Books are expensive, especially new releases. A lot of the time, you may see people all over social media showing off the brand new titles they managed to bag in their local charity shop. But when you go for a peek, all you can find are beat-up copies of something that really wouldn’t make it to your TBR list.
Being on Bookstagram and Booktok, there’s a constant stream of books that people are raving about, and it can be hard (and expensive) to keep up with buying them all.
I devour plenty of books per month – and paying £100 for five new books feels incredibly steep. However, if it’s something I really want, I can often justify it under the guise of supporting an author.
Recently, though, I’ve been having a little browse on Vinted more than usual. I’ve managed to bag myself some serious bargains – from Never Fully Dressed jeans, brand new with tags for £20 (should be £99) and a Fiorucci bag for £35 (should be £150). I’ve been on a roll.
But I was curious whether this bargain-hunting could expand into my favourite thing in the world – books, and I was so shocked.
I feel as though you have to know what you want before you type it into the search bar. If you just type in ‘books,’ you’ll be sifting through who knows what, and before you know it, a couple of hours will have elapsed and you’ll have impulsively bought 10 books you’ll probably never even look at.
Now, it’s not easy to train the algorithm, but once you’ve searched enough specific books, it’ll start showing you the things that you really are interested in.
And, sadly, much like with anything else super popular, there are some Vinted sellers that are total chancers, doubling the price of special editions, for example. This really sucks, but there’s nothing you can do about it, so just leave them to it and scroll on.
I, for example, saw someone selling the ‘Windy City’ series for £35, and at first glance, it seems like a bargain. But when you add the buyer protection fee and the almost £5 postage because it’s books (I wish I had a closer InPost locker than a 35-minute walk away to make it cheaper) it all adds up and I could get them cheaper, or a similar price, if I bought them from a bookstore.
However, don’t lose hope, as there are some serious bargains if you look. It does no harm to send people offers as well – as you never know, they may just get accepted.
For example, I managed to get Lucy Score’s ‘Knockemout’ three-book series, which has seriously glowing reviews on social and Goodreads, for just £7. Brand new, never taken out of the box, spines completely intact.
Conversely, I saw someone else selling them on Vinted with the most horrifying cracked spines (yes, I keep my spines uncracked, sue me) for £9. The set on Amazon is £25, so I bagged a real bargain there.
Also, someone was selling their Butterfly Book Club signed, sprayed edges, character art end pages, special edition of Love and Curse Making, which, again, has really good reviews.
I favourited it when it was £15, considering making the purchase at a later date. They then reduced the price to £10, so I very cheekily offered £7. They rejected it, but I left it a couple of days and went back in with an £8 offer, and they accepted.
If the price is crazy cheap, like £7 for a series, I feel like you should just buy it. But if there’s haggling to be done, keep that in mind.
Most of all, be polite, be respectful, and if someone rejects your offer, take it on the chin and consider how badly you actually want the items.
So what are you waiting for? Book lovers should get out there and get haggling!