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We often are asked if we buy used science fiction magazines such as "Analog Science Fiction and Fact," "Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine," "Galaxy Magazine," and "Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine.” The folks making these inquiries may have seen our store listed on the “Analog” website’s FAQ page as a source for back issues or noted we have them in our inventory.

We’ve also had enquiries from folks wanting to sell us other kinds of used magazines such as “Alfred Hitchcock‘s Mystery Magazine,” or various crafts, collecting, history, or sports magazines because we often do have these in our inventory.

Since we’ve closed our brick-and-mortar store, it is unusual that we purchase any sort of books or magazines directly from folks. Our online-only bookstore is in our home and we want to keep that private.

The following information may help you understand generally how not only Treasure Island Books but many other used bookstores deal with people wanting to sell used magazines.

The first thing to understand is that there isn’t a market for used general-interest publications unless they are extremely old and/or feature a lasting, historically interesting event. Even then, the market would demand such publications to be in, at least, near-pristine condition.

There is, however, a market for many specific-interest publications such as science fiction, craft, history, sports, etc. magazines but it comes with several provisos.

In today's economy, your chances of finding an online bookseller willing to purchase your collection from you sight-unseen are slim. There's also not much chance of said seller willing to pay you for the shipping necessary to get the magazines to them if the seller is any distance farther than driving can easily take you in a few hours…especially if you have a large collection. Even shipping via USPS Media Mail can prove costly for a great many magazines.

Frankly, in this economy, there are a lot of booksellers who simply can't afford to buy large collections via mail or directly. Treasure Island Books falls into this category but we still like hearing from folks who have such collections because the market is capricious and, depending on what you have to offer, we might be interested.

A search for the names of whatever magazines you're hoping to sell, as well as similar publications, in ABEBooks.com, Amazon.com, Alibris.com, and Biblio.com will provide you with a lot of sellers that carry these magazines. You could try contacting them to see if they're interested. Looking through their listings you'll get a very good idea of what the magazines are worth. Don't expect to be paid what they're listing similar magazines for. Booksellers need to make a profit on what they sell and they won't buy from you if you demand a price that is very near or equal to what they're selling other such magazines for. Keep in mind they may have to pay you for shipping costs, too, which will bring the amount of money you could possibly make even lower. Expect to receive about one-half the value the bookstore will sell the magazine for and less if they have to pay for shipping.

It's important for you to understand that the bookseller would have to invest a great deal of time researching the value of each and every magazine on the Internet to get a fair idea of what the magazines are worth. Unless you're willing to provide them with not only the dates of every single magazine but also their condition or, better yet, photos of them...which would take a lot of your time...don't expect any bookseller to immediately jump up and say "We'll take 'em!"

Condition is extremely important. Do the magazines have mailing labels on the front covers? Is the front cover art clear or are the covers scuffed, rubbed, and/or creased? Are the spines creased? Are they completely intact...no coupons clipped or loose/missing pages? Are you a smoker or own a pet? If so, do the magazines have any odor (smoke, cat urine)? Where have these magazines been stored? In a warm, dry place or in a damp basement? Were they stored flat or on their edges; in other words, are they at all bent? Are they dusty? Do they have water damage such as mildew or "wavy" pages or pages stuck together? Some of these problems...outside of the odor and major water damage...may not be a bad thing if only one or two exist.

Unless the magazines are extremely old and in pristine condition...or are signed by authors in the case of science fiction or mystery magazines...or have the only publication of a now-famous author's story, you will find that most of the magazines won't have a huge value. In other words, you're not going to get $10 or $20 an issue for them. We found the April 1959 issue of "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction" in a thrift shop which had the original publication of Daniel Keyes' "Flowers for Algernon." Our asking price was around $40 and it took us about a year to sell it because it wasn't in pristine conditon...yet it was rare enough to be valuable to just the right customer. That was a very unusual circumstance.

We suggest you first contact the used bookstores in your area and search as far away as you're willing to drive round-trip in a day. The ones that specialize in or at least have some inventory of what you have to offer (science fiction, crafts, etc.) are your most likely candidates but you may find some that also have a large inventory of "light reading" (versus heavy non-fiction) who might be interested.

Call them first before you load up your car and give them a realistic idea of how many you want to bring them. Be prepared to either stand in a line of people also selling their books and/or wait around for an hour or more while the store checks values. Unless you have a hand truck or can borrow one, don't get big boxes to pack the magazines in because you are going to be the one schlepping them from your car into the store. And, unless that store has a loading zone or you score a parking space near the door, this is going to be a bit of hard work.

These days, a lot of used bookstores may be willing to buy your books and magazines but they may not be willing to pay you in cash. A lot of used bookstores will pay half in cash and half in store credit but, when you wish to purchase a book from them, will charge you half cash and half store credit. Other stores will only pay in store credit. Because Treasure Island Books has a small inventory which may not interest everyone, it is our policy to pay cash (via company check or Paypal only).

Another option you have is to sell your collection on eBay, which will charge you a fee to list plus a fee on the sales and, if you're not familiar with how it works and don't have a great deal of time to devote to all those listings, it may not be attractive to you. Further, eBay pretty much insists that all buyers pay with Paypal these days and that sellers not accept checks or money orders. Sellers still can, of course but, by paying with Paypal, buyers have a way of getting their money back if they're not satisfied with what they've purchased or if they don't receive it. You'd also have to set up a Paypal account and one that accepts credit cards and, of course, Paypal will charge you a fee, too. Full information about all of this can be found on eBay's and Paypal's websites.

If you're in an area that Craig's List services, this may be an option for you; it's free. Keep in mind that your buyers will be coming to your home and, if you're not comfortable with that, it could be a problem. The alternative would be to deliver the books to them but, again, this may pose a problem if the buyers aren't comfortable with that or if you're not willing to load up your car and/or drive any real distance.

If you don't mind folks coming to your home, you could have a garage sale. You could put up flyers around your neighborhood, place an ad in your weekly shopper newspaper (if your community has one) or your daily/weekly newspaper, and also place an ad on Craig's List for free. The newspaper ads will cost you money, though.

Be specific about what you have to sell; this will keep customers not interested in your magazines from clogging your street and driveway if what they're looking for is clothes, furniture, toys, or kitchen items. Say "science fiction magazines" (or whatever you have) instead of just "books."

If you work for a large company that has an employee bulletin board in, say, the cafeteria or lunchroom, you could try posting an ad there. You may be surprised to find coworkers interested in purchasing some of your magazines and might even make a new friend with similar interests.

If you feel that all the time and effort necessary to determine whether or not your collection is worth something is more than you're willing to invest, I am certain that most thrift shops would be delighted to take the magazines as a donation. May I suggest you steer clear of the big three...Goodwill, Salvation Army, and St. Vincent de Paul...because they get more donations than they can handle...and, instead, find a smaller thrift shop that doesn't get as many donations?

Your local Humane Society or hospital may have a small thrift shop, for example. They might be alarmed at the sheer number of what you have to give them, especially if they don't have the shelf or storage space; in that case, spread the love around. And remember that these small thrift shops are invariably staffed with volunteers who may not be knowledgeable about books in general and science fiction magazines in particular. If you encounter stubborn ignorance such as "Why would we want a bunch of old magazines?" then just find another shop. Also, your local public library might be interested in them for their next Friends of the Library booksale.

In order to avoid loading all the magazines up in your car, call these places first to see if they're interested. And, remember, donations are tax-deductible, so be sure to get a receipt from wherever you donate to. Keep in mind, though, that the IRS demands a huge donation number (you‘ll have to check with them, though, for the current specific amount) before it will consider it tax-deductible worthy, so it may not be worth your while. And if you choose to assign an inflated value to your collection and you're audited, keep in mind that the IRS is not above doing a bit of book and magazine value research of their own.

If donating to a thrift shop doesn't appeal to you, you may want to consider nursing homes and adult assisted-care apartment complexes. Many of these have libraries in their common or gathering room, and it's my guess that not every resident likes to while away their time staring at the TV.

We hope this information helps you. Again, we must emphasize that this is general information and does not cover all circumstances.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at tibooks@yahoo.com.

Thank you for shopping Treasure Island Books!