Love Books? - Easy Way to Earn Extra Income
By Craig Wallin
If you love books, and could use extra money every month, it's time to learn about the
fascinating and profitable world of selling used books online. Unlike traditional "bricks
and mortar" bookstores, you don't need a lot of money, time or a large inventory of books
to get started. in fact, you can be in business in less than an hour.
In just the last few years, Amazon has turned the traditional book selling world upside
down, with an internet bookstore that's open to all. This has opened the door to almost
anyone who wants to sell books without a traditional storefront. Today, within a few
minutes of signing up, you can sell used books to millions of customers around the world.
It costs you nothing until you make the first sale.
I stumbled into online book selling three years ago, after buying a batch of books at
an estate sale. I only wanted a few of the books, but the auctioneer said it was all or
nothing, so I ended up with the entire lot - three boxes worth. I had heard about selling
books on Amazon, so I gave it a go.
Imagine my surprise when most of the estate sale books were sold in less than a month.
I added up the sales, and found I had made over a $700 profit for about four hours of
work. Now I make a steady income selling used books on Amazon, after making a lot of
mistakes along the way. Here are some tips to help you avoid my mistakes and make more
money on your book sales.
Never buy these "dogs". You'll have a hard time selling:
• Art books. They are hard to sell and expensive to ship, because of
the larger sizes.
• Coffee table books. These large format books share the same problems
as art books - low demand, low prices and expensive shipping.
• Computer books. Be careful with computer books, as they can become
outdated quickly as new versions of software and hardware are introduced.
• Fiction. Publishers tend to print too many copies when they release a
new fiction title, which almost always results in low prices later. For example, the
bestselling author John Grisham has dozens of his books listed on Amazon.com, with prices
as low as a penny.
The real money is found in non-fiction books that you can find at library sales, estate
sales and thrift shops. My luckiest find was an investing book found at a garage sale for
a dollar that brought over $100 online. That's an exception though, to be honest, and most
often you'll find $3-$5 books that can be sold online for $10 to $50. The "how-to"
category is always in demand.
Although you can sell used books at other online stores such as eBay, you'll get the
highest prices by selling used books at Amazon.com. Amazon has a great reputation,
millions of books in their "virtual" used book inventory and millions of readers who shop
there first.
Selling used textbooks is another potential money making "niche" market, as prices at
school bookstores have gotten so high that many students rent, rather than buy, their
textbooks. Many older textbooks enjoy steady demand, as the content is timeless.
Selling used books online is an ideal home based business that's fun, profitable and
easy to start. Most new booksellers start with their own surplus books, then use the
profits to buy more used books at garage and estate sales. If you can spare just an hour a
day, you could be making a solid extra income. When the economy slows down, used books
sell better, so it's also a recession resistant business. So check your bookshelves and
neighborhood garage sales to see if you can find a few undiscovered treasures as well.
Craig Wallin is the author of Used Books Into Gold, the guidebook for online
booksellers, and the editor of Extra Income Bulletin, a resource about honest businesses
you can start on a shoestring. To learn more about selling used books online, visit:
Extra Income Bulletin.
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