Buying and selling books to bookstores is something I’ve mentioned briefly before. I went over it pretty quickly though, so lets take a little bit of a deeper look into exactly why I do it and how it works.
I am fortunate to live the SF Bay Area. There’s still some bookstores left around here that will pay cash or store credit for books I bring in.
The key to the whole thing is that I know the types of books each store wants. If you know what they are looking for, you have a pretty good idea of what they will buy.
I usually take a in about 10-15 boxes at a time. Depending on the day, I’ll sell up to 25% to 30% of what I bring in. On a bad day I’ll sell maybe only about one box worth of books. Keep in mind that I bought a lot of these books dirt cheap at bag sales, so my average cost per box works out to about $10. Again, depending on the day and the store, I get up to $100-150 in trade-in credit for each box.
I then take that credit and use it to buy other books in the bookstore for “full price”. I put “full price” in quotes because since I’m paying with store credit I’m really getting quite a discount. Once again, I know what I’m looking for, and select books I know I will be able to quickly resell online.
When I do sell the “full price” books I usually make back about 1/2 the value of the store credit I paid for them, around $50-75 per box. All in all, not a bad profit on a $10 investment.
I stress that this is a method that requires a little experience and knowledge, both about what your local bookstores are looking to buy, as well as which books to invest your store credit in. It can be tough, and it’s definitely not for everyone. It’s also a method which unfortunately is not nearly as lucrative as it was even a few years ago. But I do make money this way, and it keeps me in touch with the market and helps keep my eye and mind sharp.
Tags: bookstore, sell books, used books