Selling Used Books for Profit

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Selling used books can be profitable but you should start with the realisation that nobody (except very large volume businesses) ever got rich quickly that way! You should also be aware that stock turnover in second-hand books is very slow. For every 40 or 50 books I have listed on Amazon (and therefore on the shelf at home), for example, I may sell one a month, if I am lucky! Books are not like groceries or hardware. Each one is individual and unique (to an extent) and each one has a potential customer somewhere - your task is to unite the two and make someone very happy! The most important thing is to know your books and your market. Know what will sell (and at what price) and what will not. In order to be successful, it is best to concentrate on just one or two categories. The better you know your subjects, the more likely you are to know what will sell and what is just so much rubbish. Amazon is one of the best sources for discovering what price should be put on a book but beware of the sellers who put exorbitant prices on their books (and never or rarely sell them!). Amazon is also a place where anyone, even the person with just one or two books they want to sell, can advertise and sell their books. All you need to do is to open a Seller account, which is free for ordinary mortals who have just a few books to list. Amazon don’t charge you anything for listing books but they do charge a commission when you sell something. They also set a fixed rate for shipping which may be more than adequate for a small, light paperback but hardly ever covers the actual shipping cost of heavier books. It is up to you to set a price which will cover the packing and shipping costs as well as allowing you a reasonable profit! If you intend to sell online, make sure that you are fully aware of shipping prices. In most cases - especially on eBay - the customer pays for shipping. If you sell through Amazon, however, the customer is charged a fixed price for shipping and the seller receives a fixed allowance and it is up to the seller to set his or her prices so that the actual shipping cost and the commission charged by Amazon on each sale is covered. It is vital to actually weigh each book (adding 500g for packing) and to calculate the shipping cost as you price it. If you intend to sell locally, look for a 'car boot sale' or 'thrift sale' venue in your area and set up a stall there regularly. The more people get to know you exist, the more customers will begin to seek you out! You will find quite a different kind of customer at these kinds of sale and most will not be prepared to pay more than a dollar or so for the ordinary run-of-the-mill fiction and will not be interested in the more expensive, specialised or rare books. Once you have settled on the categories you know something about and are interested in yourself, check out second-hand prices in local bookstores, charity shops and by researching on Amazon and eBay. Your best source of stock is likely to be your local stores and thrift sales, which is why it is essential to know the market and the going rate for books in the subjects in which you specialise because only then will you know when you see a book which might be likely to re-sell at a profit.