Prague's holiday 'book taxi' will pick up your used books and sell them for you

The launch of the second annual Knihotaxi (Book Taxi) has begun in Prague. The service, which allows readers to trade in books from their personal library (or those that were received as gifts) for money, is provided by the Knihobot online secondhand bookstore.

Those who want to use the service should first take a picture of the stack of books to be sold with the spines visible. Knihobot will respond if they are able to take the books and arrange for pick up. According to the Knihobot site, pick-ups take place at locations throughout Prague with postcodes beginning in "1."

The service is free and is intended not only to help people do a little winter cleaning during the holiday lull but also to earn some extra money: For books sold, Knihobot pays 60 percent of the selling price of the book minus CZK 29. Specialist books or first editions are currently in high demand.

"As part of our customer surveys, readers repeatedly mentioned that a specific date is a great motivation for them. That is why we regularly launch Knihotaxi, although it is possible to order a courier with us regularly throughout the year," Tereza Kohutová, Knihobot's marketing director, said in a press release.

Book taxis can be ordered within Prague from Dec. 12 until Jan. 6. Books don't need to be boxed. Once they are sold, the owner receives the money from the sale. 

This year the company also launched a Christmas campaign aimed at proving that second-hand gifts are "not a sin." The promotion sees Knihobot owner Dominik Gazdoš assume the role of "Willy Domka" with golden bookmarks slipped into books at random for a chance to win a tour of the Knihobot warehouse and other prizes.

Knihobot recently conducted an online survey that found the average Czech reader reads two to three books per month, most of them fiction. Around 24 percent of those surveyed spend at least one hour a day reading. Younger people buy fewer books than seniors, buy more secondhand, and accumulate fewer books.

Knihobot currently has a selection of over 22,000 English-language titles.