Fair Trade for Used Books? What a Quality Mark Can Mean for Authors, Booksellers, and Writers

What Is a Quality Mark?

In a marketplace flooded with choices, quality marks serve as a compass for ethical and sustainable decision-making. Whether you're buying coffee, clothing, or paper, these labels help consumers identify products that meet specific standards—often related to environmental impact, labor conditions, or animal welfare.

According to Milieu Centraal, a Dutch authority on sustainability, a quality mark for sustainability sets requirements for the environment, animal welfare, and/or social aspects surrounding people and work. Crucially, for a quality mark to be trustworthy, an independent body must verify that the producer meets the standards set by the mark’s owner 

This independence is what separates meaningful certification from marketing fluff. A reliable quality mark isn’t just a sticker—it’s a signal that someone outside the company has checked the facts. It’s a promise that the product was made or sold in a way that respects people and the planet.

In industries like food and fashion, these marks have helped shift consumer behavior and improve livelihoods. Fair Trade, for example, has led to better wages and working conditions for farmers and artisans worldwide. But what about books—especially used books? Could a similar system help authors, booksellers, and readers make more ethical choices?

That’s the question we’ll explore in the sections ahead.

The Fair Trade Model – Lessons from Other Industries

If quality marks are the compass, then Fair Trade is a clear north pole, shifting the needle of customer opinion. For decades, the Fair Trade model has helped consumers make choices that support better working conditions, fair wages, and sustainable practices—especially in industries like coffee, cocoa, and textiles. It’s a system built on transparency, accountability, and the idea that ethical production deserves recognition and reward.

At its core, Fair Trade is about redistributing value. Instead of allowing profits to concentrate at the top of supply chains, it ensures that producers—often small-scale farmers or artisans—receive a fair share. This shift has led to measurable improvements in income, education, and community development across the globe.

So what does this have to do with books?

Authors, like farmers, are producers. They create the intellectual and emotional labor that fuels the entire publishing ecosystem. Yet in the secondhand book market, their work is resold without compensation or recognition. Similarly, all booksellers—much like smallholder farms—struggle to compete when buyers only prioritize volume over values.

As the world shifts toward a more circular economy, used books offer a clear pathway for meaningful reuse. We’re already disrupting the paradigm of disposability. Now, we must reckon with the ripple effects of that change—and harness the disruption to maximize its positive impact.

The Fair Trade model offers a compelling blueprint. It shows that ethical sourcing isn’t just possible but also profitable when paired with consumer awareness and institutional support. If readers knew that buying a used book could support the original author or a local bookstore, many would choose that path. But for that to happen, the system needs a signal—a quality mark that tells the story behind the sale.

The Secondhand Book Market – A Double-Edged Sword

The secondhand book market is often celebrated for its sustainability and affordability. It keeps books in circulation, reduces waste, and makes reading more accessible to a wider audience. For many readers, buying used books is not just a budget-friendly choice—it’s a sentimental one. A well-loved copy carries history, character, and a sense of continuity.

But beneath these benefits lies a complex reality.

While resale extends the life of a book, it also disconnects the transaction from the original creator. Authors earn nothing from secondhand sales, even though their work continues to generate value. This disconnect is especially stark when books are resold at scale, with no mechanism to trace or reward the original contributors.

Booksellers face similar challenges. Whether independent or part of a larger network, they operate in a landscape where price competition is fierce and margins are thin. When consumers prioritize the lowest price, it becomes harder for sellers to invest in community engagement, curation, or author support. The entire literary ecosystem—from writers to retailers—feels the pressure.

And yet, the secondhand market should be part of the solution.

Used books represent a powerful opportunity to rethink value. They offer a chance to build a more circular, inclusive economy—one where reuse doesn’t mean invisibility for creators. But to unlock that potential, we need new tools. We need systems that recognize the ongoing worth of a book and the people behind it, even after the first sale.

A quality mark is one such tool. By signaling ethical resale practices, it could help readers make choices that support authors and booksellers—without sacrificing the joy or affordability of secondhand books.

What a Quality Mark Could Mean for Used Books

Imagine picking up a used book and knowing—without needing to guess—that your purchase supports the author who wrote it, the bookseller who curated it, and the broader literary ecosystem that made it possible. That’s the promise of a quality mark for used books: a simple signal that reshapes how we value creative work, even after its first sale.

In industries like food and fashion, quality marks have helped consumers align their purchases with their values. A Fair Trade label doesn’t just tell you where your coffee came from—it tells you that the farmer was paid fairly, that the supply chain was transparent, and that your choice made a difference. The same could be true for books.

A quality mark for used books could be built around two core principles:

1. Author Recognition and Compensation

A quality mark could help ensure that authors receive recognition—and residual income—from secondhand sales. Beyond the monetary component, visibility and attribution matter. Writers would gain a broader picture of how their work performs beyond the first point of sale, providing compelling data to support their conversations with publishers.

2. Support for Booksellers

Whether independent or part of a larger network, booksellers play a vital role in keeping literature accessible and diverse. A quality mark could help differentiate sellers who invest in community engagement, curation, and ethical business practices—giving readers a way to support those efforts directly.

Together, these principles form a framework for a more equitable secondhand book economy—one that doesn’t just extend the life of a book, but also extends the value of the relationships behind it.

Importantly, this isn’t about excluding anyone. It’s about creating a shared standard that benefits everyone in the chain—from creators to consumers. A quality mark offers a new layer of trust and transparency in a market that’s already rich with potential.

Challenges and Considerations

The idea of a quality mark for used books is compelling—but it’s not without its challenges. As with any system that aims to reshape an industry, the path forward requires careful consideration, collaboration, and a willingness to confront complexity.

1. Tracking and Attribution

Unlike new book sales, which are typically recorded and reported through established distribution channels, secondhand transactions are fragmented. Books change hands through local shops, online marketplaces, donation centers, and peer-to-peer exchanges. Creating a system that can reliably track these movements—and attribute them back to the original author—requires a new paradigm.

What’s exciting is that this kind of digital tracking wouldn’t have been possible even a few years ago. The ISBN is an invention of the 1970s. Before that time, there was no standardized way to identify books. Because books take time to cycle into secondhand marketplaces, it has taken several decades for ISBN-containing titles to fully saturate the shelves of used bookstores. We are now at a point where the majority of books being bought—outside of antiquarian collections—contain an ISBN, allowing for digital tracking of used book sales for the first time.

2. Certification and Oversight

For a quality mark to be meaningful, it must be independently verified. That means establishing clear criteria, auditing processes, and a governing body that can ensure compliance. These systems exist in other industries, but adapting them to the nuances of publishing—especially the secondhand market—will require thoughtful design.

There’s also the question of cost. Certification can be expensive, and smaller sellers may struggle to participate unless the model is inclusive and accessible. That’s where a centralized quality mark provider comes in. By sharing the cost across a large pool of companies, independent verification can be applied at scale to magnify impact.

3. Avoiding Greenwashing

As quality marks become more common, so does the risk of superficial labeling. A sticker alone doesn’t guarantee impact. To maintain credibility, the mark must be backed by transparent data, clear communication, and a commitment to continuous improvement. Readers deserve to know not just what the mark stands for, but how it works—and how it evolves.

4. Balancing Innovation with Tradition

The secondhand book market is beloved for its simplicity and charm. Any new system must respect that heritage while introducing tools that enhance—not disrupt—the experience. All requirements for quality mark participation must be simple enough to implement. The goal isn’t to replace existing practices, but to enrich them with new layers of meaning and connection.

A New Standard for Ethical Resale

The secondhand book market is already a powerful force for sustainability, accessibility, and sentiment. But with the right tools, it can also become a force for fairness.

A quality mark for used books offers a way to recognize and reward the creative labor behind every title, while supporting the booksellers who keep literature alive in communities around the world. It’s not just about resale—it’s about revaluing the relationships that make books meaningful.

At Author Advantage, we’ve taken this vision one step further. The Author Advantage logo itself is a quality mark, certifying that a used bookseller has committed a portion of revenue from secondhand book sales to the authors of those works. This practice promotes fair compensation, ethical resale, and a more transparent literary economy.

By choosing booksellers who carry the Author Advantage mark, readers can make a simple but powerful statement: that authors matter, even after the first sale. That creativity deserves recognition. And that the stories we love should continue to support the people who wrote them.

The future of books is circular. Let’s make it fair, too.