Looking to sell your vintage cookbooks?

Looking to sell your vintage cookbooks?  Think about selling them to your local cookbook store! 

What vintage cookbooks are we looking for?

While our focus is on Southern and community and charitable cookbooks, we often also buy cookbooks we think are just too cool to pass up.  We are always looking for ways to expand our cookbook inventory and it's a pretty straightforward process for both us and the seller.

Firstly, it is important to note that we only purchase books in new or excellent condition.  This generally means that dust covers are present, the binding is tight and not damaged, and the pages are not marked or stained...nor do the books smell of cigarette smoke or display any moisture damage. 

Another thing we look at is topic of the book and the current popularity of the book category.  While Southern cookbooks are generally almost always popular, some authors can have more cookbooks out in current circulation and some categories (books on cocktails or specialized equipment) ebb, flow, and go "stale".  None of these things have anything to do with how "good" a cookbook is, but we can quickly parse through your offerings and make an offer or give you feedback on other ways that you could responsibly downsize your cookbook collection.

How to sell your vintage cookbooks with Blackbird Cookbooks

The process for selling us cookbooks is simple. Please send us an inquiry with a list of titles, author, and general condition of each title.  If you prefer not to prepare a list, you can also send pictures of the books clearly displaying front cover and binding to our email. 

Once we have an opportunity to review your email and cross-check it with our existing inventory needs, we will contact you via email with which titles we might be interested, at which purchase price, and what our payment terms might be (cash vs. store credit).  It's important to note that we are a small store and cannot offer to purchase every book that comes across our counter.  We also cannot make final purchase offers until we fully understand the true condition of the book.

What happens if we don't buy your book

First, our recommendation is to take a second and revisit whether or not you really want to sell that cookbook.  For instance, if your Mama or Nana loved a specific cookbook so much that it's marked up and full of spills from multiple generations, you should seriously consider keeping it (even if we want to buy it from you!).  At some point in the future, you'll want to taste her snickerdoodles or have something she held hear to give to the next generation.  Trust us on this.

There are also other online marketplaces where sellers can offer vintage books to sell directly to buyers.  There are pros & cons to each marketplace and our biggest piece of advice to offer potential sellers is to be careful to check sellers fees and requirements before you begin selling to see if the time and effort is really worth it to you. In some cases, you could lose money on your books due to pricing errors or fraudulent orders, so be careful.

Lastly, bear in mind that some states require all online sellers to collect, report, and pay sales taxes on online purchases.  Many online marketplaces will do this on your behalf, but some do not.  

•  Amazon
• Facebook marketplace
• Abebooks
• Thriftbooks
• Craigslist
• Ebay
• Pinterest
• Etsy

What if there is no market for my book but I still want to downsize my collection?

There are so many ways to declutter your bookshelves in a responsible and sustainable way!

• Have a yard sale
• Donate your books to your local library sale
• Donate your books to a local charity thrift store
• Contribute to your local Little Free Libraries - we actually do this in Durham from time-to-time and cookbooks are really popular