Are people making money selling used books on amazon

Dynamic pricing software cross-referenced every active listing of a used, like-new, hardcover copy of Our Gang across online marketplaces like Amazon and Abebooks, then matched the lowest price. Last March, four months after it was listed, I bought the book for a penny, and Books Squared shipped it to my apartment in Toronto. This handsome volume is sitting proudly on my desk right. Online, such literary treasures are in amzaon supply. But deals this good raise an obvious question. It clearly took a lot of time to usher Our Gang from the backrooms of Goodwill to Canada, where I live. So boooks does anyone make money selling a book for a cent?

How to Make Up to $100,000 Selling Books on Amazon FBA

And guess what? The reason why selling books on Amazon is a great way to get started is that you can launch your business without spending thousands on inventory. Plus, if you decide you want to start selling private-label products too, your book sales will help you raise the necessary funds to launch your first Amazon private-label product. Long before I made six-figures selling my own branded products on Amazon, I sold books. And while my bookselling method was a little different than the one used by my competitors, it primed me for the even bigger and even better things to come. It all started with a nine-to-five job. And I hated my nine-to-five job. Hated it. So, in , I started looking for a way out. I always wanted to be an entrepreneur.

What Expertise is Needed to Become a Book Seller?

I was scared to make a move. Then, my internet searches led me to blogs and videos about passive income. Just a few hundred bucks. I mean, who wants to risk losing their hard-earned money, right?! Thankfully, I had another option. I had an old comic book collection gathering dust, so I figured it was the perfect opportunity to try selling on Amazon, almost risk-free! So, with the thought of being my own boss in the back of my mind, I typed that life-changing address into my search bar: www. Nowadays, I know better. So, as you can see, there are a lot of third parties selling on Amazon. A lot of books! But what does that mean for potential booksellers like you? Well, this just proves that a huge number of people turn to Amazon to find their next book.

General Guidelines for Selling Used Books on Amazon

Ever since companies started making money online, I was intrigued. I graduated from high school in , just when the internet was starting to come out of obscurity. At the time, I had no idea that learning how to make money selling used books online would be one of my first interests. By the time I got into college there were always stories of online companies raising millions in IPOs on the stock market. This whole frenzy played a huge part in my decision to go into finance and business management. I was fascinated by the ability of the companies to sell products online. It was just such a new concept back then. Today, flipping textbooks for profit is much easier than it was back then, thanks to tools like TexTrader that do all the work for you. Of course, the big player in those days was eBay. Now the giant is Amazon. I was in college and I was a cheapskate.

With as much money as amazon makes, its nothing to them if you make 6 or even 7 figures using their platform. Read post. So yeah, us 3rd party sellers hate counterfeiters too. This is how selling used books works on Amazon, and apart from the two inflated prices, there is no reason for concern. If you are new to self-publishing and selling books online, there are sometimes some nasty surprises in store. Choose a shipping method, get a listing on Amazon and then start selling books. Ebook piracy , illegal pdf copying, fake and nasty book reviews as well as all manner of scams can and do affect electronically published books and ebooks. Peter says you just need a smartphone and barcode scanner to get started. So while it helps to have a knowledge of books, a new seller can defer completely to the data on their scanning app when making a buying decision.

Best Amazon Seller Tool

Looking for additional sources of income is always encouraged. Many customers are perfectly happy with buying a used book. Another real issue is sellers sending out the wrong edition or grading their items very poorly. But it beats me how they can offer your book at a lower price. However, when I see poor feedback due to multiple late and canceled shipments, I wish that Amazon would hold them more accountable. Most peopel use an app like ScanPower or Profit Are people making money selling used books on amazon. Ebook piracyillegal pdf copying, fake and nasty book reviews as well as all manner of scams can and do affect electronically published books and ebooks. There are so many copies in existence that the used book markets are often flooded with. A good library book sale can be among the most lucrative sources. It may also be easier for them to break even on an item or take a small loss than to dispose it. The same thing applies to first editions — I’ve acquired many firsts that only ended up being worth two or three dollars, so don’t let that fool you unless you’re familiar with a particular title. The customer can complain about a piece of lint amazpn that they were offended by your book and much of the time they can get a full refund without ever returning the item. Yes.

Finding Books to Sell on Amazon

In our recent post about becoming an Amazon FBA sellerit was brought to my attention how lucrative selling used books on Amazon — and elsewhere — can be. It’s also a great flexible gig for those looking to do something part-time or just on the weekends. Today we are focusing solely on that topic: how to sell used books for extra cash. And, we have two successful sellers stopping by to share their tips.

Lori Schafer is an independent author who supplements her income buying and selling used books. She is a part-time seller. Lori provided the following as her motivation to become a bookseller:. They were all over the house, and I figured it made sense to start unloading some of those I had already read before I had to turn my kitchen into a library, too!

I didn’t start peoplw it seriously, however, until I made the leap to full-time author last year. I knew Makking wasn’t going to be making money for a while, and I liked the idea of having a part-time gig I could do on my own schedule. Peter Valley, on the other hand, is a professional book flipper. He se,ling written two books on the subject and is also the owner of the popular blog FBA Mastery. Like many of us, it took only one chance encounter with a used book to get Peter hooked:.

The margins are addictive. A variety of paid apps allow booksellers to scan a barcode with their phone’s camera or a Bluetooth barcode scanner majing get instant results as to the book’s value, sales rank, and.

So while it helps to have a knowledge of books, a new seller can defer completely to the data on their scanning app when making a buying decision. Had I made the switch to Amazon, for example, I would have been starting with no rating and no reputation. I did look into it, though, because creating and managing listings on Amazon is much easier than on eBay, where it’s quite time-consuming.

But when I examined the Amazon fee schedule, I wmazon that their fees were much, much higher, at least if you’re not a high-volume seller. Most used books are not worth very much money, and, wre many cases, to be competitive on Amazon I would have had to reduce my profit margins to pennies.

Maybe I could compensate for that by selling more volume with the time I would save, but then I’d be faced with the problem of storage — not to mention the hassle of locating an individual title once I did sell it. Peter, on the other hand, believes Amazon is where the big money is at. The truth is that I have never met anyone selling books online who makes money anywhere except Amazon. It’s where the book buyers are, nooks where the money is.

Both of our sellers uused happy to sellimg their favorite places to shop. Often the prices are deeply peop,e on the last day of the sale, and you can acquire a large number of books for not very much money — plus you can feel good about supporting the library. I also routinely check Craigslist, where people often sell books low-cost or give them away. You bbooks to be careful going that route. A few times I’ve gone out of my way to pick up a free lot, only to find that the books have been stored in the basement and are hopelessly moldy.

A good library book sale can be among the most lucrative sources. The best sources ,aking the oddball ones you weren’t looking for, like professors bbooks thousands of books outside the Engineering building the last day of the semester.

When asked to share what new sellers should look for when scouting books. Fancy collector’s editions are generally worth the trouble of selling if you pay the right price for them, but most of the time, they aren’t worth what you might think.

Unless you know for a fact that a book is worth money, be sre cautious about overpaying. The same thing applies to first editions — I’ve acquired many firsts that only ended amazoh being worth two or three dollars, so don’t let that fool you unless you’re familiar with a particular title.

Also, it’s ironic, but in general, you want to avoid bestsellers. There are so oboks copies in existence that the used book markets are often flooded with. I also tend to pick up books I’ve sold before — first, because I bools already have a listing created, which saves me some time, and second, because I know it did sell, and believe me, there are plenty of books that don’t. Finally, consider your marketplace and how you will be creating your listings.

It takes me less time to list individual books in a series than it does totally separate titles, so I will tend to favor those when I’m buying in bulk. I always ask interviewees for their favorite tools necessary for conducting business.

You are in luck if interested in starting a book reselling business. Peter says you just need a smartphone and barcode scanner to get started. Lori keeps up to date on scheduled book sales at Booksalefinder. If this all boiks like way too sslling work to make a few bucks, I personally trade-in a lot of my old books and free books I run. With the Amazon Trade-In Programthey will give you store credit in exchange for your used books.

Who doesn’t love Amazon credit? They let you mooney upfront how much you will receive and they pay for the shipping. Jessica Larew from The Selling Family also has a great new course on selling niche books for big profits. The course is really inexpensive and easy to implement. Great article! I have been thinking of selling used books to supplement my writing.

My uesd used to be a seller of rare books and did well supplementing his retirement. Thanks for all your wonderful info. Please tell me why Scanpower asks for my credit card information in order to optain monney app.

As long as you can qre tracking on it Paige, I would consider Media Mail for books. You always wanting tracking. Thanks for this information. I wonder how much space people need to store the books when they do this full-time as well as how they keep the books organized.

Comments Great article! Question: What apps do you recommend to determine a books value? Thank you, Cheri. Do you use media mail? How do you figure out the mark-up price of each book to sell? Most sellers use an app like ScanPower or Profit Bandit. We shared this post on Mom. Cookies This site uses cookies to enhance your user experience. More Info Okay, thanks.

In our recent post about becoming an Amazon FBA sellerit was brought to my attention how lucrative selling used books on Amazon — and elsewhere — can be. It’s also a great flexible gig for those looking to do something are people making money selling used books on amazon or just on the weekends. Today we are focusing solely on that topic: how to sell used books for extra cash. And, we have two successful sellers stopping by to share their tips. Lori Schafer is an independent author who supplements her income buying and selling used books.

I’d love to learn about…

She is a part-time seller. Lori provided the following as her motivation to become a bookseller:. They were all over the house, and I figured it made sense to start unloading some of those I had already read before I had to turn my kitchen into a library, too! I didn’t start doing it seriously, however, until I made the leap to full-time author last year. I knew I wasn’t going to be making money for a while, and I liked the ate of having a part-time gig I could do on my own schedule. Peter Valley, on the other hand, is a professional book flipper. He has written two books on the subject and is also the owner of the popular blog FBA Mastery. Like many of us, it took only maaking chance encounter with a used book to get Peter hooked:. The margins are addictive. A variety of paid apps allow booksellers to scan a barcode with their phone’s camera or a Bluetooth barcode scanner and get instant results as to the book’s value, sales rank, and. So while it helps to have a knowledge of books, a new seller can defer completely to the data on their scanning app when making a buying decision. Had I made the switch to Amazon, for example, I would mooney been starting with no rating and no reputation. I did look into it, though, because creating and managing listings on Amazon is much easier than on eBay, where it’s quite time-consuming.