how I shop for affordable coffee table books - My Sweet Savannah

When you scroll through Pinterest, Instagram, and designers websites, one thing you will find in common is the use of books in decor.

Take this photo below by Studio McGee. This is just one example of how pretty a stack of books can be in decor.

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I too love the look of a neat stack of books. I more times than not will toss the book jacket leaving the pretty bindings to show.

I used to, and sometimes still do, scour thrift shops for inexpensive decor books. While they do make great filler, don’t get me wrong, some books I’d actually like to be able to look at for their contents as well, not just the pretty cover.

The photo below shows a great stack of coffee table books.

With that being said, I do like to look for books with black, cream, white, or grey bindings. I know those color will fit into my decor.

When I find a book that fits into that category, say from a designers picture, like the one below, I will search for it on Amazon. In the photo below there is a book called Pacific Natural. Here is is on Amazon. It is right around $30.00 which to me isn’t that bad. I would probably purchase it there, but not before searching for it cheaper elsewhere.

So, where do I search for books in order to find them cheaper?

Ebay!

So let’s say I see the Pacific Natural book for $30.00 on Amazon. Then I would head over to Ebay to see what they are selling for.

I always on the price + shipping: lowest first to see how low the price will go.

From there I would click on a book that is the lowest price.

Then I look for two things:

Number 1 being the condition of the book. It will tell you this above the price. In this case, the condition is very good.

But what does very good mean? It could mean different things to different people. So then I scroll down to see the condition written out in the Item Specifics category.

I look to see if it mentions any damage to the cover because that is important if you are going to display them on a shelf.

If I were to buy this book on Amazon it would be brand new and get to me the next day with Prime shipping. It would cost me $30.24. The book is brand new.

On Ebay it would cost me $27.22 with shipping. and get to me in 3-10 days. The book is like new.

Then I would think about if it was worth it to me to get one brand spanking new, and quicker for $3.02 more. Or, do I take my chances on the condition and save the money and wait for it to come?

This is a minimal difference in price, but sometimes you can save over $10 or more by searching on Ebay.

Here are some books I have recently purchased. Decor books and cookbooks. I have used this method on all of them, and have purchased some on Amazon and some on Ebay.

Pin this image so everyone can know this method!

I hope you find some treasures!

xoxo, Melaine