Currently one of the most popular series of books for adults is the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins. If you look on eBay you will find thousands of books in this series listed at any given time. While it may appear these books are a glut on the market, there is an opportunity here for the astute seller.

While individual books in the series don’t sell well, if you pick them up when you find them, build a complete set of all twelve titles in the series, and sell them all as one lot you have a very good chance of making a nice profit.

The books in this series have been released in hardback, soft cover, and audio book format and we will look at the potential for each of these formats individually in a moment.

At present, there are twelve titles in the series. They include:

• Left Behind
• Tribulation Force
• Nicolae
• Soul Harvest
• Apollyon
• Assassins
• The Indwelling
• The Mark
• Desecration
• The Remnant
• Armageddon
• Glorious Appearing

A thirteenth title - The Rapture - is scheduled for release on June 6th of 2006.

A lot of all twelve titles in hardcover will normally sell for between $4o and $85 one eBay. Soft cover sets usually bring between $35 and $70. I’m don’t remember ever seeing a complete set of audio books offered, but near complete sets usually sell for prices between $40 and $70 depending upon how complete the lot is. The CD format sells best, but cassettes sell also, and even mixed format lots do well.

Where do you find them? Think garage sale, garage sale, garage sale, thrift shop, thrift shop, thrift shop.

Some things to keep in mind when buying them:

• There’s enough of these around that you shouldn’t buy copies that aren’t in at least very good condition - no missing, torn, or soiled dust jackets on the hardcovers, no creased or torn soft covers. No loose bindings in either format.
• Try to keep your costs at or below $1 for hardcovers and $.50 for soft covers if possible. When you find these at garage sales, you will often find complete, or near complete sets. When this happens don’t be afraid to make an offer for all of them rather than paying the seller’s per-book price.
• For audio books expect to pay $2 to $3 each. At that price, you’re profit may not be as big, but they will sell and you will make some money for a complete set.
• Don’t be afraid to buy individual copies, or small partial sets, when you find them. Just hang onto them until you have a complete set.
• Don’t sell lots of mixed hardcovers and soft covers. Wait until you have a complete set of one type.
• Often a lot of mixed CDs and cassettes will bring nearly as much as a lot of one or the other.

There’s also a Left Behind series for kids. This is a 40 title series in paperback format. When listed on eBay the complete 40 title set usually brings between $100 and $150.

These are harder to find and I would only recommend you buy them if you are able to buy either a complete set or a set missing only a few titles. Trying to put a set together buying individual titles could be a long term effort.

The titles in the Kids series include:

• The Vanishings
• Second Chance
• Through The Flames
• Facing The Future
• Nicolae High
• The Underground
• Busted
• Death Strike
• The Search
• On The Run
• Into The Storm
• Earthquake!
• The Showdown
• Judgement Day
• Battling The Commander
• Fire From Heaven
• Terror In The Stadium
• Darkening Skies
• The Attack Of Apollyon
• A Dangerous Plan
• Secrets Of New Babylon
• Escape From New Babylon
• Horsemen Of Terror
• Uplink From The Underground
• Death At The Gala
• The Beast Arises
• Wildfire!
• The Mark Of The Beast
• Breakout!
• Murder In The Holy Place
• Escape To Masada
• War Of The Dragon
• Attack On Petra
• The Bounty Hunters
• The Rise Of False Messiahs
• Ominous Choices
• Heat Wave
• The Perils Of Love
• The Road To War
• The Triumphant Return

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