Selling books on Amazon

I would also do a local survey before jumping big into this.  A LOT of what you can do with this will depend on your area.  I’ve been selling used books for probably ten to twelve years, and I’ve always made a little at it, but the margins are getting progressively smaller.  This is for several reasons.  People who USED to donate tons of books to thrift stores, library sales and other used venues now know that they can make SOMETHING off them at Ebay or other places.  I used to drive around to probably 8-10 major sales a year, quite profitably.  For the last four years, I haven’t even been able to make enough to pay for my gas to go to them.  More people realize the value of used books.  The rise of places like paperbackswap and other swap sites and stores has also had a major impact.  I deal a LOT more on paperbackswap now than I do on selling used books.  The margins have just dried up, and I’m better off getting a book credit good for a book I want than I am trying to sell on the competitive sites.  I AM a seller on Amazon and Alibris, and I’ve done Ebay and half.com also in the past.  All these places take a pretty good chunk out of what you get.  Also a lot of the books that show up in my area in used stores that have higher resale margins are books that for personal reasons I choose not to deal in (salacious hardcover bestsellers, for instance).  In my experience, people who are buying used books ARE in fact very, very value conscious.  It is my experience that buyers with “tons of money” tend to choose to purchase new books.  Reselling textbooks is even more mercurial.  You can invest and buy some books that seem to have a high resale value, and then the next week the publisher comes out with a new edition, all the schools switch to it and the value of that text nosedives.  You CAN make some money on the side doing these things, but it’s best if you know the market for what you are doing very, very well.  It’s also best if you have a relatively “unmined” area.  There are areas where there are dozens of mommies raking over the used sales and thrift stores, ALL trying to turn a buck.  If you are the only one in your area, it’s great.  If you are not, well.  I’ve had many conversations with much larger sellers like Jan Bloom and Heather Idoni about the difficulties of the used market.  We used to be able to waltz into any used sale and scoop up Landmarks and other OOP classics by the dozens, and then keep or sell them for an average of $5 to $10 each.  Nowadays, at many of the places we go, we might spot five Landmarks, and the prices you can get for most of them have dropped down to around $3 for the common ones.  You just hardly ever “luck into” the more expensive ones any more–people have wised up and even if these are donated to a sale, they are nearly always “identified” and put in a special, higher-price section or even auctioned instead.  Just a few thoughts.  I do hope you all live in pristine areas where no one knows the value of books and you can all scoop them up and make tons!  But I just think it important to realize that everyone is not going to be able to, or even be able to consistently make enough $$ to pay for the data plan on their fancy phone.  Realism when going into a self-starting business is ALWAYS a good thing.  Of course I’m an economist at heart, but I’d definitely go to the trouble of making a survey of local conditions, spend some time doing market research, come up with a basic business plan and only expand to higher-end options as you start turning a profit.  Don’t forget to count your time as well. 

Bookworm, those are all very good points.  I would agree that those with money to spend are looking to buy new, unless they’re buying vintage, hard-to-find books, in which case they are probably collectors (or homeschoolers LOL).  It’s just like with clothes.  If you have money (or think you have money  ), you’re going to buy new, not go to yard sales and buy 2nd hand.  I know lots and lots of people who most likely make the same amount of money as us or less (based on their jobs, not actual stated income), yet they buy all things new, not used.

Linda, good point about storage fees and refunds.  I would at least want to be notified about someone returning my stuff.  If they can just do it automatically without letting me know, I would be a little more hesitant about that.  I suppose if you’re selling $1,000+ every month it wouldn’t matter much, though.  More to look into before ending up owing Amazon money for selling my books for me……    LOL

The fees for FBA have recently gone up from what I am reading, and what is minimal to one person may be a lot to another, this is why I ask everyone to be careful and look at it without the rose tinted specs. Yes the customer is always right, however when a book can be read by the buyer and refunded over a year later by Amazon without the sellers knowledge because the buyer did not like it – there is a problem I think. I know I won’t be doing it – but I have been in this world long enough to know that there are people out there genuinely hoping to make extra money, who find themselves hurt at the end of the day by having high expectations of something like this – we should not be promising huge success for others or even predict it without knowing for sure if it will work for them – I should hate for any of the lovely ladies on this forum to be hurt. As someone famous once said “trust but verify” and don’t walk into something without doing your very own research, and research like Bookworm suggested – the only thing that is guaranteed is that Amazon is making money..oh and I like Amazon by the way – but they are the ones holding the cards. I have sold on ebay and Alibris and book selling is not as easy as it sounds – and few people if any are going to make $3000 a month at it and still have a family life. Just being realistic. Trust and verify, especially in this day and age – there is no easy road to wealth or even extra income. This is not an attack on you Jenn, just pointing out that it is not as easy as it sounds..and people need to do the leg work to find out if it would be worth it to their particular situation….Linda

Jenn I am sorry you think this has gotten out of hand, I think it was just a few of us having some reservations and asking that people be sure to research before getting into something that may have hidden costs involved. My intent in writing my posts was not to make you feel or look bad, but to make sure that people were aware that it is unlikely that everyone would make a bundle selling books. I sincerely hope that those who go into this are successful, you included but I would never think that telling people about possible pitfalls would be considered out of hand – I think it as helpful as what you are saying – it is always good to look at both sides wouldn’t you say? Anyway if offense was taken I am sorry – my intent was purely to tell people that seldom is anything as simple as it seems on the surface and to do careful research before laying out money for something that may not work for them. I have seen too many people get into trouble trying to make extra money. Good luck to all of you who do this – I wish you well. Linda

I didn’t think it was out of hand, either.  I appreciated looking at both the pros and the cons and the facts/reality of it since I actually have been looking into this.  I learned a lot from both sides, and I have a lot to chew on and consider now.  I’m really glad you started this thread!

As usual Doug, wonderful response – and you are right the link to the ebook was my red flag, I too have seen too many of those – I want to put a smiley face here but I don’t have the capability – so this will have to do :))))) will I ever be able to put a yellow one on here?? Linda

I am just now reading through all of this.  Thanks for your post, Doug. 

I want thank Jenn for sharing all of the information and enthusiasm.  You almost have me motivated to go ahead and at least list on e-bay the stack of books that have been piling up.  It has been on my to-do list for some time.  Now I know why they are called “living books”: these piles of books keep growing!  I like buying them more than I like selling them.  I know the time it takes to list on e-bay.  Take a picture, type a description, try to price it right, guess on the shipping cost and hope I make a little extra cash for this or that.  I wonder, how much better is Amazon than E-bay for selling less than 40 items per month? 

I also would like to know if there is any other way to know which books are valuable, other than having the phone app.  Could one just buy those obscure, non-fiction books and then list them for sale?  Are there many out there that really are not worth much?

I would like to add about the $.01 + $3.99 shipping.  Just last week I bought a 2 cd set of Rossini for a total of $4.99 on Amazon.  I got the package and it was shipped media mail with $.43 cents worth of old postage stamps = $.29 + (4) $.01 stamps on it.  I thought the postage part of it was quite odd.  It was from Ohio.  Anyway, I was glad to have spent only $5 used instead of $13 new.

I appreciate the cautions from Bookworm and Linda.  This is certainly something that needs to be researched and thought about and prayed about.  I would like to share a little more about the taxes in the U.S., for those who may be considering doing this.  In the case of audit, you would need to prove that it has a business purpose and is not just a hobby in order to deduct the expenses on schedule C.  You need to keep track of your expenses of the books, office and postage expenses and also mileage for business purpose along with tracking the income.  You would be taxed self-employment tax on the profit.  This rate is generally 15.3%.  Then you pay income tax on the profit at the tax rate based on your total taxable income.  Then you may need to pay state income tax.  I just want everyone to count all the costs.

We have two Goodwill stores in our area and I love to hit the garage sales.   I will stay tuned.