Need advice on selling my book

This rambling post is a shameless attempt to get free advice from the folks here in the book and media biz. I've signed on under an old handle because I can't find my password from the last time I signed on with my real initials. That was when I asked for advice about dealing with my book publisher, who was headed for bankruptcy court. Since I was fresh from getting stiffed on two-thirds of my royalties, I wasn't feeling charitable toward the publisher and the discussion got a bit nasty when one of the publisher's former employees joined in.
If any of you care to look up the original thread you will see all of the info. At this point, I would like to keep things semi-anonymous since the publisher is still tied up in bankruptcy court and I do not want to cause any problems for him or, most of all, me. But I am sure our latest arrangement is completely legal. I am far enough removed now that the emotion is no longer there for me and I am grateful to the publisher for the offer because if this works out I will recover what I am owed and perhaps a little more.
I forget if this was part of the original discussion on this board but at one point the publisher and I discussed the purchase of his remaining copies of my book. That could not be worked out before the company went to court.
But about a month ago, the publisher contacted me and asked if I still wanted to buy the book. The deal was that I could buy the book at a good price, much better than the one we discussed earlier, but would have to pay shipping, taxes and custom duties since the shipment has to come from the U.S. to Canada. After discussing the possibility with my wife, colleagues, etc., we decided it was worth a try to buy the books and then re-sell them. This is where your advice comes in.
I will be in possession of the books by the weekend and they will take up a sizeable corner of my basement. Even though the book is now three years old, it is not really out of date. It is one of those Tales Of tomes and the team in question has a large, rabid fan base, which is why I'm doing this. My only thought so far is to try and flog this through a web site set up with a Pay Pal account. I'm also not sure how much to charge. I would be most grateful for your thoughts.

 

Dear Chuck

There's no duty on books coming into Canada. You will have to pay GST on the purchase value.

First question I'd have is, "Did your publisher ever remainder your book?" If so, selling it for more than the remaindered price might be a problem.

How many books do you have? Depending on the quantity and the price you want for them, you might try and unload ALL of them to one or more retailers.

I think selling them from a website one by one would be the publishing version of Chinese Water Torture.

Feel free to PM me if you want. I worked in the book biz up here for almost thirty years so I know a little bit about it.

 

Thanks, JR.
Check your PMs.