Exotic cookbooks, craft guides, and specialist hobby titles are some of the most sellable second-hand books around. Unlike general fiction, they serve a specific audience with ongoing needs, which keeps demand for used copies steady. If you have a shelf of them sitting untouched, you are likely sitting on more value than you realise.
The question is where to sell them. Not every platform handles specialist titles well, and the difference between a dedicated book buyer and a generalist platform can be significant when it comes to what you actually get paid.
Here are the five best UK websites for selling cookbooks, craft books, and specialist titles, with an honest look at what each one offers.
WeBuyBooks
For most cookbook and specialist book sellers, WeBuyBooks is the easiest place to start. If you want to sell specialist hobby books UK-wide without the hassle of listing, WeBuyBooks is built for exactly that. It is a dedicated book buyback service, not a marketplace, so you get a direct cash offer rather than waiting for a buyer to show up. Over £38m has been paid out to UK sellers, more than 2 million items have been processed, and the app holds a 4.6-star rating.
Scan the barcode, get an instant ISBN valuation, accept the offer, and post your books using a free shipping label or have a courier collect them. Payment arrives by the next working day by bank transfer once your books have been checked. No listing fees, no postage costs, no waiting around.
Cookbooks, craft guides, hiking manuals, and occult titles tend to do particularly well here. Specialist titles attract a higher payout and a lower rejection rate than general fiction, which makes WeBuyBooks a strong fit if your collection leans towards niche subjects rather than mainstream paperbacks.
Got older books without barcodes? The WeBuyBooks Antiquarian Team reviews them by email through a human appraiser. Clearing 500 books or more? The Bulk Collections service can appraise the collection, arrange free home courier pickup and pay you in a single transaction.
Music Magpie
Music Magpie is worth considering if your clear-out includes books alongside DVDs, games, CDs, or tech. Music Magpie works on the same scan-and-send basis as WeBuyBooks, but it covers technology, games, CDs, and DVDs alongside books. If your clear-out includes a box of old DVDs or a drawer of games, having one platform handle everything is genuinely convenient.
For a collection that is mainly cookbooks or specialist hobby titles, though, the broader focus works against you. Music Magpie is not a dedicated book buyer, and specialist book valuation tends to be less precise on a platform that spreads itself across multiple product categories. You may find the offers reflect that.
AbeBooks
AbeBooks is one of the few platforms on this list that is designed for buyers actively searching for rare and collectable books. It is a buyer-side marketplace, not a seller-side buyback service, which means you list your books and wait for a buyer rather than receiving a cash offer upfront. That is a meaningful difference in time and effort.
Where it earns its place is with first editions, signed copies, out-of-print titles, and collectable cookbooks, where a motivated buyer might pay well above any buyback price. AbeBooks attracts serious collectors and specialist readers, so the right rare title can perform very well here.
For anything standard, a buyback service will give you a faster and easier result. AbeBooks makes sense when you have a specific title you believe has real collector value and you are prepared to manage the listing and wait for the right buyer.
Ziffit
Ziffit offers a similar scan-and-send service to WeBuyBooks, making it an easy platform to compare offers with. You scan, get an offer, and post with a prepaid label. The process is familiar, and the platform is reputable.
It works well for modern cookbooks and craft guides with a clear ISBN. For older or pre-barcode titles, your options are limited since Ziffit relies on standard scanning and does not have a specialist appraisal route for unusual items.
eBay
eBay remains one of the biggest marketplaces for second-hand books, particularly for titles with niche or collector appeal. It lets you set your own price, which matters when you know a title is rare or out of print. If you have done your research and you know what a book is worth, a motivated buyer on eBay can pay significantly more than any buyback platform would offer.
The reality for most cookbook and craft book sellers is that the effort outweighs the return. Every listing needs photographs, a description, and condition notes. You cover postage until a sale completes. eBay takes a cut. For a book that sells for a few pounds, the maths rarely work out in your favour.
Use eBay selectively, for titles you are confident have genuine collector or out-of-print value. For everything else, a buyback service is quicker, simpler, and often just as competitive on price.
The table below summarises how each platform compares across the criteria that matter most to cookbook and specialist book sellers.
| WeBuyBooks | Music Magpie | AbeBooks | Ziffit | |
| Type | Buyback service | Buyback service | Marketplace | Buyback service |
| Books specialist | Yes | No (multi-category) | Yes | Yes |
| Instant valuation | Yes | Yes | No (listing) | Yes |
| Free postage | Yes | Yes | Seller pays | Yes |
| Payment speed | Next working day | Varies | On sale | Varies |
| No-ISBN books | Antiquarian Team | Limited | Yes (listing) | Limited |
| Bulk collections | Free home pickup | No | No | No |
| Best suited to | Most book sellers | Mixed media sellers | Rare/high-value titles | Standard ISBN titles |
Find Out What Your Books Are Worth
For the majority of sellers, WeBuyBooks is the place to start. It is built around books, pays quickly, covers your postage, and handles specialist titles better than any generalist platform. Music Magpie and Ziffit are worth considering if you have mixed media or want to compare offers. AbeBooks and eBay are worth the effort only when you have a title you genuinely believe has collector value.
Running a quick valuation costs you nothing. Scan a few titles and see what your collection is actually worth before you decide where to sell.
