Making Selling Books Online Easier with the SP2100 Laser Barcode Scanner

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Recently, I got to field test the BarcodeGuy UnionNet SP2100 Laser/Bluetooth Barcode Scanner developed by BarcodeGuy.com to see how it measured against my Socket Mobile 7Ci CX2870-1409 Bluetooth Scanner

I’ve used this scanner for a month now, and I have to say – I’m very impressed! The SP2100 has saved me a considerable amount of time and has made selling books online much easier and more enjoyable.

The following is my review of the scanner and what I feel are its biggest benefits for online booksellers who find books to sell online with Bookscouter.

Full disclosure – I was given a demo SP2100 by BarcodeGuy.com to test for this review.

What You Get

BarcodeGuy.com offers barcode scanners for iPad, iPhone, and iPods, as well as Android, Windows, Mac, and Blackberry tablets, phones, and PCs. I field tested the SP2100 for Android devices.

My SP2100 Laser Barcode Scanner package came with the SP2100 scanner, an AC wall charger, a portable charger that can be plugged into your car’s cigarette lighter, a User’s Guide (on resource CD), and a lanyard to tether the scanner to your belt or jacket.

Setting Up the SP2100 and Establishing a Bluetooth Connection

Before using the SP2100, you need to give it a charge with the AC wall charger. Mine only needed 2 hours to get a full charge.

Now you can link the SP2100 to whatever device you want to pair it with. I linked my scanner with my Samsung Galaxy 4 Tablet in less than two minutes. (You should refer to the instructions provided in the User’s Guide in the CD to make sure your scanner has the proper settings when you connect it to your tablet or phone.)

Once you pair your SP2100 with your tablet or phone, they should connect when you turn them on. If you run into any problems, go to “Settings” on your device, click on “Bluetooth,” and press SP2100. It should link up instantly.

How the SP2100 Saves You Time and Effort When Finding Books to Sell Online

Now you’re ready to use the SP2100 to look for books to sell for extra money. Just go to Bookscouter.com on your tablet or smart phone, and login to your free online account.

When you find a book you want to check, aim your SP2100 at the book’s barcode and press the scanning button to read an ISBN barcode. The ISBN number will appear in Bookscouter’s search bar so Bookscouter  can look up any online bids for the book from buyback companies and show you the best places to sell that book online.

One fantastic feature I discovered when I first used my SP2100 is that when you scan an ISBN barcode with this scanner, Bookscouter automatically looks up the ISBN number and brings up bids from buyback companies instantly. This lets me see how much a book is worth often less than a second after I scan it.

By contrast, when I use my Socket Mobile Bluetooth Scanner, I need to wait for the ISBN to appear, press the “Scan” button on the Bookscouter search bar, and wait for the online bids to appear. It’s a slower (compared to the SP2100) and less efficient process since I need to press multiple buttons on my scanner and tablet.

By streamlining the entire process of comparing buyback bids to pressing one button on your barcode scanner, the SP2100 saves you a considerable amount of time and effort when you’re looking for books to sell online.

How much time can the SP2100 save? In the one month I’ve used the SP2100, I’ve shaved 20 minutes off every visit to a thrift shop – and since I visit 4-6 thrift shops a day, I can now shorten my workday by up to 2 hours, increasing my hourly wage.

Beyond that, I’ve discovered I can find more books in a shorter span of time thanks to the SP2100’s greater efficiency – which makes it easier to sell more books for more cash.

Other Benefits of a SP2100 Barcode Scanner

The SP2100 Laser Barcode Scanner saves me time in two other ways.

First, the SP2100 comes with a laser scanner. Other barcode scanners come with an image scanner which, while good, doesn’t always read all the barcodes you aim it at.

The SP2100’s laser, by contrast, has a very fine edge that can scan the tips of most ISBN barcodes even when the majority of the barcode is covered by a price sticker. This saves me the time and hassle of having to enter lots of ISBNs by hand.

Second, I want to pay a special compliment to the SP2100’s long battery life.

Since I charged this barcode scanner a month ago, I’ve had it on for over 40 hours, and still haven’t had to recharge it.

Granted this is a new scanner so I don’t know if the rechargeable battery (1450mAh Lithium Polymer according to the website) will weaken over time – still for a 2 hour charge, 40+ hours of battery life is pretty impressive!

Drawbacks of a SP2100 Barcode Scanner

Right now, the only reason I can think of that would keep people from immediately snapping up the SP2100 Barcode Laser Scanner is its price.

At $349 per scanner package (which includes charger, lanyard, and portable charger), the SP2100 is more expensive than the Socket Mobile Bluetooth Barcode Scanner, which usually costs $200 or less.

And yet, when you consider all the benefits offered by the SP2100 Barcode Scanner, the higher price is justifiable. Frankly, the amount of time you save using this scanner is worth well over $349.

Final Assessment

My advice? If you’re serious about making extra money selling books online and can spend two or three days a week searching through thrift stores, buy the SP2100. Within a couple weeks – a month at the most – it will have paid for itself and you’ll continue to make more extra cash selling books than you would otherwise.

On the other hand, if you’re unsure about making money by selling books for cash, stick to using your phone or tablet. If and when you find this kind of work profitable and fun – and you want to make it easier and faster – invest in a SP2100. You’ll be glad you did.

I hope you enjoyed this review and found a product that can help you make more extra cash selling books online. If you’d like to ask me any more questions, feel free to contact me at SellBooksFastOnline@gmail.com.

And as always, don’t forget to subscribe!

More Unusual Treasures I Found in Books

Hey everyone!

A while back, I wrote an article, Weird Forgotten Things I Found in Used Books that details some of the very strange things you can come across while searching for used books you can sell for a profit with Bookscouter.

Most of these items were used as forgotten bookmarks used by the books’ previous owners, and can range from the very valuable (giftcards, money) to the very personal (love letters) to the downright bizarre (bird feathers and dried leaves).

Anyway, I had such a good time writing that article that I started keeping a list of all the other strange items I came across while cleaning out my used books just so I can share some of these unusual finds with you in this article.

So with no further ado, here are five other weird things I found in books:

Collectible IMAX Film Cell

Okay, this one was kind of cool. While flipping through a book I found at a thrift store, I came across a collectible IMAX Film Cell from an actual 70mm Film Print used in the science fiction movie Interstellar.

My guess is that the previous owner got this as a giveaway at the film’s premier (or possibly won it at a comic convention). Strange how things that seem so cool when you get them end up being used for mundane things like bookmarks.

Wonder how much this would go for on eBay?

Expired Driver’s License

And getting back to the very personal – I recently found someone’s driver’s license between the pages of a book.

Now granted this was an expired license (with a hole punched into the card), but seriously person who shall remain nameless, do you really want someone like me to know your name, height, weight, address, eye color, hair color, and birthday?

No worries as I shredded this one as soon as I got home, but let that be a warning to anyone who slips such sensitive information in their books – you never know who’s going to wind up with your property down the line (incidentally I’ve also had credit card statements, college schedules, and various Internet service bills fall out of books while flipping through them).

A Sheet of Garfield Stickers

And on a lighter note, I found a sheet of never-before used 1978 Garfield Halloween stickers in a children’s book a couple weeks ago. Not sure what I’ll do with these – offer it to trick-or-treaters? Use it as a bookmark?

A Map of the Carnival Pride Cruise Ship

And once again affirming that the books in my collection are better traveled than me, I found a map of a Carnival Pride cruise ship detailing all the amenities in each of its decks. (Never knew these ships had an entire jogging track on the sports deck or two dance clubs one on top of each other). Too bad the map didn’t come with boarding passes…

A Religious Statement Warning of the Evils of Pornography Addiction

Finding materials from churches and other religious institutions in books is actually very common (most of the bookmarks I find in used books frequently have a psalm or inspirational message from the Bible).

What made this handout denouncing pornography addiction so memorable was that I actually saw it sticking out of a book of pornography. (And no, if you’re wondering, I didn’t buy the book and sell it – most of the buyback companies you’ll find on Bookscouter actually have strict policies against purchasing pornography). Still, you have to wonder – did the previous owner manage to kick the habit?

Hmmm… maybe that’s how the book ended up in that thrift store in the first place.

Did you like this article? Would you like to receive more tips and tricks on how to sell books online for extra money? Then go ahead and subscribe to my blog!

Do you have a question or suggestion for a future blog article? Email me at sellbooksfastonline@gmail.com.

Why I Share My “Secrets” of Selling Books Online for Cash

Recently, I received a very nice email from one of my readers thanking me for sharing my methods of flipping books online for profit on this blog. Like many of you, she’s interested in earning money by selling books and was eager to try out many of the techniques I teach.

She went on, however, to ask why I was sharing my “secrets” so openly with everyone online. Wouldn’t giving away all my tricks make it harder for me to earn extra cash selling to buyback companies like Cash4Books or Sell Back Your Book?

Well, no. It hasn’t. As a matter of fact, since I started this blog way back in 2013, my profits from online bookselling have increased substantially. I’ve even encountered several booksellers who use similar methods to mine, yet we’ve never gotten in each other’s way.

Let me explain why I feel comfortable about giving all of you such detailed articles on online bookselling – and why you shouldn’t worry about competition.

Online Bookselling is a Growth Industry

First, let’s look at the practical side of why sharing information about online bookselling doesn’t hurt my bottom line.

If you’ve read my articles about making money from gold dust books, you’ll know there are thousands of books out there that you can sell for a profit online every day.

Some of these books will earn you a small profit, others will offer a massive payday, but my point is there is no way I’d be able to find, sell, and profit from more than a small fraction of them, even if I spent all my time searching for books.

Plus, when you take into account how there are more and more thrift shops, estate sales, and library bookstores opening up every day, the number of potential suppliers for a bookseller’s inventory is constantly expanding. Even if a competitor did try to buy all of the profitable books from a store or if one of those shops overprices their books, I could easily find a new supplier in no time.

Frankly, if I ever tried to take more than my fair share from all the books out there, I’d burn myself out and collapse from exhaustion – and what fun would that be?

My advice? Make what you want using Bookscouter, but don’t feel like you have to compete with other booksellers or spend all your time looking for books to sell. Relax and have fun – and if you ever have to stop for a few days or weeks, don’t worry! The books will be there when you come back.

My Personal Reasons for Running This Blog

Of course, knowing there are more books out there than I could ever hope to sell isn’t the only reason I run this blog.

The truth is, I enjoy sharing what I know and helping people learn about unusual things – and making money by selling books online with Bookscouter is definitely one of the most unusual ways I’ve ever earned extra cash!

And at the risk of sounding like a spiritual guru (or a Disney princess), sometimes the best thing to do with your knowledge is to “let it go.” I’ve had a lot of fun being an online bookseller, and it’s nice to know you guys will continue to benefit from my methods as long as this blog is up.

There’s another benefit I get from writing all of these blog articles. By taking the time to go over all of my tricks and techniques in detail, I’ve found I’ve gotten even more creative about the ways I sell books online.

Over the last few years, for instance, I’ve developed strategies that have allowed me to sell books faster and for higher prices on Amazon. This is great since you can earn even bigger profits from Amazon book sales than Bookscouter, and those profits will keep coming in even when you’re not spending your time looking for books.

I’m currently sharing many of these techniques in my Sell Books Fast Online eBook Series. If you enjoy reading my blog, I highly recommend you check out my eBooks (and please leave me a review!)

So that’s it guys! As long as I’m running this blog, you can always depend on me to be open and forthcoming about my bookselling methods. Remember, to me these aren’t “secrets” – they’re techniques everyone should be able to try out on their own!

Would you like to receive more tips and tricks on how to sell books online for extra money? Then go ahead and subscribe to my blog!

Keep sending me those questions and comments, guys! Email me at sellbooksfastonline@gmail.com.

Weird Forgotten Things I Found in Used Books

Hey guys!

Since I’m in a goofy mood today, I thought I’d take a break from my usual informative articles about selling books online for money and let you know about some of the more… weird things you find inside books while searching for used books to sell for cash.

As many of you who’ve sold books online with Bookscouter probably know, being an online bookseller is a lot like being a treasure hunter.

Think about it. You get to go to strange corners of thrift shops and library sales, flip through dozens and dozens of run-of-the-mill books, and uncover those hidden gems that will earn you a lot of extra cash online.

And while the ultimate goal remains finding valuable books you can sell to buyback companies or on Amazon for a profit, sometimes flipping through so many books on a regular basis will cause you to find some unusual items, ranging from the very valuable to the just plain bizarre.

Most of these items were used as bookmarks by the previous owners (although as you’ll see, I’d think twice before sticking some of these things in a book and then forgetting about them).

Here, in no particular order, are some of the weirdest things I’ve found inside of used books:

Dried Leaves Art

Remember those grade school nature walks or arts projects where your teacher showed you how to press tree leaves by flattening them inside the pages of a book? Apparently some people forgot to take their leaves out of their books (or thought they’d make fun bookmarks) because I sure sweep a lot of them out of my books!

What’s remarkable is the type of leaves I find – while many are ordinary leaves you can find on any tree, I’ve found some very exotic leaves and flowers pressed between the pages of a book – like Canadian maple leaves and palm tree fronds.

It’s gotten to the point where I’m thinking of starting my own leaf collection – using the unusual plants people keep leaving for me!

Fortunately, no one’s decided to hold their place in a book with a piece of poison ivy yet (who says this isn’t a high risk job?)

Love Letters and Postcards

Sometimes, the items I find tend to be of a more… personal nature. From vacation postcards sent from mother to daughter, to tiny scrawled notes that were probably passed between school desks it’s remarkable what people feel comfortable leaving inside their textbooks and novels.

More than once, I’ve come across several drafts of half-finished love letters, leaving me wondering if the finished products ever reached their intended recipients.

Don’t worry – all of these finds get immediately shredded once I find them. I figure I should value these people’s privacy (even if they don’t seem to…).

Photographs

And speaking of personal items, I’ve found more than a few… interesting Polaroids stuck between the pages of a book.

No, not that kind! (get your mind out of the gutter!). Still, you have to admit it’s weird opening a book and finding yourself staring at someone else’s vacation photos or graduation pictures.

Frankly, considering how we’re moving more and more into digital media, it’s amazing people still choose to print these hard copies. Sometimes I wonder how old these photos are – and if some of those kids in the high school photographs aren’t nearing retirement age by now.

Store Gift Cards

Apparently people will use anything as a bookmark these days – including a brand-new H&M gift card with more than $100 in store credit. Yes, it’s true – sometimes the items you find inside a book can be worth much more than the book itself!

(By the way, if any of you nice people out there like to donate books – I like free movies and restaurant meals).

Money

Now here’s a forgotten bookmark I can get behind! Quite a few people like to slip a few bucks to save their place in a book, and then end up donating their books before finishing them.

A surprising number of those bills tend to be $2 Thomas Jefferson bills that are used at the racetrack (which makes me wonder if there’s any link between people who like to read and people who like to bet on horses).

Unfortunately, in recent years, it’s become fashionable to cut up your money and only leave half a dollar bill in a book. I’ve tried to exchange this cut up money for new currency at the bank, but apparently you need more than half of a bill for it to be considered legal tender. Darn!

Trading Cards

Back in the day, lots of kids used baseball cards as improvised bookmarks.

These days, however, you can find all sorts of trading cards stuck between the pages – from Pokemon cards, to Magic the Gathering game cards, to old Fleer baseball cards.

And while I haven’t found any priceless Honus Wagner baseball cards yet, I am in the process of developing my own exciting RPG card game that involves teaming Michael Jordon and Pikachu against the Manticore from Magic the Gathering.

Greeting Cards

I’ve also found some gorgeous greeting cards in books (usually right after Christmas and New Year’s). Some of them are so fancy, I’ve been tempted to re-use the ones with just a little writing in them (Don’t worry, I’m not that cheap).

The only sad part about finding greeting cards in my thrift store finds is when I find a birthday card in a book that was clearly intended as the card’s gift. Apparently not all grandkids like receiving dictionaries as gifts…

Tickets

One of the things I love about working with used books is thinking about all the places they’ve traveled to before arriving at my local thrift shop – and nothing fires up my imagination like finding an old plane ticket or bus pass in a book.

From England to Hawaii to the Caribbean, there seems to be no end to the places a book can come from, or end up.

Once or twice, I’ve even come across someone’s entire itinerary folded in the pages of a book, and realized some of my books have traveled more than I have.

I even find some show tickets in a book from time to time – the problem is the shows are usually in Las Vegas and closed down three years ago. Sigh…

Other Forgotten Treasures Found in Books

Remarkably, these are only a few of the strange things I’ve found in books over the last ten years – and I’ll undoubtedly discover some even more unusual finds in years to come as readers become more creative with the type of things they use to hold their place in books.

Now if only someone would get the bright idea of using winning lottery tickets as bookmarks…

Did you like this article? Would you like to receive more tips and tricks on how to sell books online for extra money? Then go ahead and subscribe to my blog!

Do you have a question or suggestion for a future blog article? Email me at sellbooksfastonline@gmail.com.

How to Earn Extra Money for Vacation with Bookscouter

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The college semester is almost over! Time to have some fun and take that exotic trip you’ve been dreaming about the whole year.

But wait! Hold on! There’s a problem…

How are you going to pay for your vacation activities?

If you’re like a lot of college students, your vacation fund is probably a little… sparse at the moment. That’s understandable. College is expensive and between dorm room fees and food costs (not to mention those expensive textbooks!) your expenses have been draining your wallet for the last few months.

Fortunately, there’s a quick and easy way to raise some money before your vacation time starts – and it can be done anytime, anywhere with minimal expenses.

It’s called selling books online with Bookscouter.

Making Money for Vacations with Bookscouter

If you’re already a subscriber to my blog, you’ll know that most of my articles show readers how to generate a steady source of income by selling books online using Bookscouter, a free price comparison website that reveals which book buyback companies will pay the most for your used books.

What’s cool about this unusual way of making money is that it can also be done on the short term – for people who aren’t necessarily interested in making a career out of online bookselling, but do want to earn a few hundred (or even a few thousand) dollars to pay for upcoming holiday expenses.

Because selling books to book buyback companies allows you to immediately sell (and profit) from all the used books you buy, you don’t have to invest any time, money, or space into storing your books and waiting for them to sell (which you would need to do if you tried selling them on Amazon).

Instead, you just pack your books carefully, ship them out (using pre-paid shipping labels supplied by the buyback companies), and wait for your payment to be deposited into your PayPal account (usually in two weeks or less).

This is a fantastic way for college students to sell their textbooks for extra cash – plus since this is peak buying season for buyback companies if you go on Bookscouter right now, you’ll likely find a lot of great offers for your books (I personally recommend selling your books to Textbooks.com, Sell Back Your BookCash4Books, and/or Valore – they give good prices and fast, reliable payment).

For those of you who want to earn some serious vacation money (as in a few thousand), buying cheap used books and selling them immediately using Bookscouter is the best way to build a vacation fund short-term.

I have personally known people who used this method to raise enough money in a couple months to pay for an African safari. I myself have used this method to take trips to Disneyland, pay for Christmas gifts, and enjoy extra-long weekends hanging out with friends.

If you’d like to read a detailed explanation of how to use Bookscouter to make extra money selling books online, please read How to Make Extra Money Every Day “Flipping” Books Online. For now, however, I’d like to offer the following tips for using Bookscouter to raise money on the short-term.

Tip #1: Start Saving Money For Your Vacations Early

Considering that I’m writing this article at the beginning of December, this tip might not seem helpful now, but it is true that if you start selling books online early in the year you can raise a tremendous amount of money by your next vacation time.

I personally say you should start selling books online right now – and definitely when January comes around. This is peak buying time for a lot of book buyback companies (so you’ll enjoy higher-than-normal prices for your books).

Frankly, if you start investing just a few hours a week right now selling books online with Bookscouter, you can probably still raise some money for some holiday activities – and you’ll definitely have plenty of extra cash on hand when Spring Break and summer vacation come around.

Tip #2: Keep to a Bookscouting Schedule

Professional online booksellers like me can spend four or five days a week (or more) searching for profitable books at thrift stores and library sales.

Obviously you don’t want (or need) to invest this kind of time if you’re just selling books online short term – but it definitely pays to make and keep to a set schedule when you’re searching for good books to sell.

Make this schedule something you can stick to easily. For instance, if you pass by some thrift stores when you’re commuting to school or work, you can make it part of your regular schedule to spend a half hour searching through their bookshelves.

Alternatively, you can invest one day out of your week to check out all the thrift stores and library book sales in your area until you raise enough money for your vacation. You’ll be surprised how quickly this allows you to earn money — especially if you keep an eye out for sales.

Tip #3: Set a Goal for How Much Money You Need to Fund Your Vacation

How much money do you need for your next vacation? $500? $1000?

Work out all of your vacation expenses in advance – and then estimate how long it’ll take you to earn that much money based on the type of books you’re finding and selling.

Setting a goal will help motivate you to keep using Bookscouter until you’ve raised enough money for your trip and/or activities – and give you an idea of how much time you’ll need to invest to reach your target figure.

Keep in mind that not all of your book hunting days are going to be super-profitable (I’ve earned as little as $30 and as much as $300 shopping at the same thrift stores on different days), so you’ll need to keep that in mind when creating a time table.

That said, if you’re consistently not finding enough books to sell at your usual shops, you may want to check other libraries and thrift stores to see if they offer better books that can help you raise money quicker.

Tip #4: Keep a Separate Vacation Account

Once the money starts rolling into your PayPal account, it’ll be tempting to spend that extra cash immediately on a new pair of shoes or a night out with your friends.

Resist that urge. If you spend your money as fast as it comes in, you’ll never raise enough money for your vacation.

Keep the money in a safe place – you can keep the cash in your PayPal account, open a new bank account and deposit the funds there, or take out the cash and keep it with you until vacation time comes around.

Optional: Invest in Better Bookscouting Equipment

It doesn’t take much to start making money with Bookscouter – just a cell phone with a good data plan (I recommend Verizon) and a free barcode app you can download from Google PlayStore.

That being said, if you’d like to speed up your search for profitable books and/or find more books to earn more cash, you can invest in a professional barcode scanner.

I recommend the SP-2100 – it’s saved me a ton of time and increased my profits substantially. You can read my entire review of the scanner at Making Selling Books Online Easier with the SP2100 Laser Barcode Scanner.

Optional: Consider Selling Books Online for Trade Credit

If you shop online a lot and/or if you’re raising money to buy Christmas gifts, you can choose to sell your books for Amazon trade credit.

This is a great strategy that’s really reduced my holiday expenses over the last few years. You can learn all about it at my article Should You Sell Your Books for Amazon Credit?

Want to receive more tips and tricks for how to sell books online for extra money? Subscribe to my blog!

Do you have a question or suggestion for a future blog article? Email me at sellbooksfastonline@gmail.com.

How to Use Bookscouter’s Pricing History to Find Books That Rise in Value

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If you’ve been earning extra money by using Bookscouter to sell books online to textbook buyback companies, you’ve probably noticed that many buyback companies tend to purchase the same book titles throughout the year.

These books (which can include classic literature, self help books, and popular science texts) are known as “backlist books” and are considered required reading by several colleges, universities, and book clubs. As a result, buyback companies purchase these books on a regular basis, since they know there’ll always be a market for them.

That said, there will be certain times in a year (or even a month) where the price quotes for these backlist books will rise dramatically in value as buyback companies seek to replenish their stock. So depending on when you sell your book, you could be earning anywhere from $5 to $30 for the exact same copy of the book.

Things get trickier when you come across backlist books experiencing a temporary “dry spell” where no buyback company wants to purchase them – but which may still get a dramatic rise in price a few weeks or a month later.

This leaves you with a dilemma – naturally you don’t want to waste your money on books you can’t sell, but you also don’t want to pass up on a chance to buy several bags of books for pennies and then sell them all for huge profits a few weeks later.

That’s where using Bookscouter’s Price History features can really help you decide which books can help you make the most money.

Studying a Book’s Price History

If you go to Bookscouter’s home page right now and search for a book with its ISBN, you’ll notice two features that show the book’s price history.

The first is the View Price History feature, located right below the book’s publication information. By clicking on this feature, you’ll see a list revealing the maximum price, average price, and number of price quotes for that book over the last couple years.

The second is the 52-Week Pricing History graph that appears above all the buyback company price quotes. This graph shows the average price quote for that book for every week in the last year.

I recommend using the 52-Week Pricing History graph when you’re debating on whether or not to purchase a potentially profitable book. You’ll be able to see, at a glance, if that book has been selling for high prices in the past. This will let you quickly decide whether to buy the book or leave it.

One thing I love about using the 52-Week Pricing History graph is that you’ll be able to find books other online book scouts will pass up. Since most book scouts only look at the current price quotes offered by buyback companies when looking up prices on Bookscouter (and not their potential future price quotes), you’ll be able to buy more books to sell for money, which will vastly increase your profits.

Using the 52-Week Pricing History Graph to Make More Money

When looking at the 52-Week Pricing History Graph, you’ll want to watch for certain key signs.

First, check to see if there are any dramatic rises and falls in the book’s price – and if these price fluctuations show up on a regular basis. If the graph reveals that a book consistently sells for $20 every three weeks but then dips down to $2 between these high points, then you’ll probably want to buy the book and wait for it to rise in value again.

On the other hand, if the graph reveals that a textbook was selling for $20 six months ago but has been steadily dropping in value over the last several weeks, you’ll probably want to pass it up (or sell it quickly if you can still make a profit).

Also, don’t underestimate your own hunches. If you’ve been selling the same copy of the book multiple times to buyback companies over the last several months, odds are that title will continue to be in demand – which should factor into your decision to buy or pass up a book.

Selling Potentially Profitable Books

If you do end up buying a bunch of potentially profitable books, be sure to keep them in a box next to your laptop. You can look up their current price quotes on Bookscouter while you’re selling your other books – which will help make sure you sell them for their highest price.

And if you find you can’t sell some of these books – don’t worry. You can still profit off of them (read my article How to Make Money From Books You Can’t Sell Online to find out how).

Final Thoughts

In general, while I find Bookscouter’s Price History feature to be a useful way to spot more books to sell online for cash, it can be confusing for someone who’s just started selling books online. For this reason, I consider using Price History an intermediate technique for book scouts who are already comfortable making money by selling books online and want to increase their profits even more.

So if you’re new to this business – stick with learning the basics. Read my article How to Make Extra Money Every Day “Flipping” Books Online to get familiar with the concept of “flipping” books for profit. Learn which buyback companies are the best ones to sell to (I recommend Textbooks.com, Sell Back Your Book, eCampus, and Cash 4 Books) and pay close attention to the condition these books should be in to make you money.

Then, once you start making some money by selling books online (trust me, it won’t take long), start using more advanced techniques like Bookscouter’s Price History. You’ll be amazed by how much you’re profits will increase!

Want to receive more tips and tricks for how to sell books online for extra money? Subscribe to my blog!

Do you have a question or suggestion for a future blog article? Email me at sellbooksfastonline@gmail.com.

How to Earn Money When You Can’t Sell Many Books to Buyback Companies

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Hey guys! It’s been a while since I’ve posted an article, and I wanted to share something that’s allowed my book dealing business to generate a constant cash flow even when I can’t find many books to sell to buyback companies to earn fast extra cash.

The strategies I describe here are especially relevant if you want to make online book dealing a part time (or even full time) business – but “casual” booksellers can benefit from the tips I share as well.

As those of you who have been following my tips to earn extra money by flipping books may have realized, summer is a very busy time for buyback companies since they need to purchase a lot of books to sell to students when the school year begins.

For online book dealers, this is both good and bad. On the plus side, if you can find a lot of untapped thrift stores, library bookstores, and garage sales and buy hundreds of popular books cheaply, you can make a lot of money fast by going to Bookscouter and re-selling those books to buyback companies that offer the best prices for them.

Unfortunately, summer is also the time when finding good books to sell is difficult since a lot of people who don’t normally sell books online (especially college students reselling their textbooks) are using Bookscouter to make extra money from books for their education and vacation funds. This means the pickings at your favorite thrift stores can get sparse as your competition rises.

For those of you who encounter this problem – take heart. Much of this competition is temporary and you’ll soon find you can buy tons of books again to resell to companies like Textbooks.com, Sell Back Your Book, Cash4Books, and Valore for quick cash.

In the meantime though, how can you still make money selling books online during these potentially “lean” times?

The answer lies in doing something very simple throughout the year.

Using Amazon.com to List Your Stockpile Valuable Books

Much like a squirrel stores nuts to prepare for the winter, the smart book dealer doesn’t sell all the books he or she finds for an immediate profit. Instead, he or she lists the really valuable books on Amazon, realizing that sometimes, it makes more sense to wait weeks, months, and yes – even years for the right book to sell for the right profit.

If you read my article Should You Sell Textbooks on Amazon or to a Book Buyback Company to Make Money? you’ll see I provide a detailed explanation for when you should sell your books to a buyback company like Valore, and when it makes much more sense to list your book on Amazon and wait for it to sell for a higher profit.

For now, however, you should realize that keeping a collection of highly profitable books listed on Amazon is the best way to ensure your books continue to make you money even when you can’t find a lot of books to sell to Bookscouter’s buyback companies.

I’ve personally sold several hundred books on Amazon during these “lean times” for several times the profit I would have realized if I’d sold them immediately through Bookscouter. (Most of the books I sell through Amazon give me a nice net profit of $20 – and I’ve sold several books for hundreds of dollars via Amazon that most buyback companies would have only bought for $15).

As an added bonus, packing and shipping one $200 book you sold on Amazon is a lot faster and easier than packing 20 or 30 books to ship to a buyback company (which is something you’ll appreciate when the summer heat picks up!).

To ensure you have this stockpile (and keep profiting from it) please follow these tips:

Make Listing Books on Amazon Part of Your Regular Routine

To ensure you find those valuable books (which I like to think of as rare “diamonds” or “golden nuggets” you find among the “gold dust” books you sell to buyback companies), make sure you get a free Bookscouter account.

This will ensure that you can see what that book is selling for on Amazon as well as to buyback companies (sometimes the price difference can be quite extreme). Be sure to buy these books even if they aren’t selling a lot on Bookscouter (just make sure they’re in at least good condition).

Then when you get ready to check your books on Bookscouter to sell them to buyback companies, make sure to set aside the books that command a high price on Amazon (you may want to double check these prices on the actual Amazon website as prices can fluctuate quickly).

Make sure to list these books on your Amazon Seller Account as quickly as possible. As long as you make this a regular part of your bookselling routine, you’ll soon have a substantial collection of books selling on Amazon for high prices that will keep your cash flow constant.

Check Periodically To See if Any Amazon Books Can Be Sold Through Bookscouter

Since prices can and do go up and down quickly on both Amazon and Bookscouter, you may want to compare the price of your Amazon books against the current bids for that book on Bookscouter.

This will enable you to still profit from your book if it starts to depreciate quickly on Amazon – and gives you another stockpile of books to sell to buyback companies during those lean periods where you can’t find a lot of books to sell through Bookscouter.

Want to receive more tips and tricks for how to sell books online for extra money? Subscribe to my blog!

Do you have a question or suggestion for a future blog article? Email me at sellbooksfastonline@gmail.com.

2 Great Book Buyback Companies to Sell Textbooks To

Dollars in the Books RESIZED

With the school year just about to end, I thought I’d create another blog article promoting even more of the great book buyback companies I’ve sold books to. This list is geared particularly towards students since I know you guys are looking for good places to sell your textbooks to for extra cash over summer vacation.

These buyback companies tend to pay high for textbooks and have a long and reliable history of paying quickly for books, so they make a good choice to sell your end of the year textbooks to for extra money.

As always, you can find these buyback companies on Bookscouter!

Blue Rocket Books

Blue Rocket Books is located in update New York and pays very well for books – if you go to their website, you’ll see they’ve paid anywhere from $80 to $90 (and more) for textbook buyback packages of only 2 or 3 books.

Aside from textbooks, Blue Rocket Books will also buy books on religion, philosophy, computers, art, literature, travel, hobbies, gardening, and science (among other subjects) so students in a wide variety of majors can usually sell some or all of their books to this buyback company.

Minor highlighting, underlining, and written notes that appear in less than 20% of the book is considered acceptable (although workbooks should obviously be free of any writing). Make sure to include any CDs, DVDs, and/or computer codes that were in your book originally.

Blue Rocket Books does not accept ex-library books (if you have any ex-library books to sell consider sending them to Textbooks.com, Chegg, or Sell Back Books.)

As always, water damage, stains, strong odors, missing (or torn) pages, major wear to the binding, and smoke damage all make a book unacceptable to Blue Rocket Books (or any buyback company).

This company has a $15 minimum buyback order amount which is slightly higher than other buyback companies, but since Blue Rocket Books offers high price quotes for books, this generally isn’t a problem (some of the books I sold to them in the past sold for $10 or more a piece).

Blue Rocket offers free USPS or UPS shipping labels (with tracking numbers that let you know when your books have arrived at their warehouse). Make sure to ship your books as soon as you finish your buyback order so you can get paid faster!

Payment comes in the form of PayPal or mailed check – and I’ll just add that I’ve never had a problem with being paid by Blue Rocket Books.

K-12 Book Buyer

I’ve only sold a few book packages to K-12 Book Buyer – however when I do, my payments tend to be larger than most of my other buyback orders and payment always comes promptly.

As the name indicates, K-12 Book Buyer purchases textbooks. While most buyback companies tend to purchase mostly college textbooks, K-12 has bought grade school, middle school, and high school textbooks from me in the past, so if you’re a teacher and/or home school parent with a lot of extra textbooks and clean workbooks, it might be worth it to see if this company will buy your books.

Aside from textbooks, K-12 Book Buyer purchases fiction, literature, and art books, as well as books on religion, philosophy, computers, travel, science, technology, hobbies, crafting, and cooking.

K-12 Book Buyer does not buy ex-library books (again consider selling those to Textbooks.com, Chegg, or Sell Back Books) and you should make certain that any workbooks you send them are free of any writing, notes, underlining, or missing pages. Supplementary materials (like CDs or DVDs) should also be included in the books if you want to receive the full quoted price for those books.

K-12 Book Buyer has a minimum buyback order policy of $10 (which is pretty standard) and offers free USPS shipping for its packages. Payment comes via PayPal or mailed check (I recommend PayPal if you want to receive your money sooner).

Final Thoughts

I hope this gives you a few more options to sell your textbooks for cash once the school year ends. As always, you should become familiar with their policies before selling them your books, so be sure to visit their websites.

And if you’re interested in learning more about the best places to sell books online, be sure to read 8 Great Book Buyback Companies to Sell Books To and 2 More Great Book Buyback Companies to Sell Books To.

Want to get regular tips and tricks on how to sell books online fast and make more extra money? Subscribe to my blog!

Do you have a question or suggestion for a future blog article? Email me at sellbooksfastonline@gmail.com.

How To Make Sure You Get Paid for the Books You Sell Online

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Recently, I encountered a problem everyone who sells books online dreads. My payment for some of my buyback orders wasn’t sent to me.

This is something you’ll encounter every now and then if you sell books to buyback companies on a regular basis. While the companies you find on Bookscouter are usually reputable, even these companies encounter occasional glitches that delay your payment.

This is why it’s so important you keep good records of all of your buyback orders (something I cover in How to Record Your Sales When Selling Books Online) and keep track of which of your orders were paid and which are still unpaid.

To make sure you get paid for all of your books, please follow the following tips:

Learn How Buyback Companies Pay Before You Sell to Them

Most of the buyback companies you’ll find on Bookscouter are good businesses that pay quickly and efficiently.

That said, different buyback companies pay in different ways and on different time tables, and you should always make sure you know each company’s payment policies before you sell them any books.

Most buyback companies like Textbooks.com, Valore, Chegg, Cash4Books, and Sell Back Your Book pay via PayPal and deposit your money within 1-2 weeks into your PayPal account. (If you don’t have a PayPal account and/or don’t want to open one, most companies will mail your money via check – but this can take a month on average).

A few companies like Sell Back Books offer to deposit money directly into your bank account (which requires that you share your account numbers with them). Sell Back Books also offers the mailed check option.

And still other buyback programs, like Amazon.com’s Trade-In Program, pay in trade credit (not cash) and deposit your payment in your personal online trade credit account. While most people prefer to be paid in cash, trade credit does come with advantages that I cover in Should You Sell Your Books for Amazon Credit?

Make sure to review each buyback company’s website to learn their personal policies on payment. Many of these companies also have policies on the type of books they will buy that may affect which companies you can sell to. I cover many of these issues in my article 8 Great Book Buyback Companies To Sell Books To.

Bookscouter also offers a five-star rating system and a place where sellers can leave reviews of their experiences with different buyback companies. You can find these reviews by going to Bookscouter, clicking the “Vendors” link, and clicking on any buyback company you’d like to research. Read these reviews before selling your books to a new company – they might alert you to any unexpected polices regarding payment.

Email Buyback Companies That Haven’t Paid You

Okay, but what happens if you do all your research and a buyback company still doesn’t pay you?

First, double check your Buyback Order Records to see how much time has passed. If it’s been two weeks since you sent your order to this company, wait a few more days – sometimes a company can experience a slight delay as it processes your order.

If it’s been over a month and that company promises payment in two weeks, however, you need to contact the company. Go to the company’s website, find their email address under the “Contact Us” link and send them a message informing them of the situation.

Make sure to inform the company of when you sent your buyback order, the buyback order number, and the total price quote the company gave for your books. (You should have this information in your records – your online account on the buyback company’s website should have the information as well).

Politely inform the company of how long it’s been since you sent your order and ask them when you can expect to receive your payment.

Here’s a sample email that I use for these situations – feel free to modify it for your own use (I’ve marked the critical areas in bold).

Hello XYZ Books

Last March 21st, I sent a buyback order (Order #123456789) with the quoted price of $35.

It has been over a month since I sent that order, and I have still not received payment.

Could you please let me know when I can expect to be paid?

Thanks!

Usually, this is all it takes for a company to fix the problem – in the situation I described above, both buyback companies (Sell Back Books and CKY Books) responded politely to my emails in less than a day and sent my payments in full immediately.

By the way, if the company resolved your issues quickly and politely, please leave some positive feedback for them on Bookscouter. Just click the “Vendors” link on the top of the website, find the company, and click on “Leave Feedback.” (Both CKY and Sell Back Books got good reviews from me).

If The Company Refuses to Pay

Sometimes, a buyback company may refuse to pay for some or all of your books – claiming the books did not meet their criteria for books in good condition.

This doesn’t mean the buyback company is trying to cheat you – if you sent them a lot of books without checking them closely, it’s possible some were water damaged or had excessive markings inside, making them impossible for the company to resell. In these cases, you just need to be more careful about the books you sell.

In other situations, however, a buyback company will flat-out refuse to pay you with no explanation – and may even fail to respond to your emails at all.

Sadly, this happened to me with a new buyback company I tried to sell to – and I wound up losing several books I could have sold to other buyback companies.

Unfortunately in these cases, it’s virtually impossible for you to get paid – which is why you need to be careful about selling to new buyback companies that don’t have a proven track record of paying quickly for their books.

If this happens, you should leave a review on Bookscouter informing others of your bad experience – this will warn others against doing business with that company and can get Bookscouter to remove that company from their website if enough people give them low ratings.

Fortunately, such experiences are rare – after over six years in the business, I can honestly say that I’ve only encountered two companies like this. As long as you research good buyback companies, keep good records of your buyback orders, and communicate with your buyback companies, you’ll easily generate a steady stream of reliable income from your online book sales.

Want to receive more tips and tricks for how to sell books online for extra money? Subscribe to my blog!

Do you have a question or suggestion for a future blog article? Email me at sellbooksfastonline@gmail.com.

How to Record Your Sales When Selling Books Online

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If you sell a lot of books online to buyback companies you find on Bookscouter, you’ll soon find more money every day in your PayPal account and get checks mailed to you on a constant basis. It’s great – kind of like standing under a money tree that keeps showering you with payment after payment.

That said, keeping track of which of your buyback orders have been paid and unpaid can be a hassle. While most buyback companies are reliable, they do make mistakes – and you wouldn’t want to miss out on several hundred dollars just because you couldn’t keep track of all the money coming in, would you?

Fortunately, the solution to making sure you get all the money from your buyback orders is simple – you just need to keep a record of all of your buyback orders and adopt an easy way of showing paid and unpaid orders.

Here’s how I keep my records:

Step 1: Open a Blank Document on Your Computer

You can use any word processing software you like – Microsoft Word, Open Office etc. – or even write your records by hand in a spiral notebook (although updating records this way is difficult).

Label the document “Buyback Orders [This Year]” and save it to your hard drive (make sure you also copy it regularly to a flash drive to be safe).

Step 2: Record Your Buyback Orders as You Make Them

Once you start selling books to buyback companies through Bookscouter, you’ll want to open your Buyback Orders file and record all the vital information.

First, type the month and date you placed your order (for instance, if you sold your books on April 25th, you’d just type “4/25”.

Below that, make a record of each buyback order you made that day – one per line. At the very least, you’d want to record:

  • The buyback number assigned to your order (this is a line of numbers you’ll receive once you complete each order – you can copy and paste it from the website onto your Buyback Orders document). This is a very important number you’ll need if you have any issues with payment.
  • The buyback company you sold your books to (Textbooks.com, Powells, Sell Back Your Book etc.)
  • The number of books in your order.
  • The total price quote for all of your books.
  • The money you paid for the books you sold.
  • Your net profit from each order (just subtract what you paid for your books from the total price quote).

Here’s an example of how one of these records can look:

4/25
108727 Valore (3) $150.39        $20.25           $130.14

As you can see, this lists the day I made this order (4/25), the buyback order number (108727), the company I sold my books to (Valore), the number of books in the order (3), the total price quote ($150.39), the money I paid for the books ($20.25), and my net profit ($130.14).

Step 3: Mark Paid Orders

Once your payments start coming in, you’ll want to match them with the records in your Buyback Orders document so you can mark which ones have been paid.

Most of your orders will be paid via PayPal and you’ll receive an email when they come in. Just match the buyback order number on the email to the number in your records, and you’ll find the order.

Other payments will come via check – and will have the order numbers printed on the pay stubs. Make sure you match these numbers with the ones in your records before cashing in the checks and/or throwing away the pay stubs.

To mark your buyback orders as paid, just put the paid orders in bold face like so:

108727 Valore (3) $150.39        $20.25           $130.14

This will distinguish your paid orders from unpaid orders and let you know at a glance which orders still need to be paid.

Use Your Records to Make Sure You Get Paid for ALL of Your Books

Most buyback companies on Bookscouter (and all the ones I recommend on my blog) are very good about sending prompt, regular payments for all of your buyback orders – often in less than two weeks if you get paid by PayPal (mailed checks can take a month or more to reach you).

Occasionally, however, you’ll experience an issue with an order. Maybe one of your packages got lost in the mail or was incorrectly filed when it reached the company. Or maybe some of the books you sent were damaged, causing the company to issue you only a partial payment for your order.

When this happens, you’ll want to make a note of all this in your records – especially if you run into a situation where you don’t get paid for one of your buyback orders.

In my next article, How To Make Sure You Get Paid for the Books You Sell Online, I’ll show you step-by-step what you should do if you ever run into a situation where a buyback company doesn’t pay you for your order.

In the meantime though, if you’d like to receive more tips and tricks for how to sell books online for extra money, feel free to subscribe to my blog!

Do you have a question or suggestion for a future blog article? Email me at sellbooksfastonline@gmail.com.