be discarded.
4. 4. Don’t list and shelve the item if it’s not ready to be sold (such as a broken case, missing a booklet or disc is irreparable).

The pictures below are examples of our online media sales storage system.

We hope these tips help those interested in selling media online or needed a burst of inspiration for continuing their sales!