Looking for an easy way to make a little extra income?
How about selling used books over the Internet?
I got into selling used books after my mother, a Librarian, told me about www.half.com. I am an avid reader and buy used books from local thrift stores and yard sales. Inevitably, though, I have always had more books than I had room for.
So I checked out half.com and found it very easy to register as a seller. I listed a few books and music CD’s and quickly sold a few.
I have been a seller with half.com for about 18 months. I have a very small inventory (about 100 books), but I have managed to make a little extra money as a sideline. During January I sold three books and earned a total of about $36.
So how do I find the books that I sell?
Yard sales are good, but of course those are seasonal and a dozen or so stops might yield only three or four sellable books.
Library book sales are also good. Most often libraries will sell duplicate copies of books, books that haven’t been checked out for quite some time, or books of a subject they have too much of. One of my most recent sells was a hardback textbook I bought at a library book sale for 50 cents. I sold it over half.com for $28 – quite a nice profit for such a small investment.
I have found that local thrift stores are my best sources for good used books. I regularly make the rounds of about five different thrift stores in my area and the prices vary from store to store. Some stores will charge anywhere from 25 to 99 cents for most paperback books. Hardbacks might run 49 cents to about $1.99. I recently bought a popular trade paperback book for 69 cents, then sold it online for $2.40.
Not bad!
One of the important things when perusing the used books, is make sure the book has an ISBN number which can be found above the UPC code on the back of the book or inside the front of the book. Half.com requires an ISBN number in order to list and sell a book. If you find one without an ISBN, don’t buy it.
Another thing to look for in used books is the condition they are in. The better the condition, the higher the price you can charge. Popular books and obscure books sell equally well. Unusual subjects may also sell well. My own rule is that if it is in sellable condition, has an ISBN, and I can carry it home with me, I’ll buy it. I won’t pay more than 99 cents for paperback books, and no more than 1.99 for trade paperbacks or hardbacks.
Half.com informs me via email when I have sold a book, I package it up, ship it off, log into my account and mark the book as shipped, then wait for my money. Payments from half.com are made as automatic deposits to my checking account.
I won’t get rich and it certainly won’t pay the bills, but I can do it from home, on my own schedule and earn a little extra to fill up the gas tank in my car!
