I am now a hardened seller of books on Amazon. After watching the books pile up on the bedroom floor it finally dawned on me that I could sell them on Amazon, make a little extra cash, and clean up my bedroom at the same time.
A good plan … right?
Well … er … maybe not.
There are some realities of selling books on Amazon that I hadn’t counted on, and I share them with you now for your edification (because, face it, who can’t use a little edification – like Pop Tarts – in their lives every now and then).
Lesson #1: Any book that you can find in an airport bookstore will make you very little money
A book that sells in an airport bookstore is most likely a mass-market book, meaning that a lot of them have been published, meaning that a lot of people have probably bought them, meaning a lot of people probably own them, meaning that a significant percentage of people probably want to now (having read it) get rid of it.
Lets take Tim O’Briens’s excellent book, The Things They Carried (which I highly recommend … and which I’m no longer selling).
This book can be bought used, in good condition, for $0.99. Amazon will charge the buyer $3.99 for shipping, and keep $0.99 of that for themselves (their commission). Problem is, it costs me $4.66 to ship it domestically with USPS, leaving me with an investment-bank-like profit (ok, maybe not) of $0.32 cents for selling this book. Worth my time? I think not.
So, unless you’re a professional bookseller, or a masochist (and what’s the difference, honestly?) stick with textbooks (usually priced highly to begin with), and other books that did not enjoy a prolonged print run.
Lesson #2: The best way to sell your book is to be the lowest price
I listed 22 books, 16 of these I priced so that they would be the lowest price. These books sold like hot cakes. All the others languish somewhere below the top of the list.
And it makes sense, since all other things being equal, people buy on price alone. Of course sometimes people won’t buy the lowest priced book if it has highlighting, or some other malformation, but generally speaking, people know what they’re getting into, and price is the only thing that matters. And there is no chance to establish a relationship with a buyer. And no way to really differentiate yourself on the Amazon platform.
All this is bad for sellers, but great for buyers.
Lesson #3: It’s hard to be the lowest price for long
Price wars are common among sellers. After all, for many sellers their costs are sunk – they’ve already purchased the book – so any profit is good profit (as long as they feel it compensates them for their time). So when you put your book on Amazon at the lowest price, it’s not unlikely, in fact probably very likely, that someone will soon reprice their book to be just a little bit lower. Sometimes even by just 1 cent.
And honestly, that’s enough for their book to be sold over yours.
Lesson #4: Unless you have a lot of hard to find books, and you’re willing to engage in price wars, you’re better off giving your books to the Salvation Army
I mean, who needs this hassle? ;-)
Pity the poor book seller
As always, thanks for listening.
~alex
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I sell books which don’t net any profit on Amazon from an environmental perspective.
Book donations don’t always get taken up by people on the other side. Selling something via Amazon, if even for a $1 profit, will ensure that it enters someone’s library and stay there as opposed to a landfill, which is a possibility with donations.
I do the same with things around the house. You would be amazed how people fight for free mattresses, for instance, listed on Craigslist.
PS – Amazon postage reimbursement rates are marked to USPS, not UPS, which is more expensive. They’ve got it down to a science, and even know a book’s weight by ISBN. They add some buffer too, so I rarely lose money and sometimes made a little back using USPS Media Mail.
LOL.
I go by a simple rule; if no one is competing, sell a book at least $3 less than Amazon. If others do compete, no book should sell at less than $9.99. That said, most of my books no longer sell. On principle, I just won’t sell at a penny, for one reason alone: if I was in business, as a small bookshop, would I want someone off the street to do this to me? It is futile, why sell it, if you make nothing on the deal? Why list if you are the 100th seller dumping it at a penny? Quite silly if you ask me :-)
On a more serious note, I really feel for the little guy, and we as a society should stop acting like pigs. If we have something to sell, sell it at a high enough price so you don’t drive a smaller person out of business! Capitalism may not have a social component, but, by God, doesn’t anyone have personal values anymore?
P.S. I sell books online, rarely :), so I have my bias, I know. But then, don’t we all?
i have a friend that claims he makes over 100k selling books on amazon – by going to the flee markets and library book sales ? is this possible ? – he does this part time he claims.
Helpful post. The problem with donating books is that they are often not picked up again. It’s ideal to be able to recycle the book back to someone who wants to read it even if you don’t make much money on it.
I found hundreds of good books in a dumpster two summers ago and put them all out on display. Over the course of 2 weeks people came and picked the ones they liked to clear them all out.
There are some used bookstores which will buy books but fewer are doing it. They also often only take certain types of books and/or pay very little per volume unless it is special or rare.
You probably can make some money on books if you are willing to find large inventories of cheap used books and study up on the ones that will fetch a good price on Amazon. Making a $100K a year on a part time sounds like a stretch to me.
If you are crafty there are some books that look fairly plain but are out of print and command high prices. Of course these books are hard to find so if you spend days searching you might find one or two but that won’t result in anything above the minimum wage.
I just started selling books on Amazon. I do not understand what makes a book collectible. If a 1974 copy called 1st edition is collectible than musy not a 1973 copy be even more so? But i do not se the 1973 copy there as a collectible nor doesit say 1st edition inside. Confused!!
Books are collectible for many reasons. Strong demand and few quantities for sale set high prices.
About your first edition question: The word “edition” means different things in the book world. Here’s a brief explanation about the meaning your question refers to. When talking about collectible books, especially literary books, the term “first edition” really means “first printing”, meaning the first time the book has been published. And in most cases, that means first hardcover printing. For the last 25 or 30 years, most publishers have used a number line on the copyright page to indicate which printing a book belongs to. If the number line runs ” 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10″, for example, then it is probably a first printing. Most publishers put the words “First Pirinting” on this page too. If another copy reads “2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10″ then it is a second printing, even if the words “First Printing/Edition still appear on the page. Be careful though; there is no single industry-wide method publishers use to identify printing history. At least one major publisher drops the “1″ to indicate its first printings.
About price, with few exceptions, a second printing — or any printing besides the first — adds no value for collectors. Let’s say that a first printing of some collectible mystery is worth $100 in fine condition; a second printing in the same condition might be worth $3. The exceptions are too detailed to go into here, but you can trust that most non-first edition copies of a collectible book have little value.
The use of number lines to indicate printing history didn’t become common until the 1970s, so when you find books printed earlier, you really need to have a first edition identification guide. Before the 1970s, it seems that every publisher had its own way to indicate its printings, and this identification information can easily fill a book. Dealers and serious collectors buy books to help them identify first editions/printings. You can find both hardcover versions and handy paperback formats that fit into a pocket. If you want to sell collectible books, the first step is getting a identification guide for yourself.
Otherwise you’ll never know if you’re really offering a first edition for sale. I can tell you that many collectors shy away from buying collectible books online from novice booksellers because the seller’s description makes it obvious they don’t know how to identify a first edition.
Finally, what makes a book “collectible” can’t be answered with a short reply. But again, strong demand and low supply affects the prices in any field of collecting. And here are two basics every seller of collectible needs to know. For most collectible hardcover books, especially those printed in the 20th century, the presence of the book jacket is essential. There are always exceptions, but you can be sure in most cases that no collecter will buy a first edition copy that lacks the jacket. Second, condition is absolutely paramount. To a collector, words used to describe a collectible book (any book actually), words like “Fine” and “Very Good” and “Good” refer to generally accepted meanings. A book’s condition is always a matter of opinion, but most dealers agree on what these terms mean, so make sure you understand them. Collectors are usually very fussy about condition. I guess I’m one of these fussy types because not long ago I returned a $100 online book purchase to its seller because he failed to mention some minor-but-noticeable scratches on the book’s jacket.
Finally, I suggest you look at the website for the ABAA, the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America. It has a lot of good information for beginners and links to some of the key dealers in the business. You can learn a lot by looking at how the pros describe books.
Hope this helps.
I learned the hard way that selling a book online can be costly. I sold a book for $3.00. The buyer was also charged $3.99 for shipping. So final sale is $6.99. Amazon took $2.79 of my profit leaving me with only $4.20. The problem with all this is that it cost me $7.60 to ship the book. So in the end I lost money. With shipping cost being so high it seems that it is virtually impossible to make any money selling on Amazon.
Selling books online is a great way to make money from home. I agree that the lowest price is a good indicator but it’s not the ONLY indicator of a sale. Buyers look at other thing such as feedback.
I run a blog at sellyourbooksonline.com that is dedicated to online bookselling so if you or your readers are interested, please feel free to stop by.
I’ve seen a person at a library book sale that buys books there and sells them on Amazon. She had some sort of computer thing that she was scanning the barcodes. What is that called and does anyone here use that? Also, if you have the cost, that would be appreciated it.
Thanks.
The scanner is an expensive item for serious sellers, they are usually looking for books that will at the very least net them 5x profit and can usually make 10x – 30x profit on most books. Prices range anywhere from $300 to $900 and require a monthly subscription between $10 – $50. It basically holds a database of all books with a barcode and gives a instant result of the lowest price of the book on Amazon along with the sales rank (to know how fast it sells).
I got as much out of reading the comments here as I did out of reading the article! Thanks.
I use a thing called MediaScouter. I’ve used a couple of other ones and this one is by far the best. Daily updates on all media, not just books. You can set parameters of buying so the scanner will tell you if you should buy or not. http://www.mediascouter.com
Where do you get the scaner?
Don’t sell on amazon. The profit margins are slim and they walk away with the majority of the profits.
You will lose money in the long run.
Well, this is just like something I’d do… another money making proposition – NO! I’m in the beginning stages of going through my own boks an I hoped that some some popular hard cover’ed novels in very good condition, with excellent dust jacket, etc. But, I can by reading the what the OP wrote and also all of the intelligent responses after that one. So, I just pulled out a copy of Michael Crichton’s State of Fear. I can’t tell if it’s a firs edition/my guess – no.
“First Edition”
Library of Congress Cataloging -in Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 0-06-62141413-0
94, 05, 06, 07 08/RRD 10987654321
I thought it might be worth a little more because it’s in perfect condition and the author is now dead. But, it sounds like I would need to keep in an airtight chamber at just the right oxygen and humidity levels and the, maybe in 50 years when I’m most likely no longer here, someone might be able to sell it for $1.99 plus shipping…unless the whole world is moving to itunes to listen to their books or Kindle devices. This just doesn’t sound very good for small local bookstores.
I wonder if I might be better off taking them to my small, locally owned bookstore and giving them the good books to sell. It’s either there or the library.
I know it makes a difference if the book is out of print or very hard to find. So, before I list anything on Amazon or ebay, I’ll make sure to check the availability of the book I want to sell. Maybe I’ll get lucky and find one that will make some money….or, I’ll win the lottery and not have to worry about selling the darn books! ;)
P.S. I’m sure that selling on ebay is the same thing. But, thank all of you who took time to share your experiences. It’s to much easier getting advice from others who have been down this road before!
The big boys make a killing in selling the 1c books, CDs and DVDs by selling over 500 plus items per day or so netting a discount that we small guys don’t get on the postage fees. They still collect the same fee for postage from the likes of Amazon’s customers but don’t pass on the discount so that they garner a viable profit in the process. It really is that simple. Money is made on postage not on the sale of the item. Someone is over charging for postage!
Is it legal? I don’t know, but at base the matter is unfair competition, the market is effectively excluded to those who do not have the financial power to operate a large warehouse operation making a profit on the postages charges not the sale items per se. The Trust Acts were supposed to deal with this sort of thing, so I am not sure if it is legal, the post office, the big book dealers and Amazon are conspiring to make profit at the expense of a fair trade arrangement. Notionally selling at a penny each is clearly a loss, so the fee is made up on overcharged postage.
Is there a class action here, in theory possibly, but so far not in practice? Is there knowing overcharging for postage going on here? The answer appears to be yes. Surely the postage charges should be particular to the weight and size of the object posted only and not deliberately rigged to allow bulk dealers to gain a discount from the post office and yet charge their customers the same postage fee that other small dealers are forced to accept. Charging a low price is no problem, making a profit on postage charges that are overinflated to allow a profit margin to bulk dealers isn’t fair trading. Collection for postage should be a real fee for the actual postage only and these scams would disappear.
Those who operate by bulk dealing have a duty to ensure that their goods are properly packaged and delivered whereby postage charges are exactly charged for the transit service offered. This it appears they don’t do. A fair market would be appreciated, the likes of Amazon could make this happen, and their profits wouldn’t be affected by doing so. This would eliminate the 1c book and DVD trade overnight; the playing field would be leveled.
I appreciated reading this.
Having written and self-published a Book on the Nabobs of Berkshire, I was contemplating using Amazon but having read the informative commentary above, I am going to hold my horses and continue to try and sell my book through the diminishing ranks of Berkshire’s independent book-sellers.
I wonder about the question of an author’ current copyright when a book is sold as “new” by a third party on Amazon, ebay, etc. Is this legal? Do sellers just ignore the author’s copyright share?
Thanks
@ Colette – First sale doctrine ensures that the rightsholder only controls the first sale, whether from them to, say, a bookstore. After that, it’s fair game whether brand new or torn to bits.
This was a great post. Even though it was from a couple of years ago most of what you wrote still holds true. The other big thing that has become more prevalent is the use of FBA or having Amazon fulfill your orders. That is what I use and it has really helped my sales. I am currently blogging about my adventure and I try to list what books I sold and other useful information. If you are interested you can go to AlwaysBooking.com
I’m selling my 800 plus book library. I have listed 40 of those on amazon. my seller name is: arnell anderson. So far, I’ve sold two books and I first listed on amazon two weeks ago. How long and how many books must I sell before I go from “new seller” to a rated seller?
I keep wondering where the “Big Boy” booksellers get their books and what’s the secret to buying textbooks low and selling them high?
Pretty damning stuff – c’est la vie!
Ok, I’m sold…away from Amazon, I’ve sold plenty of books on half.com and have always found them to be fair and reasonable.
Biblio looks good to me too so I’ll send some high end books like the one that I found recently at the dump. A Caxton printed History of Osteopathy, I can only find a few for sale anyplace bu using search engines like addall.com, and the lowest sells for $1750 the highest for $2700…so on occasion one can still find deals at the dump!
First, to Howard Gray about the 1 cent books. I LOVE the class action idea. The bulk sellers ruin everything. Second, to Arnell, you are a rated seller the minute that someone rates you. Finally, to Joe Alamo, I am a professor and we receive tons of free textbooks that sell extremely well. Don’t be jealous: most of us are horribly paid! But the bulk t-b sellers are publishers and their reps.. Finally, people, don’t forget that with many books, the longer you hang onto them the more they are worth. I’ve decided to leave some of my best stuff to my duaghter. I wonder why there isn’t more on thsi topic on the web?
I agree with your article, only what selling books for cash with one of the more reputable online book buyback networks such as books4cash. They pay postage and save you heaps of time with their online system. They even have a Andriod and iPhone app so you can price and sell books from virtually anywhere!
I agree with your article, only what about selling books for cash with one of the more reputable online book buyback networks such as books4cash. They pay postage and save you heaps of time with their online system. They even have a Andriod and iPhone app so you can price and sell books from virtually anywhere!
My experience has been totally different selling on amazon. Sure, they can take a big chunk out of some of the books, but I am still making a good profit for very little work. I’m not sure why folks are having a problem losing money on shipping. I Just shipped a 4. pound 10 ounce bible for a little over $4 – and that included confirmation. What books are costing over $7 – and regularly so that they hurt your profit margins? The vast majority of my books cost me between $2 and $3 to ship and given the $3.99 standard shipping credit, I am making money on every one of those. When a book comes along that costs more to ship, I have more than made up for it on other books.
I suppose having the right books makes a big difference. I generally stay away from fiction except in rare circumstances, and I have a lot of theology, philosophy, economics, gardening, commentaries, text books and stuff like that which all sell well. Anyways, it is far from a waste of time for me, and my stuff sells fairly regularly. That said, I am not trying to make big time money – it’s merely a side gig for me that get me an extra couple hundred dollars here and there (sometimes a thousand, sometimes $50). I don’t rely on it, but in this economy and while I am looking for a job, it helps the family put food on the table.
I think the key to selling books in today’s market is niche subjects/genres. Something generally hard to find, not often available. It means booksellers may have to also look harder to find stock, but when found, better profit can follow. Competing over price can only lead down the road to no profit.
I have been selling books on Amazon for a few months now. I think I’ve sold around 8 books and made about £100 – I haven’t been putting a lot of effort though.
I have a friend, however, who is dedicated to selling books on Amazon. Her and her husband have actually quit their jobs and are using the profit to pay for their mortgage! The way they do this is by scanning each book with a special scanner which brings up the average price of the book on Amazon.
Like I said, I’m not fully dedicated – but this pair travel around the UK visiting charity shops and book fairs in order to find rare and expensive books!
I’m sticking at it!
I have enjoyed reading these posts.
I have always suspected that the business to be in is in mail delivery. How do they lose? It’s not like there are many suppliers competing against each other, is there? And then, everyone says or thinks it cheaper to buy on the internet, and at first glance that appears to be the case-until you see the postage charges. That item you were hoping to get at a record low level of a penny doesn’t seem so cheap after all. And do you really want to continue to add to the profits of postal companies.
Further more, why would anyone go to all that effort…advertising on amazon, buying stationery, packing the articles, writing out adress labels, running to the post, checking your account for payments, for seller’s stars etc. When time is the most precious commodity we have, it just doesn’t seem to me to be a good way to spend it. That’s just my opinion.
I very nearly got sucked in to selling my books thru’ amazon but now I think it’s far better to recycle them through a local charity shop, let them enjoy some cash & let someone else enjoy what you once possibly enjoyed reading.
Do not sell your books on etextshop.com, as they change the quoted price and don’t send a check anyway! They gave me the used price once they were shipped (the books were NEVER used) and most even had the shipping plastic still on. Don’t do business with them!