Well here goes. Time to let out my little secret.
I go to as many estate auctions as possiable and buy boxes (preferable old) of books for 1,2,3 dollars abox. I usually never spend more that this unless I know for sure tat something in that box is worth big bucks. I try to stay away from soft cover, readers digest and national geographic.
Once a year I put a small add in thje local newspaper asking folks not to throw out their old hard cover books. Call me instead and I'll come and pick them up.
When I get home I go through all the books and keep the ones I want to read and also keep anything on Canadian history or old American History. I now have about 200 in my collection.
I then go to AddAll.com and get an approxmate value of the books I have. They are very helpful in giving me a ballpark figure as to what a book is worth. Anything they (antique book shops)have listed under a $100.00 I don't keep. Anything over $100.00 I will list on e-bay.
My first sale on e-bay was a Will Rogers (title I forget.)book first edition and I got $167.00 Anerican. I was hooked. My worst sale was to a lone bidder from Alaska that got a first edition Agatha Christie at a reserve for $50.00. The book was valued over $3,000.00. I cried for awhile but then got thinking that I still made money. I had only paid $1.00 for a box that I also sold three others.
But make sure if you say it is a first edition that it is and not a republishers first edition. You have to get to know the companies that are republishers.
For example. You buy a book called "Moby Dick" You pay $3.00 for it but your all excited because it says "First Edition". Now you know this book is worth thousands so you list it at X numbers of $ only to get the dickens (shit) from someone that tell's you that it isn't worth nore that 25 cents at a garage sale. Why? Because it was a republished book by Burt, Cassel, Collier, Altermus, Blakiston, Greenwich house, Cupples & Leon, Fiction Library, Goldsmith, Grosset & Dunlap, Saalfield, Sun Dial, Triangle, Hurst, Tower, and on and on.