Selling books

[andrea-stache]

I am planning on cleaning the office this weekend.  Does anyone have any recommendations for websites or apps that you have worked with for selling books?

I am looking for a site where you scan or type in the ISBN, they tell you what they pay, and then you print a prepaid shipping label.

Most of the sites seem to be textbook oriented.   We just have book cases filled with old books we've already read.

Thanks!

[MrsDinero]

I've sold and bought books on half.com

The only problem I have with them is there are a LOT of books for sale out there, so sometimes it is more trouble for me to sell a book (listing, shipping, etc) than to just donate it.

[hypocrispy]

Try BookScouter. They have an app that you can scan the ISBN with and it will bring up 5 to 10 websites that it is selling on and how much it is selling for. It's a good way to see if selling will even be worth it.

[fitfrugalfab]

posting to follow.

[FerrumB5]

Following.
Have 2 heavy books to sell, deciding whether to try selling on ebay for the first time. BookScouting gave $10 for one of them :(

[yodella]

I've been selling on half.com for about a month now and can offer some insight. It's fairly easy to use and does exactly what you describe- you type in an ISBN, price and list the book, and when it sells you can generate pre-paid shipping labels (I pay via PayPal which makes things even easier).

You do need a scale to weight the books once they're packaged up. I use a kitchen scale and it works fine.

Half.com is pretty scammy when it comes to shipping costs. They charge buyers a flat fee of $3.99, but reimburse you less- $2.64 for paperbacks, $3.07 for hardcovers. I've sold 12 books since January 1st and have lost money on the shipping (from .08-.15 cents) for every single one.

They also have a minimum price of $0.75. Many of my older books were currently selling at that price when I listed them. A couple have sold but the net profit (after shipping) is so tiny ($.06 one one and $.49 on another, both hardcovers), that I don't think it's worth it. And I've been using free packaging materials. If you were buying padded envelopes, you'd almost surely incur more losses.

I was just thinking yesterday that soon I'm going to pull all my books listed at 75 cents and just donate them to the library. Just not worth the hassle.

Hope that was helpful!

[TrumanGrad]

Try powells.com - you type in the ISBNs and then they tell you which if any they want and what their offer for those books are.  If you want to accept the offer, they provide a prepaid shipping label.  I have sold books for my mom, my dad and stepmom and my husband and I this way and would do it again.

[seattlecyclone]

I sell books on Amazon that I don't want anymore. You set the price and wait for somebody to pay it. If you set the lowest price for a popular book it will usually sell within a week or two. Less popular books may take longer.

Financially, the way it works out is that Amazon charges the buyer the price you set plus $3.99 for shipping. Out of that sum, they take a fee of $2.34 + 15% of the item price (the fee may be different for non-book items), and give the rest to you. You can pay the shipping cost right through their website out of what's left over. USPS media mail shipping should cost less than $3.99 for all but the heaviest textbooks. You can then pack the item, weigh it, print a shipping label, and stick the item in the mail.

Amazon does have a trade-in program for many of the more popular items, but I find that the amount you get is almost always less than you would get if you sell it yourself through their site. Once you get the hang of selling, it's not even that much less convenient than a trade-in. Plus the trade-ins are paid in Amazon gift card credit rather than actual money.