Thanks for this information. I wasn't aware that Thriftbooks did buybacks.
I used to occasionally use Amazon buybacks (but I don't know if they even do those any more). Years ago, if you looked up a book on Amazon, it would ask something to the effect of, "Do you have one of these available for sale?" They would have a similar list as Thriftbooks of desirable books and then you could ship the book directly to Amazon, using their prepaid label. I don't know where the books wound up ultimately. I would use this service for books I deemed too much trouble to list on eBay for various reasons.
So I decided to look up Thriftbooks system and it appears very similar to the old Amazon system. I tried adding a book I have available for sale, but again, it's too much trouble to deal with on eBay. It's a heavy hardcover copy of "Amphigorey Again." Sold copies on eBay range from $8.99 to $11.34 with free shipping. So, with media mail having gotten higher lately, there is very little profit left in selling one of these books on eBay.
When I looked on Thriftbooks' site and used the UPC to look up the trade-in value, it would give me $3.20 in cash with free shipping provided via their prepaid label. No hassle in writing a listing, invoicing, boxing the book securely to the buyer, etc. That $8.99 copy sold on eBay minus an approximate $5.00 media mail shipping cost would net the seller probably less than that once the eBay fee was applied (I can't remember what the eBay percentage on books is, but I believe it's higher than collectibles).
So, in that case, Thriftbooks is a win-win. The cons are that many of the books I tried on the Thriftbooks' site were rejected due to too many copies in their possession.
The only other alternative I would have (and one I often use when disposing of books I don't deem worth the trouble to list on eBay) is offering my hardcover copy of "Amphigorey Again" to a used bookstore I often frequent. But they only offer 10% of the price printed on the book in credit (not cash). So, because that book has a price of $35.00 on the dustjacket, I would only receive $3.50 in credit to be used in the bookstore.
$3.50 in credit is less desirable than $3.20 in cash, so I'd opt for the Thriftbooks buyback in this case.
Another plus in dealing with Thriftbooks is I noticed they won't accept books with any missing pages (DUH!), but they will take books with missing dustjackets with no reduction in price. So if you have a book that would not bring much on eBay because it's lacking a DJ, then Thriftbooks might be a good resource to use.
