Sell Textbooks Online with Bookscouter for Easy Vacation Money

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If you’re like a lot of college students, you probably have a lot of places you’d like to go over your summer or winter vacation.

The problem? The last two semesters of college life have tapped out a lot of your savings.

Hey, I’ve been there – and I know how rising textbook prices, increasing tuition rates, and other unexpected expenses can put a big dent in your vacation fund.

Fortunately, there’s an easy strategy I’ve personally used to fund my vacations – and as luck would have it, it’s something I cover in great detail on this blog!

It’s called selling books online fast – using Bookscouter.

Using Bookscouter to Turn Your Textbooks Into Cash

If you’ve read How Sell Books Fast Helps You Make Extra Money, you already know the basics of what I teach on this blog – basically I reveal how to find low-priced books in thrift stores, library bookshops, and garage sales and discover which of these books can be sold for a profit online via a free website called Bookscouter that shows you the best places to sell books online.

You can then sell these books online quickly to buyback companies that will send you a check or PayPal payment for your books – often in as little as two weeks.

This is a fast, easy method that can quickly generate a steady stream of income for anyone – working mothers, retirees, self-employed entrepreneurs – but is particularly effective for college students who need to raise money quickly.

Here’s why: Some of the most profitable books to sell online are college textbooks. These are the books professional online booksellers (like me) always look for when we search through thrift stores and garage sales for books to resell online for a profit.

An in-demand textbook can easily be sold for well over $100 online – more if you’re talking about a textbook in a specialized field like medicine or law. I’ve personally sold textbooks that gave me a net profit of over $300, and I know there are much more profitable textbooks out there.

That’s why college students are in a particularly good spot at the end of their fall or spring semester – you already have a stack of textbooks that can potentially sell for profitable prices and don’t have to go out looking for them like online booksellers.

The problem is that most textbooks depreciate very quickly. New editions come out, classes stop including books on their reading lists, and your college bookstore won’t pay you even half of what you paid for your textbook in the first place.

After a couple years – sometimes even a few months – some of the textbooks you may have spent hundreds of dollars on will drop dramatically in value as college students flood online markets like Amazon with their textbooks, offering increasingly lower prices in an attempt to get rid of their books.

That’s why it’s so great that free online resources like Bookscouter exist today. Because Bookscouter offers cash bids from dozens of different buyback companies, college students now have multiple places to sell their textbooks for cash before they depreciate.

Moreover, since these buyback companies are located in states all over the U.S., there’s an excellent chance that a textbook no one wants in your city is still in demand elsewhere – and can be sold for a lot more extra cash than what your college bookstore will offer.

Plus, the buyback companies on Bookscouter will pay you cash for your books immediately (often in two weeks or less) – there’s no need to wait for someone to buy your book on Amazon. Most buyback companies will even pay for shipping costs, allowing you to keep more money in your pocket.

Selling Books Using Bookscouter

Selling books online using Bookscouter is simple – all you need to do is enter the ISBN (the 10 or 13 digit number code located usually above the textbook’s barcode or on the publication information page) in the search bar.

Bookscouter will then bring up a list of buyback companies, along with the amount of money they will pay for your book. You can then visit the website of the buyback company you want to sell to and sell your books to them directly.

If you’d like to learn how to do a more detailed price comparison on Bookscouter (and potentially make even more extra cash) read my article How to Find the Best Books to Sell on Bookscouter with a Free Bookscouter Account.

Please note that you won’t be selling your books to Bookscouter but to the buyback companies you find on its website. As such, it’s a good idea to keep the following two tips in mind:

Tip 1: Make Sure Your Textbooks Are in Good Shape

I cover this subject in depth in my article Is the Book Condition of Your Textbook Good Enough to Make Extra Money?

To summarize – every buyback company has its own guidelines for the books it will or will not accept, and you should make sure to review these guidelines before you sell to a buyback company.

Some buyback companies – like Textbooks.com – will pay for a book if it has some minor highlighting, underlining, and/or notes in the margins. Textbooks.com will even purchase ex-library books as long as they are in good shape.

Other buyback companies – like Powells or Sell Back Your Book – want books with no markings, which may limit the number of books you can send to them.

As a rule, buyback companies will never purchase books with water damage, broken bindings, or missing supplementary materials (CDs, DVDs, computer codes etc.) so if your textbooks have these flaws, you won’t be paid.

(Incidentally, if you know you’ll be selling your textbooks via Bookscouter at the end of a semester, it’s a good idea to take good care of them – don’t eat or drink when you’re reading, keep any included CDs or DVDs in their plastic pouches when not in use, and copy any pages you want to take notes on so you don’t have to mark the book).

Tip 2: Make Sure Your Sell Your Textbooks to a Reputable Buyback Company

In general, most of the buyback companies you’ll find on Bookscouter are reputable companies that will pay you for your books – but you do want to do some research.

Bookscouter offers a rating system where past sellers can share their experiences with individual buyback companies and even grade these companies on a five-star scale. Feel free to use their system to decide which companies you’d like to sell to.

To throw my two cents in, I’ve had excellent experiences with the following buyback companies – Textbooks.com, Sell Back Your Books, Cash4Books, and Valore (Valore, in particular, offers very high prices for textbooks).

I offer more in-depth reviews of these buyback companies (and others) at 8 Great Book Buyback Companies to Sell Books To and 2 More Great Book Buyback Companies to Sell Books To, so feel free to read the articles in my blog to find a good buyback company to sell to.

And if you liked this article and would like to learn more tricks for earning extra cash by selling books online, feel free to subscribe and send me an email at SellBooksFastOnline@gmail.com with any questions!

How to Earn More Money Selling Books Online by Buying Discounted Books

 

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If you’ve been selling books online using Bookscouter and the methods described in this blog, you’ve probably realized that the profits you earn from your books depends greatly on how much you bought them for in the first place.

Think about it – even if a thrift store offers a lot of books you can sell to buyback companies for $5 per book, your profit margin will be pretty slim if that store makes you pay $4 for each book. Sure you’ll make some money – but is a 20% profit per book worth it when you have to invest $4 up front just to make $1?

On the other hand, let’s say you find a bunch of books in a library sale’s $0.25 bargain bin that will each sell for $3 to various book buyback companies. Suddenly, you’re making $2.75 net profit per book – $11 for every $1 you invest – or an 1100% net profit!

That’s a great profit margin – and one that should show you that you should always find ways to buy books as cheaply as possible, so your profit margin is as high as possible.

Here are three tips for how to find and buy discounted books.

Collect Thrift Store Coupons

Many thrift stores offer coupons that can offer you a nice regular discount (usually anywhere from 10%-25%) on the merchandise in their store. You can usually just download these coupons from their website and print them up to show to the cashier when you purchase your books.

Some stores require you to sign up for their email newsletter to receive discount coupons. I highly suggest you do this – not only will the store usually email you coupons, they’ll also inform you of any special sales that can give you even bigger discounts.

A few stores offer what I call a “stamp card” discount – you get a card that gets stamped every time you buy something from the store. After so many stamps (usually 10), you get a discount on your next purchase. While it can be tedious to remember to get these cards stamped, if you go to a store on a regular basis, this can also save you some money.

Please keep in mind that certain coupons come with specific restrictions (for instance, you might need to purchase a certain amount of merchandise before receiving a discount and you usually can’t combine multiple discounts). Make sure you know the rules of each thrift store coupon and you’ll know the best place to buy discounted books.

Shop for Discounted Books on Thrift Store Sale Days

Thrift stores and library bookstores are like any other retail business – they need to keep selling off their older merchandise to make room for new merchandise.

As a result, almost every thrift store will offer special sale days where virtually all of their merchandise (including books) are sold even cheaper than usual. Usually, this means a 50% off sale, although I’ve seen thrift store sales that discounted their books by as much as 75%!

These are gold mine days for people who like to sell books through Bookscouter – and you should make an effort to always visit stores on these days.

Many of these stores offer these sales on a regular basis (usually twice a month or every other week). Some of the sales can get pretty hectic, so be prepared to brave a lot of crowds, especially if you come early.

Many library bookstores also offer regular sales which you can learn about by signing up for their email lists. You’ll enjoy some amazing discounts on these days – many libraries have “brown bag sales” where you can fill an entire bag with anywhere from twenty to thirty books and purchase the entire bag for only $5. Since that means you bought each book for only $0.16 to $0.25 a piece, your profit margin will be fantastic when you sell those books using Bookscouter.

Develop Good Relationships with Your Book Suppliers

Okay, but what happens if you shop at stores that don’t have discount coupons or thrift store discount days?

Simple – create your own!

If you’ve read my article How to Build Good Relationships with Your Book Suppliers, you’ll know that it’s very possible to form special business arrangements with the thrift stores you shop at. As long as you can show you are a reliable shopper who buys books in bulk on a regular basis, many managers will be open to offering you a special discount since you’ll be clearing out their overstock.

Please keep in mind that this is only something you should do if you already sell books online on a regular basis. If selling books for cash is just a hobby for you and you don’t intend to shop at these stores regularly, don’t try to get a “one-time-only” discount.

That being said, building good relationships with your book suppliers is an important part of selling books online, and if you intend to make selling books for cash a part time business, you should definitely look into getting better prices for your books this way!

I hope this article has given you some ideas for how to make more money selling books online! Remember, you can receive more tips and tricks for how to sell books online for extra money by subscribing to my blog!

If you enjoyed this article, I encourage you to check out Make More Money Selling Books Online with Bonus Codes. You’ll learn how buyback companies like Cash 4 Books and Valore offer great bonus coupon codes that will increase the money you can make selling books online.

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

How to Build Good Relationships with Your Book Suppliers

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Pop quiz – what is the most important resource that will allow you to sell more books online?

A free website like Bookscouter that lets you resell thousands of books for profit? Nope.

Barcode scanners like the Bluetooth Cordless Hand Scanner or the SP2100 that save you countless hours when you search for valuable books to sell online? Important, but not indispensable.

No, the most important resource an online bookseller can develop is something far more valuable than anything you can buy or find online.

It’s the relationships you develop with the thrift store employees and library volunteers by practicing good etiquette when you shop at their stores.

Think about it – thrift store and library managers, employees, and volunteers are the gatekeepers between you and all the books in their inventory. It only makes sense to develop a good relationship with these folks – one that you can both benefit from.

Yet, ironically, a lot of the book scouts I see shopping alongside me at thrift stores and book sales rarely get to know these people or treat them that well. A few even go out of their way to hide what they’re doing – as if they’re afraid that they’ll get thrown out if the employees discover they’re reselling books.

As someone who’s benefited from positive relationships with thrift stores and library bookstores, I can tell you – nothing could be further from the truth. While I have encountered a few exceptions, the majority of the people I’ve met at thrift stores and libraries have been very supportive and welcoming to online booksellers like me.

Quite a few have even offered me special discounts and privileges that have greatly increased my ability to sell books online for profit.

Here are three tips for how to develop good relationships with employees and volunteers – and how these relationships can help you out in the long run.

Introduce Yourself to All Employees and Volunteers

Do you know the names of the cashiers who ring up all your book purchases or the employees who restock the bookshelves? Do they know you by name?

You should – and so should they. Make a point of thanking your cashier by name (a lot of them wear name tags) and introducing yourself to a new manager. Once these people get to know and recognize you as a regular, they’ll be much more welcoming and friendly.

And don’t be shy about telling them you’re an online bookseller! A lot of thrift store managers are thrilled to know that they can expect to sell a lot of books to the same person week in and week out.

I once introduced myself to a manager and let him know that he could expect to see a lot of me (since his store offered a lot of good books at reasonable prices). Before I was even done telling him my name, he introduced me to all the cashiers in the store and told them to give me a 50% discount on any book I bought.

Another time, a manager at another store asked if I’d be interested in scanning through a large box of recently donated books since her shelves were overstocked. Not only did I end up finding over $500 worth of books, the manager was so happy that I wanted them, she sold me the whole box for $10.

Naturally you can’t expect these kinds of finds or VIP treatment at every store you shop at – but the fact is these stores need to sell their inventory. If you present yourself as someone who can buy a lot of their stock, they’ll view you as a valuable customer.

(Tip: If you’re comfortable with this, offer to give the manager your email address and/or phone number. I’ve gotten a lot of good tips about big book donations this way).

Practice Good Thrift Store Etiquette

A lot of book scouts I see shopping next to me follow a rather disturbing pattern (especially at big book sales). They grab books off the shelf, scan their barcodes, and leave them in large piles on the floor (yes this really happens).

I suppose they think that by rushing through the store like this, they can shop at more stores in a day, find more books, and earn greater profits.

But it sure doesn’t make them popular with employees or volunteers. These people have to reshelve these books and clean up these messes.

Be neat when you scan. If you have to take some books out of the shelf, put them back after you’re done scanning. Some book sales have large bins for customers to place their unwanted books so volunteers can re-shelve them in the right places. Use them.

Get to know each store’s policies. If you know a certain library bookstore only accepts cash, be sure to carry some when you shop there. If a store doesn’t always have enough bags for every shopper, bring your own.

A lot of store employees that offer me discounts and special deals often comment that they do this because they appreciate the fact that I’m neater and more careful with their books than other book scouts.

Ask to Visit the Storeroom and Buy Books in Bulk

A number of managers that I’ve gotten on good terms with have allowed me to visit their storeroom and scan their books before they end up on the store’s bookshelves.

Naturally, this has allowed me to find a lot of valuable books, since these are books that no other bookseller has had the opportunity to look over. Moreover the store benefits since they can sell these books quickly to me and prevent them from going into overstock.

Don’t be shy about asking to look at books in the storeroom – if the manager is open to it, you can even arrange to make this a regular visit.

Be aware, however, that visiting the storeroom is a privilege and that you should never barge into a storeroom without permission.

I once saw a book scout walk into a storeroom only to be politely stopped by an employee. The customer claimed he had permission from the manager (who wasn’t there), and when the employee said he didn’t know about this arrangement, the book scout cussed him out. He was later banned from the store.

Remember – receiving special privileges doesn’t mean you’re entitled to them. Be grateful when you get them and be polite if new policies or circumstances take them away.

Hope these tips help you build a better relationship with your book suppliers! Remember, if you’d like to receive more tips for how to sell books online for extra money, you can subscribe to my blog!

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

Make More Money Selling Books Online with Bonus Codes

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These days, thanks to book buyback comparison sites like Bookscouter, more and more book buyback companies are competing for your business.

So it should come as no surprise that many of these buyback companies offer special incentives for you to sell them your books – including bonuses and entries in contests that can earn you cash prizes and/or cool giveaways like gift cards, iPads, and tablets.

As someone who’s taken advantage of these offers, I encourage you to keep your eyes open for such opportunities – especially when you have a lot of books to sell online. You can get more money for your books (particularly if you have over $200 of books to sell and the company is offering a 10-20% bonus) and it’s always fun to win a contest.

How do you get these cash bonuses and enter these contests? Most of the time, it’s a simple matter of requesting e-mail alerts for special offers from these book buyback companies when you create a free online account with them.

Each company will then email you special bonus codes that you can enter when creating a buyback order. Creating a buyback order with these codes also usually enters you in the company’s contest, giving you multiple chances to earn extra money.

Quick tip: These special bonuses do not show up on Bookscouter when you look up buyback bids online for your books, so you’ll want to keep that in mind when you choose a buyback company to sell your books to.

Here are three book buyback companies I’ve regularly received cash bonuses from.

Cash 4 Books

Cash 4 Books is one of my favorite book buyback companies to sell to since they offer a new bonus and/or contest practically every month. These bonus codes are often good for the entire month (although some are valid for only a few days) so you’ll want to keep your eyes open when one shows up.

What kind of bonuses and/or prizes can you expect from Cash 4 Books? In the past few months, I’ve received offers for 10%-15% cash bonuses on my buyback orders, entries for $300 gift cards, and chances to double my buyback cash order.

(Full disclosure: I’ve never won one of Cash 4 Books’ contests – although I have enjoyed frequent cash bonuses from them).

To get these Cash 4 Books bonus codes, all you need to do is send Cash 4 Books your email address. Just visit the Cash 4 Books website, enter your email address at the bottom of the main page where it says “Sign up for special offers,” and click “Subscribe.”

Now every time Cash 4 Books offers a bonus or contest, they’ll send you an email with a special bonus code in it. Enter this bonus code when you create your buyback order and you’ll increase your money and be automatically entered into one of their contests.

Tip 1: Before selling your books to Cash 4 Books, go into your email account and do a search for “Cash 4 Books” to see if you received any emails with bonus codes in them in the last few days or weeks. If the code is still valid, you can use it in your order.

Tip 2: These bonus codes can usually only be used once – so use them with a large order if you think you’ll be sending Cash 4 Books multiple orders in the same month. There’s also a limit on some of these bonuses (normally $50) so be sure to read the bonus code terms at the end of your emails.

Tip 3: Some of these special offers may require you to sell more books than usual (Cash 4 Books normally requires you to sell them only $5 worth of books per order, but you may need to send them bigger orders to get certain bonuses).

As with any book buyback company, you’ll want to make sure the books you send Cash 4 Books match their book condition requirements.

Valore Books

Valore Books cash bonus codes are typically best used by people who have a lot of books to sell and/or books that receive high buyback bids as you usually need to have high buyback orders (often about $100) to receive these bonuses.

This may actually work for students who sell back their textbooks, so be sure to keep Valore in mind when you’re looking through Bookscouter for any good buyback bids.

The bonuses can range from an additional $5 up to $100 bonus per order and you can receive the codes through emails you sign up to receive from the Valore Books website.

In addition to bonus codes, I’ve received emails offering to enter me in drawings for $1000 bonuses if I ship my buyback orders within 5 days (something I normally do anyway) as well as survey contests asking me to rate my experience with Valore Books (with an entry into a prize for a Visa Giftcard).

Students selling their textbooks to Valore Books may also be interested in contests asking them to review any of the books they sold to Valore. Such contests also come with an entry into a drawing for a Visa Giftcard.

(Full disclosure: I’ve never won one of Valore’s contests, although I have enjoyed some of their cash bonus codes).

If you’re interested in receiving cash bonus codes and/or contest offers from Valore, sign up to receive their emails when you create a free online account with them, and do a search for “Valore Books” in your email when you want to sell books to them to see if you can get a bonus code.

TextbookRush

One thing I like about TextbookRush’s bonuses is that you don’t need to enter any bonus codes – if they offer a bonus, it will be stated on their website and will be automatically added to your order if you fulfill their requirements.

In the past, most of the bonuses I’ve received from TextbookRush had to do with the quantity of the books I sent them (for instance, if I sent them more than 3 books, I’d receive an automatic $5 bonus on my order).

Unfortunately, I haven’t seen many such bonuses offered by TextbookRush lately – but keep your eyes open when you visit their website if this changes.

If you sign up to receive emails from TextbookRush, you may receive offers to complete a survey on your experience with them for an entry into a drawing (often for an iPad).

Final Tips

Once again, please let me reiterate that the books you sell to these companies (or any buyback company) should fulfill each company’s book condition requirements. It doesn’t do any good to use a bonus code and then send in a badly damaged book – you won’t receive any money for it.

Likewise, once you’ve created a book buyback order, send the books out ASAP! Most buyback companies give you a week to send your books to them, but if you want to get your money fast, you need to send your books out fast – in two days if possible. (And as you’ve seen with Valore Books, some buyback companies even offer greater incentives to send your books as quick as possible).

Hope these tips help you make more money from your buyback offers! As always, if you have any more questions, feel free to contact me at sellbooksfastonline@gmail.com.

And if you’d like to learn more about selling books online to make extra money, please subscribe to my blog for constant updates!

How to Sell Books Online for Profit with the Textbooks.com Buyback Program

 

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Hey everyone! This blog post marks the first in a series of interviews with textbook buyback companies that let you sell books for cash online.

Instead of just reading my articles on the best buyback textbook website, you’ll now learn what books these companies buy, how much they’ll pay, and how you can send books to them to make extra money – from the people who pay cash for your books!

Our first interview is with one of my favorite textbook buyback programs – Textbooks.com. I’ve sold thousands of books to Textbooks.com over the years and have earned thousands of dollars from them.

Textbooks.com’s Director of Contact Center Operations, Chris Gibson, was nice enough to answer some questions about how Textbooks.com buys books. Thanks Chris!

Let’s see what he has to say:

How long has Textbooks.com offered a book buyback program?

Textbooks.com was established in 2006 and has offered a buyback program since that time.

How many books does Textbooks.com buy each year?

Textbooks.com purchases hundreds of thousands of books across many subjects, genres, and majors each year.

Can anyone sell used books for cash to Textbooks.com?

Anyone with an Internet connection can sell books to Textbooks.com! We have one of the largest buyback programs available online and offer free UPS shipping for our buybacks.

Do you have to live in the US to sell books to Textbooks.com?

You have to be based in the US, with a US address, to sell books to us. We do not ship or do buyback internationally.

What types of books does Textbooks.com buy?

We offer buyback value on books across all subjects and genres. These buybacks range from human biology and algebra, to a variety of Shakespeare classics.

What types of books does Textbooks.com not buy?

We typically don’t exclude specific genres or subjects from the buyback program, but we don’t purchase international editions or annotated teacher’s editions.

Textbooks that are international or teacher’s editions will usually have “International Edition” or “Teacher’s Edition” printed on the cover.

How much money will Textbooks.com offer for a book?

We offer a wide range depending on the demand for the book. Trade titles like The Great Gatsby are among the lowest value books that we purchase back, while some titles related to biology, microeconomics, and calculus have buyback values well over $100.

While we don’t have a specific minimum for an individual book, there is a $10 minimum to process a buyback order, so it can be made up of several lesser-priced books.

Are there certain times in the year when Textbooks.com buys more books?

While we offer buyback value on a large list of books year-round, certain times of the year – like December and May – see an increase as students finish using their books for a semester.

How to Check If Your Book Condition is Good for Textbooks.com

Do you buy books that have underlining and/or highlighting in the pages?

Any color or mixture of color is acceptable for highlighting, as long as it does not obscure any portion of the text. If any of the text becomes unreadable, we’re unable to purchase that book. Our guideline for writing or underlining is limited to 50% of the book, provided that it does not obscure any portion of the text.

Workbooks and study guides are graded differently due to the nature of needing to work directly in the book. Up to five pages can contain writing in pencil; any writing in pen is unacceptable.

These guidelines are put in place to benefit future customers. We hand-inspect all books that are sold back to us and we guarantee our used books. On the website, you’ll see books sold directly from Textbooks.com marked “Certified Used,” which provides peace-of-mind to our customers.

Sometimes, the book’s previous owner writes notes in the margins of a textbook. Do you accept books like these?

Notes in the margins are acceptable, as long as they are not written on more than 50% of pages in the text and as long as they don’t obscure any of the text.

Do you buy ex-library books with library stickers and stamps?

Yes, we purchase ex-library books. As long as the book is in good condition, it’s eligible for our buyback program.

When is a book considered not in “good condition”?

Textbooks.com won’t buy books with the following conditions:

• Water damage or stains of any kind
• Missing, torn, or loose pages
• Damage to the cover, binding, or spine
• Any marking inside the book that makes text unreadable
• Publisher defects

While publisher defects are not common, the most prevalent issues we see are sections that are out of order, a section missing while another is repeated in its place, or text that is printed upside down in relation to the front cover.

Some textbook retailers sell books with lower standards than Textbooks.com. We see some books come through the buyback program with signs of water damage, stains, or ruffled pages that may have been present when the student purchased a book elsewhere.

This leads some students to think that water damage is acceptable for used books, but we’re unable to purchase a book that has any degree of water damage.

It is also possible that a customer may have a book that has been stickered incorrectly. Instead of using the ISBN found on the sticker on the back on the book, it is best to use the information available on the copyright page.

What is an ISBN?

An ISBN is a 10- or 13-digit code assigned to a book. It’s located on the copyright page inside the book and usually also on the bar code on the back cover, although we recommend using the one on the copyright page.

Searching by ISBN ensures you are getting a quote for the correct book. There can be many versions or editions of a given title; some may be custom editions, some may come with online access, some may be packaged with additional components. Each “version” of a title will have its own ISBN, so it ensures we’re talking about the same book.

Sometimes the book’s bar code shows the Universal Product Code (UPC) which is not the same as an ISBN. Remember – 13-digit ISBNs start with “978,” and 10-digit American ISBNs start with a “0” or “1” (foreign ISBNs can start with different numbers).

What else might make a book unacceptable to Textbooks.com?

Any components listed in the title of a book need to be included with a buyback; that means items like DVDs, CDs, workbooks, etc.

If a buyback quote is supposed to include supplemental components and the book is sent back to us without them, we attempt to pay the customer for what is received, which may be less than the original quote. Sometimes a package won’t have any value unless everything listed in the title is included.

When looking to sell a loose-leaf item, it is important to make sure the correct ISBN is being used. While we may be purchasing a hard or soft cover text, we won’t always be purchasing the loose-leaf version of that same title.

What do you do with buyback books sent to you in poor condition?

If we receive an item in unsellable condition, we notify the customer by email and detail the reason why it can’t be purchased. We also provide instructions on arranging a return if the customer would like the item back. If the customer decides they no longer want the item, it is recycled.

How to Sell Books Online to the Textbooks.com Buyback Website

How do I create a free online account to start selling books to Textbooks.com?

To create an account on Textbooks.com, go to the Log In page in the top right corner of our website. Or you can create an account during the buyback checkout process.

What information do I need to give to get a free online account at Textbooks.com to sell used books and start making extra money?

To sell books to Textbooks.com, we would need the following information for your account: name, email address, phone number, a US-based address, and payment preference (PayPal or check).

Once I open that account, how can I check to see how much Textbooks.com will pay me for my books?

Customers can go to Textbooks.com from their computer, laptop, or mobile device and select ‘Sell Textbooks’ at the top of the page.

Enter any ISBN in the search field to see the buyback value we are currently offering for that book. From there, you can add more books to a quote.

Once all books are added, the seller enters their info and finalizes their quote.

Once finished, you print a packing slip and a prepaid UPS shipping label, and then ship the book(s) to us.

Our buyback quotes are good for 30 days. However we recommend sending in your books right away – so you get your cash faster! But it’s peace of mind for students who want to lock in a good price and still need their book for finals.

Also, customers who have purchased books from Textbooks.com can log into their account and check the buyback section in “My Account” to see what value we’re currently offering on those titles.

How to Send Your Used Books to Textbooks.com for Money

How would you like books to be sent to you?

As long as the packaging is sturdy and the books are packaged well, they should arrive to us in good condition!

It’s important to consider the size of box or envelope that is used based on the number of books being sent. Too much extra room allows books to slide around and can damage them. If any filler is used, make sure it is something that won’t stain. For example, newspaper isn’t a great choice for this!

Wrapping the books in plastic is helpful, in case the books come in contact with any water on their journey to us. This will help prevent any damage in transit.

We’ve had a few buybacks received in cereal or pizza boxes – we definitely wouldn’t recommend those!

What type of free shipping do you offer?

For buyback, we offer free pre-paid shipping labels via UPS. This provides door-to-door tracking and shipments are typically received in our warehouse within 3-5 business days.

Do you provide any insurance with your free shipping labels?

Our buyback labels are not insured. While we rarely see any damage to shipments that are sent to us, customers always have the option of purchasing insurance for added peace of mind.

What other tips you can share for making sure books arrive in good shape so Textbooks.com can pay you money for them?

This is all about packaging! As long as books are sent in sturdy packaging and don’t have a lot of room to slide around inside the box or envelope, they should arrive in good shape.

It’s a good idea to wrap books in something plastic to prevent any kind of exposure to water, especially during rainy seasons. Sellers also have to be sure to include all supplemental components quoted in the offer.

How long does it take for books to get to Textbooks.com – and how long does it usually take before a person gets paid?

Shipments usually arrive to our warehouse within 3-5 business days, depending on the distance from our centrally located warehouse in Columbia, Missouri.

From there, sellers typically get their payments in 1-2 weeks, depending on whether a seller chose Paypal or check. We say to allow up to 4 weeks from the day you send your books to the day you get your money. Paypal is the fastest way to receive a payment.

How can people contact you if they have more questions?

If sellers have questions about the buyback process, they can visit our Help Desk for answers to the most commonly asked questions. It’s definitely the best place to start. For questions about existing buyback quotes or returns, we have a dedicated customer service team and sellers can submit their questions to us via the Contact Us page, email us anytime, or call our toll-free number.

Thanks again Chris! I hope Chris’ answers to my questions have made you more aware of the best ways to sell your used books online for a profit to buyback companies.

If you’d like to start selling your books online, go to Textbooks.com and sign up for a free online account. You’ll be glad you did (I know I was!)

And as always, if you liked this interview and want to receive more tips and tricks for how to sell books online for extra money, subscribe to my blog!

Want to ask me a question or offer a suggestion for a future blog article? Email me at sellbooksfastonline@gmail.com.

Hey, did you know that you can also buy discounted textbooks for college from Textbooks.com and sell those textbooks back to Textbooks.com for cash when the semester ends? Learn more at How to Buy College Textbooks for Less on the Textbooks.com Website.

Should you Sell Textbooks on Amazon or to a Book Buyback Company to Make Money?

 

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Whenever I go out shopping for books to sell online, I inevitably get asked the same question by curious people who see me scanning the book barcodes:

“Do you make a lot of money selling these books on Amazon?”

None of these people even consider that I might be selling my books on a website other than Amazon. To them, Amazon is the first, last, and only place anyone can sell books for cash (even eBay is losing popularity as a good place to sell your books online).

Now Amazon is a good place to sell books online for profit – I sell books for as much as $300 regularly on Amazon.com, and a good portion of my extra income comes from my Amazon book sales.

But as the readers of my blog know, Amazon is not the only online book buyer out there. Buyback websites like Textbooks.com, Valore,Powells,  and Cash 4 Books (all of which you can find through Bookscouter) can offer many more options for selling books online.

So I’d like to spend some time answering this question:

Which Makes Me More Extra Money — Amazon or a Buyback Website?

Short answer? It depends.

Most people automatically think Amazon is the best place to sell books online for cash. After all, if you list your book on Amazon, you decide what price you want to sell it for – a buyback website will only give you a non-negotiable price quote for your book.

Moreover, Amazon receives thousands of visitors every day, which increases the odds that someone will buy your book for the price you’re asking.

But before you start listing your books for hundreds of dollars on Amazon, you should know about some of the downsides to selling books on Amazon. (Be prepared, we have a lot of information to cover).

First, while you can list your books on Amazon for any price you want (some of my Amazon books are priced over $600), the odds of someone buying your book depend greatly on the prices offered by other people selling the same book on Amazon.

Example: if there are five people selling a book and the person with the lowest price is asking $50 for his book while the person with the highest price is asking $80 for the same book, you stand an excellent chance of selling your copy of the book for $60 (especially if your book is in better condition than the $50 copy).

On the other hand, if those people are selling their copies for $2 or $5, you’ll have a tough time selling your book if you try to sell it for $60.

(That’s not to say you can’t sell a book for a high price when everyone else is selling their copies cheaply – I’ve sold books for $20 on Amazon when other sellers were asking just $4 for the same book – but I had to wait several months for my book to sell).

Things get trickier when selling textbooks online. Textbooks get new editions and are replaced quickly in universities – so while your textbook might be selling for $100 today, that price might drop to $50 next week as other students start selling their college textbooks on Amazon for cheaper prices in a vain attempt to sell their books faster and make money fast.

Booksellers call this technique “low balling” and it can make valuable books worthless in a short time. I’ve listed textbooks for $200 on Amazon.com, only to find twenty other Amazon sellers listing their copies for only $5 a week later!

Worse news: even if your book does sell on Amazon.com for a good price, Amazon takes out a lot of fees and commissions before you get paid. Here’s a breakdown:

Amazon Fees and Commissions

Currently, Amazon offers two selling plans, a Professional Selling plan and an Individual Selling plan.

People who sell on a Professional Selling plan pay a monthly subscription fee of $40, which waives some of the fees Amazon places on book sales.

People who sell on an Individual Selling plan don’t pay monthly fees, but do pay an extra $0.99 “item fee” for every book they sell on Amazon.com, which can add up if you sell a lot of books on Amazon.

Now, I’m going to assume that you’ll have an Individual Selling plan (since you probably just want to make some extra money selling books and/or sell your textbooks for some extra cash). Here’s what Amazon will take out:

First, Amazon will take a 15% commission from the price you’re selling your book for (so if you sell your textbook for $100, Amazon will take $15 lowering your earnings to $85).

Next, Amazon will charge a “variable closing fee” of $1.35. (Your textbook will now earn you only $83.65).

And finally Amazon will take out another $0.99 for its “item fee.” (Your textbook will pay you only $82.66. Not bad, but not as much as you thought you’d get, right?)

Now Amazon.com will give you a shipping credit (which they get from the person who bought your book) to help you buy postage to send your book to your buyer. The amount of this shipping credit can vary if you offer faster shipping – but most likely you’ll get a standard shipping credit of $3.99 per book.

When mailing books, most sellers use a low-cost postage called Media Mail. A 3 lb. Media Mail shipping label currently costs $3.72, so you might save some money if your book package weighs 3 lbs or less

However, if your book weighs more than 3 lbs (like a lot of textbooks) you might have to spend $4.22, $4.72, $5.22, or more on a Media Mail label – meaning you’ll lose more money on shipping.

Beyond that, you might want to buy insurance for your package (especially if you’re selling an expensive book) which will eat up even more of your profits.

All told, when you subtract all those fees and commissions, you may only get $79 or less for your $100 book!

Selling to Buyback Websites

So how do buyback websites like Sell Back Your Book, Valore, Powells, and Textbooks.com compare to Amazon.com?

Well, for starters, buyback companies don’t take any fees and commissions out of their price quotes – what they offer you is what they’ll pay (provided your book is in good condition – please read Is The Book Condition of Your Textbook Good Enough to Make Extra Money?).

Also, all the buyback companies I recommend on my blog (and most that you’ll find on Bookscouter) will let you download a free shipping label that you can print to ship your books. (Many buyback companies offer Media Mail labels, although more and more are offering UPS labels – so be sure you drop off your package at the right UPS store or United States Postal Office).

To use the example above, if a buyback company is offering $75 for your textbook, you might be better off selling it to that buyback website even if you can list it for $100 on Amazon (since we’ve just determined you’ll probably make under $79 for that book once Amazon.com takes out its fees and commissions).

So does this mean buyback websites are the best places to sell your books online?

Not always!

Sometimes, a buyback website’s price quote for a book is so low compared to what you could get if you listed that book on Amazon that it’s worth it to sell the book on Amazon, even if you have to wait weeks or months for someone to buy your book.

In these cases, even after Amazon takes out all their fees and commissions, I’ve found that the book often still earned me twice what the buyback company would have paid me.

However, if there’s a price difference of only a few dollars between what a buyback company is offering for my book versus what I can make for the book on Amazon – or if I just want to make some extra money on a textbook before its price drops on Amazon – I’ll sell the book to a buyback company.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide whether or not you want to sell books online to buyback websites or on Amazon.com – but just be aware that even though it might look like you’re not getting as much for your book from a buyback company, you might still come ahead.

Whew! Lots of information to digest, right? But I hope you learned something from this blog article – and if you’d like to learn more about selling books online for extra cash, please take a second to subscribe to my blog and get more valuable tips for earning extra money.

Would you like to learn valuable tips to make your books sell faster and for higher prices on Amazon? Check out my series of Sell Books Fast eBooks that will improve your Amazon sales!

Want to contact me and ask some questions? Email me at sellbooksfastonline@gmail.com. Looking forward to hearing from you!

How to Use the Wired Handheld USB CCD Barcode Scanner Reader to Make Extra Money at Home

Barcode Reader Scanner

I’ve got a lot of books in my house (as you can probably guess). And when my book collection gets too big, I have to get rid of some of them.

But for me, this isn’t a chore – it’s another chance for me to make some extra money fast by selling used books for cash!

All I need to do is access my free Bookscouter account and compare the prices of my books with my Wired Handheld USB CCD Barcode Scanner Reader.

The Wired Handheld USB CCD Barcode Scanner Reader

Those of you who read How to Make More Money Selling Books Online with the Socket Mobile Bluetooth Cordless Hand Scanner know I recommend buying the Bluetooth Cordless Hand Scanner if you go to a lot of thrift stores looking for books to re-sell online.

This wireless scanner is an excellent way to quickly scan barcodes and look up resale book prices on your tablet or phone – allowing you to search more thrift stores in less time (and make more extra money selling books). I’ve personally seen my extra income go up to over $1000 a month since I started using this scanner.

Unfortunately a Bluetooth Cordless Hand Scanner can be an expensive investment (most sell for over $200), which is why I’m happy to recommend a less pricey scanner that can also help you sell books at home for cash.

The Wired Handheld USB CCD Barcode Scanner Reader is an inexpensive scanner (most sell for under $30) with a USB cord that plugs into the USB port of your laptop or computer.

On the downside, this scanner doesn’t connect wirelessly to your phone or tablet like the Bluetooth Cordless Hand Scanner, making it impractical to take to thrift stores (it’s also twice the size of the sleeker Bluetooth Cordless Hand Scanner).

On the plus side, however, the Barcode Scanner Reader can read barcodes incredibly fast and enters them into your computer instantly; making it a huge time saver when you sell books for cash and home and need to compare prices with Bookscouter.

Using the Wired Handheld USB CCD Barcode Scanner Reader with Bookscouter

Here’s how I use my Barcode Scanner Reader with Bookscouter to make extra money at home:

1. Place all the books you want to look up in a stack on your desk next to your computer

2. Plug the Barcode Scanner Reader’s USB cord into your computer or laptop’s USB port.

3. Go to Bookscouter.com and enter your free Bookscouter account.

4. Open a blank Microsoft Word document on your computer. Type in the names of buyback websites you want to sell your books to (for instance, I sell a lot of books to Textbooks.com, Powells, Sell Back Your Book, Cash4Books, Valore, and Chegg, so I make sure to list these companies). Write each name on a separate line in the document, leaving several spaces between each name.

5. Now click Bookscouter’s search bar and start scanning the barcodes on your books with your Barcode Scanner Reader.

6. Bookscouter will automatically look up all the buyback price quotes from the websites in its database, allowing you to compare prices for your books and select the best company to sell your books to.

7. Once you find the best place to sell your book online, scan the book’s ISBN number again – this time on your Microsoft Word document under the name of the buyback website (i.e Textbooks.com, Sell Back Your Book etc.) that you want to sell the book to.

8. Place the books you want to sell in different piles (each pile for a different buyback website).

9. Once you’ve finished scanning all of your books, you should have several lists of ISBN numbers on your Microsoft Word document, each list under a different buyback website name.

10. Now it’s a simple matter to just visit each of those buyback websites; copy and paste your list of ISBNs into their search bars; and sell the books in bulk to the website.

11. Finally, print your shipping label and free packing slip for each buyback order and place them on the pile of books you want to sell (be careful to put the right labels with the right orders!). Pack those books, ship them, and wait to be paid!

Since I started using the Barcode Scanner Reader, I’ve been able to scan dozens of books in minutes, allowing me to easily sell hundreds of books every month. For the low price, you really can’t ask for more!

I also want to add that I’ve been using the same Barcode Scanner Reader for the last six years, which says a lot for its durability.

I hope this product review shows you how to use a Barcode Scanner Reader to sell books online for profit. As always, please remember to subscribe to my blog to receive more tips on selling books online, and feel free to comment!

Is the Book Condition of Your Textbook Good Enough to Make Extra Money?

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What’s the first thing you should do when your Bluetooth Cordless Hand Scanner and tablet/cell phone tell you the book you just found is worth a lot of money?

If you answered, “Jump up and down and squeal like a little girl” – sorry, but you’re wrong (and seriously, what’s wrong with you? That kind of behavior can get you thrown out of the store! Well, unless you are a little girl…).

No, what you want to do is check to see if the book condition of the textbook or popular fiction book you found is good enough to sell online to buyback websites (or Amazon).

Here’s the deal – while you can find valuable books for cheap prices at thrift stores and garage sales, a lot of these books have been treated pretty badly. Pages get marked up and/or torn out, bindings get broken, and water damage can make turning pages a nightmare.

And if you make the mistake of sending these books to a buyback website to make extra money? Sorry, but you’ll usually end up losing money – sometimes a lot.

To make sure this doesn’t happen to you, here are four common problems with book condition that should make you think twice before you try and sell them online for cash.

Water Damage

Ugh! These are the most common defects in used books. Sometimes the previous owner spilled a drink in his or her book, making the pages stain, stick and/or warp.

Obviously these books will be rejected by all buyback websites – the problem is sometimes it’s not easy to spot water damage at first glance.

Get in the habit of flipping through a book’s pages before you put it in your cart to buy. If you notice any warped, wrinkled, or discolored pages – put it back!

Broken Binding

Books with deep wrinkles running down its spine may have a broken spine where the pages are starting to separate from the cover.

Sometimes, broken binding is hard to spot (especially in hardback books) since the cover might look fine and hide any internal damage. Naturally, buyback websites won’t buy these books.

The same test you use for water damage can help here – books with broken bindings usually reveal their weak spots when you flip through the pages.

Marked Up or Missing Pages

Textbooks and workbooks can fetch a high price on buyback websites – especially if they’re recent editions.

But before you throw that book in your cart, check to see if the book has any quiz questions or fill-in-the-blank pages.

If you spot any writing, circling, or filled-in multiple choice slots, put the book back! Likewise, if you find any pages missing, put the book back! Buyback websites will not buy those books for cash!

Books that have a little highlighting, underlining, or even notes in the margins are a unique case. As long as the book only has a few markings (usually on less than 25% of its pages) and the text is easy to read, some buyback websites – including Textbooks.com, Cash 4 Books, Chegg, TextbookRush, and Valore – will buy these books.

But be careful! Study the book condition guidelines provided by these buyback websites before you send them anything, and be careful not to send them anything that might make it difficult to resell (like filled in quiz questions)

Missing Supplemental Materials

These days when you buy a book, you’re not always just buying a book – you’re buying a multimedia experience thanks to the CDs, DVDs, computer codes, and/or CD-ROMs that come with the book.

Make sure all these supplemental materials are in the book – buyback websites will not pay for a book that doesn’t have all its extra materials. Does the cover advertise a CD? Check the inside covers to make sure it’s in its plastic sleeve (and free of scratches).

Have the computer codes in the book been torn out or opened? Then you probably can’t sell the books for cash to a buyback website.

Other Problems with Book Condition

If you make sure to check for the four common book condition defects listed above, you should be able to make significantly more extra money selling books online.

That said, there are still other qualities that you should keep in mind when assessing book condition that will affect whether or not you can sell the book online for cash.

If you buy a lot of books at library sales, for instance, you should find out first if the buyback website you want to sell the book to accepts ex-library books (some buyback websites pay a lot of money for ex-library books, others will reject them, and still others will only pay half their quoted buyback price for them).

Because of this, it’s always a good idea to review each buyback website’s policies on book condition before sending your books to them for cash. Trust me – you’ll make more money this way and save yourself a lot of frustration.

Once you know your textbooks and/or other books are in acceptable condition for the buyback website you want to sell to, it’s time to cash in! Find out where you can sell your books for the most money in Best Books to Sell Online to Buyback Companies and The Best Places to Sell Textbooks Online Besides Amazon Part 1.

And – as always – remember to subscribe to my blog to receive updates on more tools and tricks to make more money selling books for cash online!

4 Reasons Why Selling Gold Dust Books Is a Great Way to Make Extra Money

4 Reasons Why Selling Gold Dust Books is a Great Way to Make Extra Money

As someone who likes to sell books online through both Amazon.com and textbook buyback companies, I know there are advantages and disadvantages to selling through both of these venues.

In this post, I’d like to share what I think are the top reasons for selling gold dust books to book buyback companies to make extra money.

1. Gold Dust Books Don’t Create Clutter!

It’s a common hazard for any online book dealer; to sell books online successfully you have to build up a large inventory of books – which usually means sacrificing a spare bedroom or garage to store all of those books. For someone trying to sell books out of a dorm room or whose wife despises clutter, this can be a huge problem.

But not with gold dust books! Because you can immediately sell gold dust books, you can buy a hundred books; sell them online that night; and then pack and ship them out the next day. With this kind of rapid turnaround, your books won’t stay in your house long enough to create any clutter!

Additionally, you can declutter your house of any books you already have by visiting Bookscouter.com, entering the ISBNs of any books you want to get rid of, and checking if any book buyback company will offer you a good price quote for them.

Bear in mind that once you sell your books, you’ll want to pack them up and ship them out fast (the next day if possible!). You don’t want boxes of books cluttering up your house when they could be out making you extra money!

2. Gold Dust Books Are Easier to Find!

For the book scout who limits his or her search to books that sell online for $20 or more, book scouting can be frustrating. Other book scouts may have already picked over all the books and if your favorite thrift store hasn’t put out any new merchandise, you can leave the store empty-handed.

Not so with gold dust books! Where high profit books are often in short supply (why do you think they’re worth so much in the first place?) gold dust books are usually much easier to find.

This is because gold dust books are not only in great demand but are also produced in mass quantities. The downside to this is that each book may only sell for $2 or $3 to a book buyback company. The upside is that, since they’re more plentiful, you’ll have a much easier time of finding them.

Personally, I’ve never walked out of a thrift store empty-handed. Like all book scouts, I have good days (where I load up my car with close to two hundred books) and bad days (where I walk out of a thrift store with only five or six gold dust books), but on average all of my book scouting trips are profitable.

Better yet, once you start selling gold dust books, you’ll find you sell the same titles again and again – meaning you can spot these gold dust book titles easily on a book shelf.

A word of caution – sometimes even a book title you’ve sold dozens of times to book buyback companies can stop receiving price quotes for a few weeks or months. This might happen when the book buyback companies get overstocked with the title and need to sell their inventory before buying any new copies.

So make sure to scan your books and check all the price quotes through Bookscouter before you buy them! The last thing you want is to get stuck with a bunch of books you can’t sell!

3. Gold Dust Books Help Build Up an Inventory of High Profit Books!

This reason might sound strange at first. After all, most of the gold dust books you’ll find will only sell for $2 or $3 to a book buyback company.

But not all of them. Often, you’ll find a gold dust book that might only sell for $10 to a book buyback company, but can be listed for as much as $50 or $80 on Amazon or eBay.

This can happen for one of two reasons. Sometimes a book is in high demand and a book buyback company wants to snatch it up for a bargain price so it can re-sell it for a higher profit. New editions of textbooks often fall into this category.

In other cases, the book might not be in high demand, but is in short supply. These books might be considered collector’s items and/or may have a niche following. Such books take time to sell, but can sell for high prices if they find the right buyer.

Either way, it’s to your advantage to check and see if your gold dust book might also be a high profit book you can sell on Amazon. Be sure to read my post, How to Sell Your Gold Dust Books Online for the Best Prices and learn how you can sign up for a free Bookscouter account that will inform you of all your options.

Update: I’ve recently published a very popular eBook, Pricing Used Books for Profit on Amazon, which gives you an effective step-by-step strategy for pricing your high-end books competitively on Amazon — and how to keep them competitively priced (often by raising your prices). If you’d like to learn more, feel free to check it out!

4. Gold Dust Books Provide a Regular Supplemental Stream of Income

This is, in my opinion, the best reason to sell gold dust books online.

Most people want to sell books online to generate a regular stream of income. For a rookie book scout, however selling books though only Amazon or eBay can be difficult. You need to build up a large inventory and even then, you can experience dry spells where you won’t sell a lot of books.

This is why it’s important to have an alternate stream of income that can help you pay the bills as you build up your online bookselling business. If you sell gold dust books on a constant basis, you’ll soon receive regular Pay Pal payments that will not only cover your book buying expenses but also provide revenue for personal expenses.

Keep in mind that, as in any business, you’ll experience highs and lows with selling gold dust books as well. On certain months, you’ll find it’s very easy to find hundreds of gold dust books and sell them for high prices. On other months, you’ll find gold dust books are in shorter supply and don’t receive the same high price quotes they used to.

To make sure you keep making money, you need to diversify where and how you buy your gold dust books – something I’ll cover in future posts.

The other thing to realize is that if you not only sell books online through Amazon and eBay but to book buyback companies as well, you’ll soon have multiple streams of income coming in – which will earn you a lot more extra money in the long run.

Final Thoughts

If someone asked me whether they should sell their books on either Amazon or to book buyback companies, my answer would be simple.

Sell them on both!

Selling books online doesn’t have to be an either/or business. Amazon and book buyback companies are both valid places to sell books – and as you learned in this post, you can regularly find gold dust books that sell better on Amazon than to a book buyback company.

And while it’s true that you can usually sell books faster by sending them to a book buyback company, there are strategies you can use to sell books fast on Amazon as well.

If you’d like to learn more about how to sell your books faster and earn more money on Amazon, please check out my Sell Books Fast Online eBook series.

And if you’d like to learn how gold dust books can earn you thousands of dollars a year, check out my post How to Make Extra Money Every Day By “Flipping” Books Online

Want to make sure you get even more tips for making money by selling books online? Be sure to subscribe to my blog and get regular email updates!