Sell Used Books: ways to make money

[tamip]

I am a member of MyPoints and I buy gift cards when I build up enough points.

I also just made $40 selling my used books to Cash4Books.net - Sell Used Books! They even pay for shipping- it was the easiest thing to do!

tami

[creditcardfree]

Originally Posted by tamip

I am a member of MyPoints and I buy gift cards when I build up enough points.

I also just made $40 selling my used books to Cash4Books.net - Sell Used Books! They even pay for shipping- it was the easiest thing to do!

tami

I've used that site before and they are legit. An extra $40 is nice!!

[poundwise]

Yes, I can also vouch for the site. I'd also recommend BlueRectangle. Another is Powell's Books.

[good2goo]

How do you make money from this, is there an easy way to find out how much they are paying for books? I dont want to go buy a used book somewhere only to find out they offer me less money than I paid.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by good2goo

How do you make money from this, is there an easy way to find out how much they are paying for books?

I think you just enter the ISBN number and they give you an amount. Keep in mind that the price they pay is typically a fair amount lower than what the same book would sell for at half.com or Amazon, but it is a guaranteed sale right away so you sacrifice a potentially higher price for an immediate sale.

[good2goo]

That sounds reasonable. Im just wondering if I go to a yard sale or something and see a book for sale, I dont want to buy it and find out that cash4books is paying less than what I paid. Is there some sort of list that they put out that let you know what they are looking for? I guess either way this would be like a game or hobby.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by good2goo

That sounds reasonable. Im just wondering if I go to a yard sale or something and see a book for sale, I dont want to buy it and find out that cash4books is paying less than what I paid. Is there some sort of list that they put out that let you know what they are looking for? I guess either way this would be like a game or hobby.

That would be nice, but I don't believe such a list exists. I've had the same thought as you when selling on half.com. Used books are abundant, and cheap, at yard sales, but most aren't worth anything. It would be nice to know how to identify the ones that are.

[tmvijai]

I figured the same hard way. I had like 20 odd computer books and went to check it out in many of these sites and they don't worth a penny

I even tried halfpricebooks and they also rejected. I ended up giving to charity and got the reciept and plan to do tax write off. I also found out the many certification books related to finance hold good value if there are just 1 or 2 edition older.

[cptacek]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

That would be nice, but I don't believe such a list exists. I've had the same thought as you when selling on half.com. Used books are abundant, and cheap, at yard sales, but most aren't worth anything. It would be nice to know how to identify the ones that are.

If your cell phone has a web browser, you can just look up current prices on half.com while you are standing there.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by cptacek

If your cell phone has a web browser, you can just look up current prices on half.com while you are standing there.

Hmm. That could actually be a useful reason to own a smart phone (something which I otherwise haven't found a purpose for). It probably wouldn't be hard to earn enough to cover the cost of the monthly service and make a profit.

[buildmybudget]

Especially if you have an iPhone..it's pretty easy to quickly look up this type of info on the spot. Even if you have to sit at home for an hour or so to find the best deal, it usually is worth it!

[cptacek]

I've sold $137.04 worth of books/games on half.com this year, minus postage, so "profit" of about $80. Not really a profit, because I shouldn't have bought the books in the first place, but money I wouldn't have if I had left them on the book shelf.

[Cassandra]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

Hmm. That could actually be a useful reason to own a smart phone (something which I otherwise haven't found a purpose for). It probably wouldn't be hard to earn enough to cover the cost of the monthly service and make a profit.

I think the iPhone has an app that you can scan the bar code of something and find where it is being sold online and in stores and for how much. If they do have that app, you wouldn't have to look at all the sites yourself- just scan the bar code and the iPhone does the work for you!

(Not saying that you should run out and buy an iPhone for that purpose, but if you already have one...)

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by cptacek

I've sold $137.04 worth of books/games on half.com this year, minus postage, so "profit" of about $80. Not really a profit, because I shouldn't have bought the books in the first place, but money I wouldn't have if I had left them on the book shelf.

Now if you had a way to buy books cheap and sell them at a profit, that would be different. Hence my interest in the smart phone idea.

Originally Posted by Cassandra

I think the iPhone has an app that you can scan the bar code of something and find where it is being sold online and in stores and for how much. If they do have that app, you wouldn't have to look at all the sites yourself- just scan the bar code and the iPhone does the work for you!

That is really neat. For me to get an iPhone would cost me $30/month over what I currently pay (plus the cost of the phone). Seems to me it shouldn't be too difficult to find enough cheap books to cover that $30 fee, at least in peak yard sale season. I sold a couple hundred dollars worth of books on half.com in the first few months of this year and that was without really trying that hard.

[cptacek]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

Now if you had a way to buy books cheap and sell them at a profit, that would be different. Hence my interest in the smart phone idea.

Agree...just telling my book-sellin' story.

[junosama]

There are often local used book stores who will pay good for books as well. I also suggest holding garage sales or hotting up craigslist to sell stuff like old electronics and such before they get too old to sell.

[grammie]

I just sold 12 books for $16 on powells books (thanks poundwise!). The other sites mentioned here would not buy any of the books I listed and then I tried Powell's and they took 12 of the 20 books I was trying to sell. I wish it was more but it's better than clutter! I'd like to see if I could make more from some other site like Amazon or Half.com but I have so little time and Powells made it incredibly easy...it took me less than 20 min to get the bid, box the books, and drop them off at the Post Office.

[shubh]

Thanks for sharing the idea and source. Personally, I don’t like to sell the used books instead I prefer donating those books to the needy students who can't afford to buy new.

[pemitev]

I also don't share the idea of selling used books . Dunno, but I would rather donate them to somebody who is in need. It will make more pleasure to me than some $20-$30.

[anonymous_saver]

I work at a large University and people give away their books for free all the time (or they throw them away and recycle them if people don't take them). I estimate that I earn an extra $250 each year from this (I sell them on Amazon.com well lower than what others are selling it for, so they sell fast, and at the same time, I'm still giving someone a good deal). It's great!