As many of you know, I've been selling used books online (mostly on Amazon, but some on eBay also) for four years, but as of today, I've shut the business down. With all the library hours I'm getting, plus writing, plus stuff going on at church, I just don't have time anymore. Plus sales had been dropping for some time now. There comes a point at in any business (especially if you're the only employee) where it all but takes over your life. Mine was getting close to that.
If you're thinking about getting rich selling used books on the Internet, I'm here to tell you, its not that easy. First of all, there are tons of people out there selling. If you don't believe me, just go to any Friends of the Library Book Sale and see how many people are using scanners to check how much a book is selling for on Amazon. Go to thrift stores when they're putting books out. Some places just dump a shopping cart full of books into the book room and run to escape the feeding frenzy. It really is brutal.
When I started selling online, a book I read estimated that 50,000 people were selling on Amazon alone. And that was four years ago. Competition is rabid and if you don't keep up, you'll be stuck with a houseful of books you can't unload.
But you can also make some pretty good money if you know what you're doing and know where to get books cheap. If you're good, you don't even need the scanner. I see people all the time whipping out their scanners checking every single book in a thrift store. Those people waste a lot of time because they don't know what they're looking for. I didn't buy winners every time, but I had a pretty good sense of what to buy and what not to buy.
There were a lot of headaches, but it was also a lot of fun, especially the hunt. You really never know what you'll find. I came across several signed first editions, several collectible books and some books so rare I've never been able to find any information on them anywhere.
And I've found some weird things in weird places. While walking my dog, I once found a military book on treating injuries during battle. I found it in a doggie poopie station. (Nothing else was in there; I checked.) Got $50 for it.
People always ask if I've ever found money inside a book. Yes. I once found $220 dollars in cash inside a book.
I've found bookmarks, airplane boarding passes, candy wrappers, library slips, greeting cards and photos. I even found one photo of a dead woman in a casket.
The oldest book I ever found was an Arthur Conan Doyle book printed in 1895, which really isn't that old.
The most I ever got for a single book was $365 for an extremely technical book on (I believe) particle acceleration.
One of the more interesting titles I've run across is Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Men: The Origins and Evolution of Saint Nicholas Spanning 50,000 Years by Phyllis Siefker. (I never sold it, but plan to read it one day.)
The books I've seen the most (and are completely worthless for reselling): A Civil Action, What to Expect When You're Expecting, The Firm.
Mostly it was a lot of fun, but I'm glad it's over. Real glad.
5 comments:
I remember my favorite used bookstore in Chicago. It was huge and by far the best used bookstore in the city, and I was totally bummed when they went out of business. I happened to overhear the owner (a bit of a lunatic) talking to someone and telling them that he took three weeks off during his divorce and in that time, they bought so much crap that he couldn't turn it over and it sunk him. I'm guessing that there was more to it than that, but I've heard time and time again that the key to selling used books is buying well, and even then no one is making a fortune.
A good experience to learn from, especially if you don't lose your shirt in the process.
All in all it was a good experience; I learned valuable lessons in customer service (especially what not to do) as well as a whirlwind education on just how many different kinds of books are out there. All of it has helped me in the library job. It didn't get us rich, but it sure payed for a lot of stuff we needed.
There's a guy in northern Virginia who has written a couple of books on selling used books. He claims to have earned over a million bucks selling books over a four year period, which is pretty good. Of course he's living in the motherlode of used books. Most people can make somewhere between $20-30K a year, more if they really bust their butts. The most important thing is where you live, availability of books.
I know I bought a couple of used books on Amazon for ten cents(not counting shipping). Iwas always curious: how do the booksellers make money that way?
Good question, Eric. I actually listed a book once for a quarter. It had a good rank, but everyone was selling it. My copy was practically brand new, so it sold quickly. It was a very thin book, well under one pound, so it cost me $2.17, I believe, to ship it. Amazon credits your account $3.99 for the shipping of any book, which is fine as long as the weight of the book doesn't exceed (generally) two-pounds. So I actually made $2.07 in profit from that book's postage. The book was given to me, so everything I got back was pure profit. Of course, you have to factor in the cost of shipping supplies and the time it takes for packaging. Low priced items were not worth it for me. If you have a large amount of stock and can have such transactions a couple of hundred times a day, that might be all right, but it's sure a lot of effort.
I usually shot for at least a 300% profit margin on my books. I rarely listed anything for under $5. Later I moved that figure up to $7.
And now you'll have all those shelves for inventory to fill with your own books. Sweet. I think I see the edges of a long-term plan here. "But I need all these shelves for work, Cindy. Really."
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