Wondering where to sell books online and make extra money fast?
Most people think if they list their books on Amazon.com or eBay, the money will come rolling in.
But while these markets are great places to sell books worth $20 or more, if your books are worth less than $10, you’re going to be disappointed.
Remember, both Amazon and eBay deduct fees and commissions from the sales you make on their websites – which will cut into your profit margin.
Plus, you’ll be competing with other online sellers – so if your books don’t sell fast, you may need to lower your prices to stay competitive, causing you to lose more money.
On top of that, it can take time – sometimes weeks or months – for some of your books to sell on Amazon or eBay, which can be a problem if you want to make extra money fast.
Fortunately, there are plenty of other places to sell books online – and one of the best places for people who want to make extra money fast is a book buyback company, like the ones you can find on Bookscouter.com.
What Are Book Buyback Companies?
Book buyback companies (also called textbook buyback companies) have their origins in pre-Internet days when college bookstores would “buy back” textbooks students had finished using and resell those used books to new students.
Most students didn’t like this since they could usually only sell their books back for a fraction of the original price. If a student wrote in his or her book, that price could be lowered. Worse, when a college stopped using a textbook, they stopped buying the book even if it was still in excellent condition.
With the coming of the Internet, however, students gained new options for selling books. If students weren’t happy with what their college bookstore was paying, they could go online and see if stores in different parts of the country were buying the book for a higher price. They could then mail their books to these bookstores and be paid by mail.
Today, this service has evolved into many online book buyback companies that operate year-round and can be found on online services like Bookscouter.com. Moreover, these companies don’t just buy textbooks but also novels, self-help books, religious texts, recent bestsellers, computer game guides and more.
Each book buyback company offers a website where people can check how much the company will pay for their books. People can then fill a box with those books, send them to the company, and receive payment in two to three weeks (by Pay Pal) or one month (by mailed check).
Most book buyback companies also provide free shipping labels customers can print out and use to ship their books. This is great since book buyback packages can get pretty heavy, which could eat up a seller’s profits if they had to pay for postage.
Are Book Buyback Companies the Best Place to Sell Books Online?
Sometimes. And sometimes not.
Some people don’t sell books to book buyback companies because they think they’ll always get a better price for their books if they sell them on Amazon.
While it is true that there are some books that sell better on Amazon than to a buyback company, the reverse is also often true.
That’s right – there are a lot of books you can buy very cheaply at thrift stores and garage sales that only sell for a penny on Amazon, but can be sold immediately for $2, $5, or even $10 to a book buyback company.
Moreover, since you ship books to buyback companies in bulk (most of your packages will contain five to ten books) the combined net profit of all those books will often match or exceed the profit you could make from a single package you sell on Amazon.
I call these books “gold dust books” and you can read more about them in my post, What Are Gold Dust Books – And How Can They Make Me Extra Money?
The trick is to see book buyback companies for what they are – another option in a large online market that you can sell books to and make substantial profits.
In future posts, I’ll go into more detail on how you can determine whether or not to sell your book on Amazon or to a book buyback company – so be sure to subscribe to my blog to get all the latest updates.
At this point, you’re probably wondering how you can find some of these book buyback companies — and which ones will pay the most for your books — so find some answers by reading my articles, How to Sell Your Gold Dust Books Online for the Best Prices and 8 Great Book Buyback Companies To Sell Books To.
Michael J. Jung
Michael J. Jung is a professional freelance writer for hire. He loves learning about new side hustles and promoting nonprofit groups. When he's not writing or selling books, you can find him volunteering as Darth Vader or Spider-Man for children's events. Check out his Sell Books Fast eBook series on Amazon!