Reselling books you no longer want was once a craft activity. It industrialized with Recyclivre, a company with which publishers have to deal.

Its founder David Lorrain started very modestly in 2008, in the cellar of his apartment in Paris, a bit like Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 in the garage of his house in Seattle (United States).

His conviction today: "Every book sells, as long as the price is the right one. I remember that, when I started, I had an anthology of nanars of French cinema and I thought it would never sell. But yes, I found a buyer."

It was on Amazon.fr, with whom Recyclivre has an ambiguous relationship. He needs it because he still sells a lot through this platform, but he competes with it because he tries to attract customers to his own website. It accounts for 30% of its sales today, compared to only 10% in 2019.

Recyclivre founder David Lorrain in his company's warehouse in Villabé, south of Paris, March 29, 2023 © STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP

Long shelves

Knowing that Amazon takes a commission of 20%, "it's better when the buyer supports a French company with a social vocation," says David Lorrain, while showing his warehouse in Villabé, 20 km south of the capital.

Through here pass hundreds of thousands of volumes, placed at random on long shelves. No special classification: where it has been deposited, the computer knows it is, and sends the storekeeper to the right place.

On this day at the end of March, some 4,000 books must be found. They are stacked in two types of crates: those for customers who ordered a single book, and those for those who ordered several.

Aisles, crates and parcels of second-hand books in Recyclivre's warehouse in Villabé, south of Paris, March 29, 2023 © STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP

Other employees will put them in envelopes or packages, ready to be shipped.

At the other end of the warehouse takes place another sorting, that of boxes of books shipped by sellers. It is necessary to carefully check their condition: "like new", "very good", "good", "average", unsaleable. Defects are photographed, in anticipation of disputes.

Recyclivre reached 10 million euros in turnover in 2022 and expects to climb to 11.5 or 12 million euros this year. "Our volumes are increasing, but it is also growth driven by an inflationary trend," says the founder.

Competitor to publishers

"We have been profitable since year 2, in 2010. It allowed us to set up an incentive scheme, calculated not according to salary, but according to time in the company," he also emphasizes.

Second-hand books are a competitor to publishing houses, which see recent titles arrive at reduced prices. Example: the latest Virginie Despentes, "Dear asshole", released in August, is worth 22 euros new, and 20.30 euros used on Recyclivre. It is even cheaper in some competitors such as the German Momox or La Bourse aux livres.

An employee of Recyclivre, a giant in the second-hand book sector, stores books in the company's warehouse in Villabé, south of Paris, on March 29, 2023 © STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP

Xerfi estimated this second-hand market at 2020 million euros in 888. That of the new was 4.3 billion euros, according to the firm GfK.

Publishers prefer that we talk as little as possible about the phenomenon. Their professional organization, the SNE, fought to make it as clear as possible for Internet users to know whether they are buying new or second-hand, in the name of the law on the single price of books. Objective achieved in the law on the book economy of 30 December 2021.

They also wanted public libraries not to be able to resell books they no longer want. Finally, they can, provided that it is to a solidarity company. Recyclivre, which recruits through integration structures, is one of them.

© 2023 AFP