QUESTION: I’ve been selling used books online at eBay and Amazon Marketplace for two months. I’ve sold about 50 books but haven’t made a profit, in fact I’ve lost money. Is it my inventory or something else? Should I use Scoutpal when I buy?
ANSWER: When you say you’ve lost money, I’m assuming that you’re still trying to cover the cost of the books you bought for resale, and when you sell more books you’ll be in the black.
It does take a while to get up to speed with buying and selling used books because the whole process is counter-intuitive. When you start, the books you assume will be good to have in your inventory (very popular bestsellers) generally turn out to be the losers. That’s because these books are plentiful at garage sales, yard sales, etc., and they are available for pennies on Amazon through hobby sellers.
On the other hand, the books you’d think nobody in the world would want turn out to be the winners, because they’re scarce — like “How to Make a Snowshoe out of Toothpicks.” (I made that title up, but you get the idea.) You’ll get a knack for recognizing scarce and out-of-print books after some months.
Are you a book lover at heart? If so, you’ll find this a lot easier and fun. If you’re a music lover instead — or a film buff — maybe you’d be better off concentrating on those products. But if you truly enjoy being around books, I’m sure you’ll get the hang of this.
And it may be that you need to find some better sources for your stock. For example, when I first started selling used books online, I was lucky enough to find a local charity where I could buy boxes and boxes of used college textbooks for $10 a box. Lots of those books turned out to be worthless, and I’d throw them in the dumpster or donate them to my local library. But there was alwasy one or two surprises in every box worth $25 or maybe even $75 — and a few books more worth $8 or $10.
Looking at all those losers taught me how to judge books in a hurry. So after some years of selling used books full time, I’ve gotten to the point where I’m willing to pay $10, $20, and in a few cases $30 for a book, if I have a really good idea what I can sell it for. And I usually aim to triple my money in a case like that. But I recommend for people starting to limit it to $2 or $3 per book. Why? It’s a great way to learn how to pick books. Handling lots of books will teach you which books tend to be profitable.
Scoutpal and the other cellphone price-lookup services are great to use — after you’ve got your foundation built. First, you have to develop your own sense of books. You need your own “sixth sense” of extraordinary books, just to know when to look up the price, by typing in the ISBN through Amazon Web Services. Trial and error will teach you this, and later on you can use the gee-whiz technology to build on your success.
Related posts:
- How to make money selling books
- Make Money Tearing Up Old Books and Magazines and Selling Them on eBay
![[Google]]( http://www.weberbooks.com/selling/wp-content/plugins/easy-adsenser/google-light.gif)
Q&A: I’m losing money selling books on Amazon and eBay. What’s the problem?
QUESTION: I’ve been selling used books online at eBay and Amazon Marketplace for two months. I’ve sold about 50 books but haven’t made a profit, in fact I’ve lost money. Is it my inventory or something else? Should I use Scoutpal when I buy?
ANSWER: When you say you’ve lost money, I’m assuming that you’re still trying to cover the cost of the books you bought for resale, and when you sell more books you’ll be in the black.
It does take a while to get up to speed with buying and selling used books because the whole process is counter-intuitive. When you start, the books you assume will be good to have in your inventory (very popular bestsellers) generally turn out to be the losers. That’s because these books are plentiful at garage sales, yard sales, etc., and they are available for pennies on Amazon through hobby sellers.
On the other hand, the books you’d think nobody in the world would want turn out to be the winners, because they’re scarce — like “How to Make a Snowshoe out of Toothpicks.” (I made that title up, but you get the idea.) You’ll get a knack for recognizing scarce and out-of-print books after some months.
Are you a book lover at heart? If so, you’ll find this a lot easier and fun. If you’re a music lover instead — or a film buff — maybe you’d be better off concentrating on those products. But if you truly enjoy being around books, I’m sure you’ll get the hang of this.
And it may be that you need to find some better sources for your stock. For example, when I first started selling used books online, I was lucky enough to find a local charity where I could buy boxes and boxes of used college textbooks for $10 a box. Lots of those books turned out to be worthless, and I’d throw them in the dumpster or donate them to my local library. But there was alwasy one or two surprises in every box worth $25 or maybe even $75 — and a few books more worth $8 or $10.
Looking at all those losers taught me how to judge books in a hurry. So after some years of selling used books full time, I’ve gotten to the point where I’m willing to pay $10, $20, and in a few cases $30 for a book, if I have a really good idea what I can sell it for. And I usually aim to triple my money in a case like that. But I recommend for people starting to limit it to $2 or $3 per book. Why? It’s a great way to learn how to pick books. Handling lots of books will teach you which books tend to be profitable.
Scoutpal and the other cellphone price-lookup services are great to use — after you’ve got your foundation built. First, you have to develop your own sense of books. You need your own “sixth sense” of extraordinary books, just to know when to look up the price, by typing in the ISBN through Amazon Web Services. Trial and error will teach you this, and later on you can use the gee-whiz technology to build on your success.
Related posts: