Monthly Archives: February 2016

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 Make Money From Books You Can’t Sell Online

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It’s an annoying truth about selling books online – sooner or later, you’ll find some of the books you bought can’t be sold for a profit.

The reasons for this vary – maybe the books you listed on Amazon suddenly dropped in value, leaving you with a lot of worthless inventory. Maybe the buyback companies that offered good prices reduced or removed their bids. Or maybe you found some of the books you bought were damaged, preventing you from selling them for extra money.

When this happens, you’ll need to have some strategies in place that will let you sell or trade those books for a profit and institute some clutter control on your home.

Here is a simple 4-step plan you should follow on a regular basis to get rid of that excess stock as soon as possible.

Step 1: Keep the Books You Expect to Rise in Value

Sounds kind of counter intuitive, doesn’t it? After all, isn’t this article about how to declutter your home from excess books?

Well it is. But it’s also true that a lot of book buyback companies you find on Bookscouter tend to buy the same books over and over again – and even when a certain book doesn’t receive any bids one day, it will suddenly receive multiple cash offers the next day.

A lot of this has to do with when you sell the book – many textbooks and other educational materials become more valuable before a new college semester when the book buyback companies are building up their stock. So sometimes, it pays to wait for a while and see if your books rise in value.

As you become more familiar with selling books online, you’ll discover what books and titles you can expect to reliably sell over and over again. (Quick tip: many of the same classic American and English literature titles regularly receive attractive bids from many buyback companies, particularly Textbooks.com, eCampus, and Sell Back Books.)

Here’s what I suggest – keep an empty cardboard box by your desk as you look up buyback bids (preferably with a scanner if you want to make your job easier) for your books on Bookscouter. When you come across a book you think will be eventually profitable but isn’t currently receiving any bids, place it into the box.

Over the next few days, re-scan the ISBNs of these books through Bookscouter and see if any book buyback companies are offering any bids. Odds are, you’ll be able to still re-sell some of these books for a profit.

After a week, if you have any books left, you’ll want to get rid of them using some of the strategies below.

Step 2: Return Any Books to Thrift Stores with a Return Policy

Some thrift stores offer a return policy on the items you buy from them, allowing you to exchange some of your worthless stock for trade credit that you can use to buy more profitable books.

There’s often a time limit on how long you can keep the merchandise before returning it (usually about two weeks), so make sure you learn the store’s policy when you purchase books from them.

Most stores also require you to have your original receipt with you when you return items, and the price tag may need to still be on the book so the item can be re-scanned back into their inventory.

To ensure that you have all these materials with you, follow this simple strategy – whenever you find a book you know you can’t sell (i.e. one with water damage, torn pages etc.) stick the store receipt into the book like a bookmark. Then toss the book into a second cardboard box marked “Return.”

Once you’re done scanning all your books through Bookscouter, you can then take the box and return all the books back to the thrift stores and exchange them for trade credit.

This will go a long way in reducing your overhead costs (since you’re basically reusing your money to buy better books), which will help you keep more of your profit!

Step 3: Exchange Books at Used Bookstores for Trade Credit

If you find you can’t sell your books on Amazon or through buyback companies you find on Bookscouter – and if the stores you bought them from don’t offer a return policy – you can still profit from them.

Just load those books into a third box labeled “Trade.” Then, take them to all the used bookstores that offer a trade credit program. (You may have to do an online search for used bookstores and call them up to confirm they exchange books for trade credit).

One nice thing about this strategy is that a lot of the books you buy to sell to buyback companies tend to be very popular (bestselling fiction, recent textbooks, popular nonfiction etc.) so used bookstores should be interested in a lot of them.

Some used bookstores may even offer you a cash deal for your books – but I tend to favor exchanging them for trade credit since you get more this way.

And while selling your books for trade credit isn’t the same as selling them for cash, you can still profit from this method by buying profitable books from used bookstores with your trade credit and then re-selling those books through Bookscouter.

Step 4: Donate Books to the Library or Thrift Store for a Tax Deduction

If all else fails, you can donate the books to the library bookstore or thrift store you bought them from and receive a tax write-off.

While this isn’t the same as getting money for your books, it can save you a few dollars when tax season comes around – and more importantly, it helps reduce the clutter created by your excess book inventory.

Be sure to ask the store for a receipt that you can file away for your taxes (many thrift stores have a pre-made form that you can fill out on your own later).

Hope this helps you profit more from your books when you sell them online! 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!