How to Sell My Old Books
September 25th, 2011I wanted to sell my old books last year as we were planning to move abroad and we could not take them all with us. I did some research and I then found out that there are a few ways to do this, both online and locally. If you want to keep things local, you should look for a used book store near you, and call to see if they will buy your books. Used book stores might not want all of the books you have, depending on condition, topic, what stock they have. You could call around to local book stores and ask before you bring books in- it might be useful to have a list of your books.
Here’s an easy way to sell my old books, I feel
Image by zimpenfish via Flickr
I’ve come to know as well that another (better) way to sell my old books is via internet. There are two main websites that are the leaders for selling books- Half.com and Amazon.com. When you sell books on either of these sites, the process is fairly simple: You will use their website to list your books for sale. People looking for books will search for a certain title, and see a page of all the different sellers that has the book available for purchase. If they choose to buy from you, the website will handle the payment and notify you that your book has sold. You’ll then ship the book through the post office, FedEx, or UPS to that person. The post office -USPS- tends to be the cheapest option because they have an inexpensive service for books called “Media Mail”. You will be reimbursed for a certain amount of the shipping cost, typically around $4. This is the same amount the buyer is charged for shipping. You can also offer expedited shipping, which costs more for you and the customer, and is also reimbursed more.
After you’ve made a sale, the website will pay you for what you’ve sold and delivered, minus a commission. Usually, this happens on a monthly basis. Generally, you will enter your bank account information into their website, and they will directly deposit your earnings into your account, which takes about 7-10 days. You may be worried about the security of entering your banking information- this is understandable, but as long as the website is a reputable one such as Half.com or Amazon.com, it is quite safe.
So if you decide to sell your books, it will not be a hard thing to do. I have managed to sell my old books, as a matter of fact. On both Half.com and Amazon.com, you will list the books that you have based on the ISBN- this stands for International Standard Book Number. You will enter the ISBN on their search page and look for a link to sell yours- on Half.com the link says “Sell my copy”, and on Amazon.com the link is a button labeled “Sell yours”, next to “Have one to sell?”. When you list your book, you will be asked to rate its condition. This refers to the physical condition, meaning- is it new? Is it gently used? Does it have underlining, writing, or highlighting? Is it very worn? The website will have guidelines what makes a certain book a certain condition. Buyers will see books categorized by their condition and choose what they want. While many buyers are looking for the least expensive book, often times, buyers will not choose the poorest-quality book. Some buyers may be looking for new or like-new books for a gift. While it may be tempting to judge your books’ condition generously, it is best to avoid this. If you grade a book ‘Like New’ and a buyer doesn’t agree with your rating, then it will be troublesome for you. Amazon and Half like to keep their buyers happy, and will generally allow them to process a return for a book they don’t consider satisfactory- at expense to you. It’s generally a good idea to list a book conservatively to ensure you won’t have this trouble.
How do I really sell my old books?
Once you’ve sold a book, you will get an email from the website telling you so. It will list the book, how much it sold for (which is the price you set), how to ship it, and by what time. It is important to take special note of these last two. Many orders may come in wanting the standard inexpensive shipping, and it could get easy to neglect the checking of the shipping method and accidentally ship a book with standard shipping after the buyer paid for expedited shipping- that is a headache. Also, you commit to ship your books in a reasonable time after they have sold. This depends on the website’s policy, but it is generally within two business days. Be sure to ship your books within this time, preferably as soon as possible.
The best way to ship a book is usually a padded envelope. Padded envelopes do a good job of protecting the book during their journey and are inexpensive. They don’t require any additional packing material such as packing peanuts or bubble wrap, either. If you are selling a brand new book, however, it may be a good idea to ship it in a rigid box in order to be absolutely sure that the buyer gets it in brand new condition. If you get into higher volume sales, there are other systems of packing books that can reduce costs.
Once it is packed, it is time to ship it. You could just take it to the post office, but online postage services can be remarkably convenient and cost effective. You can buy postage and print a shipping label directly from Half.com after you make a sale, and Half will deduct the shipping cost from your earnings. You can then print the label and tape it onto the parcel (be careful not the tape over the barcode). This method is very good because the added expense is very low- currently it is an extra seven cents per transaction, then it’s only your cost to print a label. This is worth it because the label makes your parcel look much more professional than a hand-labeled parcel when your customer receives it, and saves you time at the post office. Happy customers are more likely to be repeat customers- and they will be able to rate your service on the website, which potential customers will see.
These are the basics of selling your books. I hope my tips have given you an idea on how to sell your used books both online and locally. I know I’ve been lucky to be able to sell my old books using the means mentioned above.
