I have been sorting out my music and have put aside lots and lots which I don't wish to keep any longer.
I was going to give it to a charity shop, but then thought that as it has cost me so much to buy over the years, maybe I could sell much of it instead.

Apart from a car boot sale, has anyone got any suggestions about where to sell second hand music, most of which is in excellent or very good condition?

I have thought of ebay, but other than making up 'mystery parcels' I would need to itemise every single book or sheet...

Has anyone got any other ideas? What has anyone else done with a substantial amount of music that is no longer needed?

I would try a secondhand music shop:

This one is in Oxford, not too far from you in Northamptonshire:

Antiques on High, 85 High Street, Oxford, tel 01865 251075

I understand they have a whole area devoted to secondhand sheet music, but that was a couple of years ago, so it may have changed.

The shop is supplied by Austin Sherlaw-Johnson who also has a web site - www.austinsj.co.uk - where he says he buys collections.



Edit: I'm not sure whether ASJ owns the shop or just supplies it...

Skylark

Thanks for the link.

I'll have a look at the website and then phone them.

Some other ideas, which are more troublesome but you would probably get more for them...

- if you have schools near you which offer music, you could "hire" a table at a school event and offer it for sale to pupils.

- if you have some amateur orchestras near you, you could contact the organiser and see if you could take your music along to a rehearsal to see if the musicians are interested in buying any of it.

- you could see if you could "hire" a table at a music festival where there would be lots of potential buyers.

I think selling to a music shop would be the equivalent of giving it away. I have sold a few bits on ebay - initially listing a bundle of music probably worth about £200 and only getting £40 for it!! Ever since then I've taken the time to list it individually, but I only do a few bits at a time, rather than trying to blitz it all in one go. Apart from the time factor in listing it, keeping track of the sales becomes difficult as well.

Yes...

I did sell a load of old music a few years ago on eBay, but it is a lot of trouble, listing everything and then posting and packaging it.

I cannot seem to walk past a music shop without going in and buying some music, I still have soooo much.

Regards.

I would never suggest selling music! You may not have a use for it now but in the coming years you well might need some of it for teaching perhaps or as gifts for younger family members, or simply for the fun of looking over your books to bring back happy memories of pieces that you studied and played in your youth. Both of my grandmothers had old music lying around and I loved looking through the piles and trying to play bits from them as a youngster.

I buy nearly all of my music from e-bay but rarely buy bundles of music as there is inevitably something I already have in the bundle. On the other hand, if the seller offers a discount on postage for second and subsequent pieces I always look at what else they are offering and very often buy more than the one piece I initially wanted (including pieces I never knew existed).

As people start to feel the increasing pinch of financial demands, there may well be students who'd be pleased to give you some money for your old music though I also favour holding on to it where you can. You never known when it might come in handy.

Do you know any local teachers you could contact and send them a list of what you're selling? They may well have pupils who'd like to buy it from you.

Thank you everyone for useful suggestions. I'm still trying to decide what to do!

I would just like to add that much of this music is sight reading books, scale books for different grades, exams piece books from (approx) the '90s and so on.
It's not individual pieces of music that I may necessarily wish to keep for years to come.....

That's why I am quite happy to dispose of it or pass it on.

i hoard music, as when i hopefully become a teacher piano/aural, then i know i can use most of it for some of the aural tests. I've never thrown any music away, and i intend to keep it that way, if i ever also accompany, then i can give it to people to warm up or something i dunno, its also good to just play on piano and work out harmony etc.

I love music sales (not the shop, but when music is on sale) because i buy like £300 worth of music for £3. *remembers the Gilbert and sullivan opera scores he bought for £2*

That, and it also all looks impressive on shelves in your music room

if your going to trow it away, you could always advertise it here, im sure people would gladly pay the postage if its free.