Tips For Buying Books to Sell Online | Queen

‘Pick it up! or Put it down! (Six tips for buying books to sell online)‘

by Lynn Dralle, The Queen of Auctions

Carmen just mentioned to me the other day, “We are selling a TON of books!” I said, “I know, isn’t it awesome?” It really is awesome and I will tell you why I love selling books. They are easy to find, usually not priced too much and are super easy to ship. My kind of niche.

I really got going on books after my Live Boot Camp last August. Sheila Anderson Mochrie was an attendee and I got lucky and sat next to her in one of the garage sale cars. Score! She ended up teaching us about books on the last day of the live event and then we did a teleseminar together. As you have already read, we will be doing another one next week. I can’t wait!

Since August, I have listed about 1500 books and music CDs. I have been selling about $1,000 worth every month. I try and keep my number at around 1,000 listed at all times. This means that I only have to list about 100 new books or audio CDs each month to keep the cash flow coming in.

I have found that it is really important to continually add new inventory as it helps the older inventory sell. I sell about 60% of my books/CDs on Amazon.com and 40% on eBay.

Here are some quick tips for buying books. These are just tips and not “set in stone” rules. Of course there are exceptions to every tip, so please use your own judgment!

Put it DOWN

1.    Over 1,000,000 copies sold or BEST SELLER

Anytime I see a book that says on the cover, over 1,000,000 copies sold, I don’t even bother to scan it or look more closely. Of course, I have heard of rare first edition Harry Potter books selling for a small fortune, but once again that would be the exception!

Here is a book that I have listed that is a best seller. Notice how cheaply I have had to price it and hope that it will eventually sell.

See the listing here.

If I saw that book today, I would not buy it. I bought it before I knew what I was doing! Notice how it says right on the cover, “More Than 4 million Unofficial Guides Sold!” and “SECOND EDITION.” Two red flags!

2.     Recent Novels

The same thought process goes into passing up all those beautiful hard cover novels that you see everywhere. They printed too many of them to make them valuable. However, sometimes you may get lucky and get a rare first edition that is also signed by the author. I have heard of this happening.

Once again, this is just my very basic rule of thumb for book buying. Use your own judgment.

For some reason, I find a lot of author signed books out here in the desert. Here is one that I picked up at a “friends of the library” sale for $2.00. Notice how it has the “signed copy” sticker on the front. I have it listed pretty high and hope it will sell for close to that amount.

See this eBay listing here.

3.     Oversized Coffee Table/Photo Books

This is really counterintuitive to me. I love all those huge coffee table books with fabulous photos and know that they cost a lot of money new in the bookstore. However, more often than not, they don’t sell for much. You can also find a lot of these books listed for just a penny on Amazon. It is crazy!

Sheila and I will discuss penny books in the teleseminar and also how using a scanner can help you decide which of the coffee table books may be worth picking up. There are NOT many but there are some.

Here is a coffee table book that I have listed now at a very low price. It is probably for sale on Amazon for a penny but I am hoping that someone on eBay will pay a little more for it.

View this eBay listing here.

Pick it UP

1. Unusual Non-Fiction Paperbacks

With my scanner in hand, I have found that unusual paperbacks can list a lot higher than even unusual hardbacks. I don’t know why this is true, but we do seem to sell a lot of paperbacks. That unusual book about fabric that went to the Smithsonian library was a paperback.

I am not talking about novels here. I am talking about non-fiction. I pretty much stick to non-fiction anyway.

Here is a paperback about ribbon design (unusual) that just sold for quite a bit of money. Most book buyers overlook the paperbacks and that is where I am doing very well.

See this eBay listing here.

Just to show you how easy it is to find paperback books at great prices, check out the box of paperbacks I bought for 10 cents each at my local thrift store. This entire box cost just $4.20.

2.     Strange Topics

Just like I always say about things that sell on eBay, “The weirder the better.” This is very true for books. The odder the subject matter, it seems like less books were manufactured. So, if there is a current demand for that subject today and only a limited amount of books were produced, you may just have a winner.

Here is a book about shuttle crafting that I bought last Saturday in my $29.00 bunch of books. It is really unique and I started the bidding high on eBay. Let’s see what happens. I don’t auction many books unless they are extremely rare.

See this listing eBay listing here.

Here is the listing for the Cannibal book that I also got last Saturday. I paid $5.00 for it so I started it higher than I normally would. This is the epitome of unusual and strange! Missionaries trying to change Cannibals. Wow! This book in acceptable condition lists for $42.00 on Amazon.com. I will be happy to sell it for what I started the bidding.

Check out the eBay listing here!

3.     Cookbooks

Cookbooks are a good bet. Not all of them (of course), but quite a few. You need to be very picky and look for the unique. Hot tip…NEVER buy Microwave cookbooks. Look for cookbooks by chefs you see on the food network. Also look for cookbooks in excellent condition. Most cookbooks are stained from use and you only really want the clean copies. Also, ALWAYS buy Julia Child Cookbooks. Remember the Julia Child cookbook that I sold within a week for $224? You gotta love cookbooks.

I recently paid $1.00 for this cookbook and it sold for a lot!

I hope that this article has given you some good ideas about books and what to buy. Books are a great bread and butter basic business that continually brings in a steady stream of income–as long as you continue to keep listing new and fresh stock.