Use these estate sale tips to maximize your profit on used books. It's not enough just to go to an estate sale, you need to know what to look for, how to plan your time, how to establish a budget, and how to get the most for your money.

Finding the best rare books isn't just luck, it's all in how you use and maximize your time. Before you go out to bargain hunt, map out every local estate sales you plan to visit, and pick the best route.

You should always try to arrive early, being the first is ideal. You'll have the pick of the litter, so to speak, and you'll be able to get help from the seller to find what you're looking for before they’re swamped with people.

Also, don't hoard items, especially those you're not sure you want to buy. Not only is this rude, but your conduct may lead to the broker not welcoming you back to future estate sales in your area.

Lets Make A Deal

Bargaining is one of the estate sale tips that is often overlooked, simply because people take the prices of goods at estate sales at face value. If you're willing to buy in bulk or you’re buying many different items, you can easily negotiate a lower price.

You might even try to get the broker to throw in something extra to sweeten the deal. I once got a beautiful 6 foot folding table for free when I bought 500 books at an estate

Knowing what rare books to look for is the key to the estate sale business.

Using a bar code scanner is a great way to shift through modern books and textbooks to see what's worth picking up and what should be left behind.

You won't be able to scan most rare books, so you’ll need to become knowledgeable about what's in demand and what's uncommon to see.

Also, non-fiction works tend to be more profitable than selling fiction books. You can make bulk offers of 10-15 cents per book with fiction, and save your cash for valuable non-fiction. You can find many estate sales online that offer these kinds of opportunities.

Diversity

Don’t try to sell all used books at a single online marketplace. In addition to Amazon.com, try Abebooks.com, Alibris.com, and Half.com too.

The last easy thing to forget when thinking of estate sale tips is rather simple: bring some food and water with you. There probably won't be any at the sale, and if you have to stop and get food you may miss a killer opportunity. Be prepared, be aware, and good hunting!