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Books have always been the core of what we do, and they'll stay that way. But over the last year of running the NYC route, we've kept walking away from cleanouts with more than paper.

A coin jar inherited from a grandparent. A longbox of Silver Age comics in a bedroom that's now a home office. A crate of records nobody's spun since the eighties. A shelf of cartridges from a console that stopped working a decade ago. All of it has value, and all of it usually ends up in a dumpster — not because it's worthless, but because nobody came to look.

So now we look at everything. You don't need to sort it, categorize it, or decide what's worth keeping. Box it however it sits.

What we'll take

• Rare and antiquarian books — our specialty
• Coins and currency, including inherited collections and old jars
• Comics and graphic novels, Silver Age through modern
• Vinyl, CDs, tapes, DVDs, Blu-rays
• Video games and consoles, cartridges and discs
• Trading and sports cards

How the evaluation works

We sort on our end, not yours. What we find gets priced honestly, and we'll tell you straight what's worth real money and what's not. If a category doesn't work for us, we'll say so and point you somewhere that does rather than taking it just to take it.

Still free

Free pickup anywhere in Hudson County and adjacent NJ counties within 25 miles, at any volume. In NYC, lots under 5 banker boxes are $50. See the full rate table.

A short one this week. The backlog is being worked through steadily, and the shelves are getting lighter every week.

What's moving

Modernist canon continues to be our strongest category on Etsy — the Joyce and Proust material from the Murray Jay Gross collection reliably outsells everything else we list. On eBay, the general media lots clear steadily, but only when priced to move rather than to maximize.

What we're relisting

Anything that sat 60 days without a sale gets repriced and relisted with fresh photos. If an item has been up three times, we stop relisting it and either bundle it or donate it. We'd rather move inventory at an honest price than watch it sit.

Why this matters if you're donating

Tight inventory means we're actively looking. If you've got a closet, attic, or storage unit full of books, coins, comics, or media, now is a good time. Request a free pickup.

We've finished working through the Murray Jay Gross collection's modernist section, and the condition notes are done for both the Proust and Dead Poets Society subseries.

What we found

Proust and Joyce in the modernist canon, a run of Dead Poets Society poetry and criticism, and legal and historical material from his time as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan. Where we can document ownership, we say so on the listing — and where we can't, we leave it off.

Why the provenance matters

Murray Jay Gross was an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan and a lead member of the Dead Poets Society, and an authority on Joyce and Proust. That's not a blurb we wrote for a listing — it's the reason the collection is coherent rather than random. Every item we list carries whatever ownership history we can actually document.

Where to see it

First listings are live on Etsy and our MJG page. This is a finite collection, so quantities are limited and the good material goes first.

A two-box lot from a professional office move in Midtown — the kind of pickup that makes the route worth running.

What was in it

Legal history, a solid run of business and reference hardcovers, and a few signed copies where we could document ownership. Nothing spectacular on the surface; the value was in the condition and the inscriptions.

How we handled it

Everything got condition-checked against the listing standard before it went up, and the signed copies got photographed for the provenance notes. Inscribed copies photograph very differently from unsigned ones, and buyers pay for seeing the actual inscription rather than a description of it.

On to the next one

Office cleanouts are consistent work for us. If a firm, practice, or corporate office is downsizing, request a pickup — we handle estates and office moves regularly and can usually take a large volume on short notice.

Another Whatnot show in the books. Here's what we learned about live auction buyers versus fixed-price buyers.

Live buyers reward bundles

A single $40 record in a live auction is a hard sell. Ten records in a themed lot — jazz, say, or a complete run of a press series — will clear easily and take far less time. We build lots around the theme, not around the individual item.

Opening bids set the ceiling

The opening bid matters more than the buyer's max. Too high and the lot dies in the first thirty seconds and we relist it at a loss. We now open at roughly a third of the expected close and let the room set the price.

Shipping is part of the pitch

Live buyers are impulse buyers. If the lot description makes packing and shipping feel handled, close rates improve noticeably. Every show lot is wrapped item by item, sealed water tight and bagged for safety, with rigid mailers on the fragile pieces.

Shows run periodically — follow us on Whatnot for the schedule.

A recurring question, so here's the full answer on how we actually pack things.

Every book gets three layers

Each book is wrapped in cardboard first, then bubble-wrapped, then sealed so the whole thing is water tight. Only once it is sealed does it go into a poly bag. The bag is the outermost layer — a safety net against dirt, scuffs and a puncture in the outer carton — not the protection itself.

What the poly bag is actually for

The poly bag goes on last, around a finished, sealed package. Nothing is ever shipped loose in a bag. By the time an order is bagged, the book inside is already boxed and wrapped against moisture, so a tear in transit can't reach the book.

Fragile media gets more

Records, magazines, sleeves, board games, boxed sets, and anything with a spine that will crack under pressure get a rigid mailer with corner protection on top of that, and we double-box the expensive ones.

Tracking, always

Tracking is included on every shipment, and we photograph the packed box before it seals. If something goes wrong in transit, we want the record.

We list on both, and the split isn't arbitrary. Different platforms reward different things.

eBay for breadth and price discovery

eBay is where the volume is and where price discovery actually works. Buyers search by title and author, completed listings are public, and a well-priced book finds its market in a few days. This is our primary storefront.

Etsy for the modernist and antiquarian end

Etsy over-indexes on aesthetics and narrative. A rare Joyce or a signed copy does disproportionately well there because the presentation and the story carry as much weight as the price. The audience is also actively looking for this material rather than stumbling on it.

Whatnot for lots and impulse

Live auctions handle volume, not individual high-value books. We use Whatnot to move themed media lots and to reach buyers who wouldn't search for a specific title.

What this means for you

If you're wondering where your books are most likely to sell — and therefore what we're likely to pay — it depends entirely on what they are. Bring them in and we'll tell you honestly which channel is right.