Sell Used Books: Where to Buy Books for Cash (1 of 2)
by SellBooksBlogger
Before you worry about how to sell used books and make money, you first need to become a savvy book buyer. You need to be willing to put up cash for books, to be constantly building and maintaining your inventory. That means knowing where to look, and putting in the work.
Like so many things, book buying is essentially a game. You have to ask yourself whether are willing to put in the time and effort, whether you are willing to play the game in order to make money. To sell used books you have to buy used books. It’s as simple as that. It can all seem intimidating at first, but there are a variety of resources that most experienced booksellers know and use.
Libraries
Buying books from libraries is harder today than it was in times past. For the most part, buying books from libraries means going to Friends of Library sales. These days, a lot of the “volunteers” who staff these sales will actually be booksellers like yourself. By joining and volunteering they get first crack at buying books that have the best resale potential. Despite all that, it’s still a resource that’s worth your time.
Bookstores
To sell used books requires a certain amount of savvy. It might be tempting to look at your local bookstores as competition. However, it’s much wiser to look at them as an opportunity. For example, you gain experience, you will begin to get a sense of what types of books they are looking for. While you can’t always get cash for books, you will discover that you can take books you bought for next to nothing and sell them for store credit. You can then turn around and use that credit to buy quality books at “full price” and improve your inventory at a lower cost. Keep in mind, however, that many bookstores are regular stops for book scouts, and that a growing number of bookstores are becoming online booksellers themselves.
Remainders
Publishers often end up with more copies of books than they can sell through normal channels. These are called remainders. First of all, be aware that while remainder dealers may present themselves as “wholesalers”, they are generally also retailers. They sort through and take a higher value items to sell themselves, leaving the only the lower margin product available at the “wholesale” level. If you are lucky enough to have one of these in your local area, you may be able to get first crack at buying books that they haven’t already cherry-picked for themselves. Whatever is left over after both of these stages are what they offer online as wholesalers. This doesn’t mean it’s impossible to find quality books this way, it just means it’s more challenging. For more information, check out www.cirobe.com.
Thrift Stores
Thrift stores are still a great source for books. Every time I go there I find gems. You just need to understand that in most communities, you won’t be the only one utilizing them. There will likely be “scanners” who routinely make the thrift store rounds. The key is to get to know the people who work there, to develop a relationship with them. Get to know the store and you’ll begin to get a feel for when they are likely to put out fresh books. Once again, it’s more about putting in the work than it is about just being willing to pay cash for books.
Pay Cash for Books – Where You Can
These are just some of the best sources for finding books to sell. In Part 2 I’ll go over estate sales, Ebay, yard sales, newspaper ads and Craigslist.
