“What is the best place to sell used books for cash online?”
If you’re an avid reader with bookshelves full of books, you probably wondered about selling books online as a way to make some extra cash.
Books give you knowledge. And as Lord Petyr Baelish (Little Finger) of GOT once said, “Knowledge is Power!”.
But besides the few favorites that you love and perhaps go back to from time to time, the rest of these books are just gathering dust.
Well, dust them off, sell them, and make some cash in the process!
There are tons of places on the internet where you can sell those paperbacks and hardbacks that you no longer read.
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In this post, we list the best places where you can trade in your old books for cash.
But, before we get started on the list…
Table of Contents
Should You Sell Books Online or in Person?
You might be wondering if you can get more money if you sell your old books in person, or in a local store.
For the most part, we’d suggest selling online.
The main reason for this is that places online that buy your books tend to have fewer overheads.
And, as a result, it means that they can offer you more money than a brick-and-mortar place.
Of, course this isn’t always the case.
We’re not going to say that you’ll definitely get more selling to an online place, rather than a local place.
But, in many cases, you’ll get more money for selling books online, rather than in person.
Where to Sell Your Books Online
When it comes to selling books online, there are two main ways to do it.
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- Buyback sites: With these websites, you enter the name of the book you want to sell, and you get a quote. If you like the quote, you ship your books to the company and get paid. This is the easiest way to sell books and the best method if you want to get cash quickly.
- Online marketplaces: With these websites, you list your books for sale, and then wait for customers to buy them. This method takes longer than the one above. But, since you can set your own prices for your books, it gives you more control over how much money you earn.
Which one you choose, really comes down to a matter of personal preference.
If you’d prefer to set your own price for the books you want to sell, and don’t mind waiting for the cash, then online marketplaces, like Craigslist and eBay, can be a good option.
However, if you want cash quickly, then you’re better off going with buyback sites. They make it so easy to get cash for your used books!
Top Sites to Get Cash for Your Books
Below, we list the top book buyback websites and online marketplaces where you can sell used books.
Our list mostly includes buyback websites, because there are more of them out there than online marketplaces that cater to books.
We’ve also included a couple of places though where you can list books for sale.
1. Book Scouter
- Official site: bookscouter.com
I love this website!
You simply enter the ISBN of the book, then BookScouter searches over 40 different buyer sites to find the ones that will pay the highest amount for your book.
They are especially well known for buying and selling textbooks.
If you don’t have the time to compare prices on different sites one by one to find out which one pays the most money for old books, BookScouter should be your number one choice.
Still not convinced? Read my BookScouter review for more reasons why you should always check with BookScouter first.
2. Cash4Books
- Official site: http://www.cash4books.net/
Cash4Books operates differently from the above-mentioned site.
Instead of creating a marketplace to make your used books available to potential buyers, they will buy them directly from you.
However, they don’t just buy any book. They have to meet certain conditions.
To find out if your book meets their criteria, simply enter the ISBN of the book in the provided search box and hit enter.
You are then given an offer for the book (assuming they want it.)
If you like the offer and want to sell it for their price, they’ll send you a prepaid shipping label that you can use to ship the book to them.
Once they receive the book, they’ll inspect it and if approved, they’ll send you the payment via PayPal or by check, depending on your preference.
Read my Cash4Books review for more details and tips on getting more money for your used books.
3. Sell Back Your Book
- Official site: http://www.sellbackyourbook.com/
Sell Back Your Book works similar to Cash4Books.
Enter the ISBN and get an instant quote.
They also have a set of standards for the kind of books they buy.
Here are the kind of books they don’t buy:
- Advanced Readers Copies
- Review Copies
- Items with no ISBN anywhere on the book
- Offensive and explicit material.
- Incomplete sets (volume 1 of a 2 book set etc…)
- Encyclopedia Sets
They do buy textbooks as well except the following kind:
- Instructors Editions
- Annotated Instructor Editions
- Teachers Editions
What I personally like about this one is the Bulk ISBN option.
If you have a lot of books, it can get tedious to enter one ISBN, hit enter, get a price, then go through the whole thing over and over again for every single book.
With the bulk ISBN option, you can enter as many ISBN as you like and get an instant quote for each one at once.
They also have apps that make it extremely easy to sell your books for the highest price.
Instead of entering ISBN(s), you simply scan it with the app. This can speed things up immensely.
4. Amazon.com
- Official site: https://services.amazon.com/content/sell-on-amazon.html
Although Amazon is the biggest and most well-known site for selling all kinds of books, I personally think you get much less for your books than other sites on this list.
That said, Amazon is a trusted platform with hundreds of thousands of potential buyers.
So you may have a much better chance of selling your book faster than any other place.
And even though generally books may be sold for less, this is Amazon after all. People do pay much more for the same items just because it’s on Amazon.
So it wouldn’t hurt to list your book(s) there.
As a rule of thumb, I would only list books in mint conditions on Amazon.
Amazon Trade-In
There is another way to get rid of your old books (as well as some electronic devices) on Amazon and that’s through the Amazon Trade-In program.
Unfortunately, you won’t get cash for your books. Instead, Amazon will pay you via Amazon gift card codes. So if you do shop on Amazon a lot and would like to get Amazon gift cards, this isn’t a bad option.
5. Blue Rectangle
- Official site: http://bluerectangle.com/
Blue Rectangle is like these book buying websites mentioned earlier, but with even more flexibility.
You still need to check if they want your book in the first place.
The rest of the process is similar.
They also offer check or PayPal payments.
6. CKY Books
- Official site: http://www.ckybooks.com/
Another website that buys books directly from you is CKY Books.
Their range is more diverse, from fictional to non-fictional, religious books to textbooks, self-help books to travel books, and much more.
They also cover the shipping costs.
Paid via PayPal or Check.
You can also sell movies, games, and DVDs here.
7. Paperback Swap
- Official site: http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php
This website is designed for book owners to exchange their books.
You list the books that you are ready to swap and wait for an interested buyer.
You will get credit after you send that particular book out to that buyer.
You can use the credit you earned to get a free book put up by other sellers.
8. Comic Book Classifieds
- Official site: http://www.comicbookclassifieds.com/
Got comic books you want to sell?
Sell on Craigslist of comic books!
This awesome comic book classified has been around since 1998.
It has been featured on tons of sites.
This is one of those sites where you can sell book worth a few dollars to books worth hundreds and even thousands of dollars.
9. Decluttr
- Official site: https://www.decluttr.com/start-selling/
Decluttr is a great website for selling used books.
You can also sell CDs, used phones, tablets, games, and DVDs on there.
So if you’re looking to get rid of a lot of stuff, then this is a good place to do so.
You sell your stuff directly to Decluttr – which means no waiting around for a customer to buy it!
Just visit the website, and select the “sell CDS, DVDs, games & books” tab above the search bar.
Then, enter the barcode of the book that you want to sell.
Decluttr will give you a quote for the book.
There’s also an app available:
The Decluttr app is actually one of the best apps for selling stuff locally and online.
The app is handy because you can use it to scan barcodes. This saves you the time of having to enter the barcode for each book that you’re going to sell. If you plan to sell a lot of books, then the app is a real time-saver!
Pro tip: Read my Decluttr review for tips on how to get the most out of it.
If you are happy with the offer for the books, you can ship your items to Decluttr, for free!
10. BookFinder.com
- Official site: https://www.bookfinder.com/buyback/
BookFinder.com works in a very similar way to Book Scouter. So you use it to compare prices from different buyback vendors.
The layout and design of the website are much clunkier than that of Book Scouter.
So we don’t recommend it as highly.
But, it’s still worth doing a quick look on BookFinder to compare its offers to those featured on BookScouter.
It’s a handy site for finding the highest buyback prices.
And, it’s been around since 1997 and has been featured by the New York Times, Newsweek, and Forbes.
11. Craigslist
- Official site: https://craigslist.org/
While there are tons of sites similar to Craigslist out there, CL is still one of the best sites to sell stuff locally.
If you’d prefer to set your own prices for the books you plan to sell, then check out Craigslist.
You can put up a listing and sell your unwanted books to people in your area.
Of course, you may need to meet up with the buyer in person or pay to ship the books to the buyer.
How to Sell Textbooks Online
Above, we’ve mentioned tons of great places where you can sell books for cash online.
While you can also sell textbooks to the places we mentioned above, in this section, we’re going to list websites and apps that are particularly good for selling textbooks.
Textbooks are a huge cost for students – so wouldn’t it be great if you could get some of that cashback?
Well, you can!
You can sell your textbooks online, and recoup some of the money you spent on them.
Like with regular books, when it comes to selling textbooks, there are two main ways to do it:
- Buyback websites
- Online marketplaces
We discussed both of these selling options above.
So they work in pretty much the same way for textbooks.
If you have a textbook to sell, you can list it for sale or sell it directly to buyback websites for some quick cash.
Let’s take a look at the places where you can sell textbooks online.
12. Bookbyte
- Official site: http://www.bookbyte.com/
Bookbyte has been around since 1999, mainly focusing on helping college students buy, sell and rent textbooks cheaply.
All you need is either the title of the textbook or the ISBN.
Enter either of those two in the “sell” search bar to get an instant offer.
If you like the price, click “Continue Sale” and complete the process.
They’ll then email you a (prepaid) shipping label you can print out.
Once they get the book(s) you get paid via Check or PayPal, your choice.
13. Textbook Buyer
- Official site: http://www.textbookbuyer.com/
The website has a reputation associated with buying used textbooks for the past 10 years.
The company has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, and the Good Housekeeping Magazine.
It is much heralded for its fair pricing policy, free shipping, and fast payment.
In addition to used textbooks, they also buy new textbooks at special prices.
14. Chegg
- Official site: https://www.chegg.com/sell-textbooks
Sell your old textbooks online with Chegg.
Visit the website, enter your book’s ISBN number, and you’ll get an instant quote for your textbooks.
If you like the quote, then just print out your free shipping label, and mail it to Chegg. Once Chegg receives your books, you’ll get paid.
15. TextbookRush
- Official site: https://www.firstclassbooks.com/buyback
This is another website where you can sell your unwanted textbooks for cash online.
Just enter the ISBN of the book you want to sell – or you can enter multiple ISBNs if you have a lot of books to sell – to get an offer.
If you’re happy with the offer, then you can ship your books to TextbookRush.
It’s free to do, as the company gives you a prepaid shipping label.
You get paid in cash, through PayPal, or in store credit.
16. FirstClassBooks.com
- Official site: https://www.firstclassbooks.com/buyback
Visit FirstClassBooks.com, enter the ISBN of the textbooks you want to sell, click on the “Check Prices” button, and you’ll get a quote for each book.
You can get paid through PayPal or check. After receiving your textbooks, FirstClassBooks.com will usually send payment within two business days.
If you decide to sell your textbooks to the company, then you can ship your books for free. The website provides prepaid FedEx or USPS shipping labels.
17. ValoreBooks
- Official site: https://www.valorebooks.com/sell-textbooks
To sell your textbooks to ValoreBooks, visit the website, and enter the ISBN of the books you want to sell.
You can enter multiple ISBNs into the box, then click on “Get Price Quote” and you’ll get a quote for all of the books that you plan to sell.
If you have a lot of books, then this is really handy.
You’ll get an instant quote. If you’re happy with the quote, then you can ship your items to ValoreBooks for free.
Payment is sent by check or through PayPal.
18. Barnes & Noble
- Official site: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/textbook/textbook-buyback.jsp
A lot of people don’t realize that popular book chain Barnes & Noble buys textbooks.
It’s definitely worth checking out.
You’ll need to have at least $10 worth of books to sell in order to sell to Barnes & Noble.
To get a quote for your books, just enter their ISBN.
Unfortunately, Barnes & Noble only allows you to enter one ISBN at a time. If you have a lot of books to sell, then this can take up some extra time.
If you decide you like the offer you get, you can ship your books to Barnes & Noble, and get paid.
19. CampusBooks
- Official site: https://www.campusbooks.com/books/sell
CampusBooks works in a similar way to BookScouter. With it, you can compare the prices of textbooks offered by different buyback vendors.
While BookScouter is designed for regular books and textbooks, the focus of CampusBooks is solely on textbooks.
You can enter the name of the textbook you want to sell into the search bar. Or you can search for titles using the ISBN to ensure that you are quoted the correct buyback price on the specific book and edition that you are selling.
20. Textbook Recycling
- Official site: http://www.textbookrecycling.com/sell-textbooks.aspx
Get paid for your unwanted textbooks with Textbook Recycling.
Just visit the website, and enter the ISBN for the book that you want to sell.
With Textbook Recycling, you can enter multiple ISBNs. So if you have a lot of books to sell, then this is really handy.
Once you’ve entered the ISBN, you will get an instant quote for your books.
If you like the offer, then you can ship your books to Textbook Recycling. Shipping is free, depending on the value of your order.
In order to qualify for free shipping, your buyback order value must be at least $50. If the final buyback order value is less than $50 after processing, the site says it reserves the right to charge a $3.95 shipping and handling fee against the buyback total.
Also, in each order, the website only accepts a maximum of 10 low value books – those that are less than $5 in value.
21. Student2Student
- Official site: https://student2student.com/sellBook
This is an interesting website that cuts out the middleman, allowing students to buy and sell textbooks directly from one another.
You can sell books to students on-campus.
It’s sort of like Craigslist, but it’s specifically aimed at college students who are looking to buy and sell college textbooks.
Just enter the ISBN of the book that you want to sell to get started.
If you don’t want to sell to students on-campus, you can also compare textbook prices at different online buyback vendors.
So when you enter your book’s ISBN, you’ll get both online and local selling options.
22. eBay
- Official site: https://www.ebay.com/rpp/sell-textbooks-online
If you have textbooks to sell, then you could consider listing them for sale on eBay.
There is no listing fee – up to 50 items!
However, you may be charged other fees, so do keep that in mind when pricing your books.
What’s good about eBay is that since it’s a hugely popular website, it’s likely that a customer will see your books and buy them.
If you don’t need cash quickly, then consider using eBay to sell your unwanted textbooks.
How Can I Sell Used Books for Cash Near Me?
This is a common question that people have about selling their books.
It’s the same with textbooks – a lot of people ask, “how can I sell textbooks near me?”
Above, we mentioned that you often get the most money by selling books online, rather than in-person.
But, selling books online isn’t for everyone.
Sometimes you might not want the hassle of having to ship your books to the buyback vendor or customer who purchased them online.
You might just want to sell your books and get money on the spot.
If you would prefer to sell used books in-store, then check out the following places.
23. Half Price Books
- Official site: https://www.hpb.com/
This is a company that buys used books and textbooks.
If you’re wondering, “where can I sell books near me?” then this is a great option.
Just take your books to your nearest Half Price Books store. If the store is interested in buying the books, then you’ll get a quote for them.
If you like the quote, then you can accept it, and you’ll get paid in cash.
It’s a good way to get money for books quickly.
24. Powell’s Books
- Official site: http://www.powells.com/sell-books
If you want to sell books locally, then check out Powell’s books.
It only features stores in the Portland, Oregon area. So if you live nearby, you can sell your books to one of its stores.
Take the books to the used book counter at your nearest Powell’s Books store, and if the store is interested, then you’ll get an offer for them.
You’ll get cash or store credit.
Powell’s Books does also allow you to sell your books online. You’ll just need to enter the ISBN of each book that you’re selling, and you’ll get a quote.
If you like the quote, then you can ship your books to Powell’s for free – as the retailer pays for shipping.
Payment is sent to your PayPal account.
25. Used Bookstores
Another option for selling books in-person is your local used bookstores.
Used bookstores and thrift stores may buy unwanted books from you.
Just call them and ask if they buy books. If they do, then take them into the store, and make some money!
Do a search online for local used bookstores and thrift stores near you, and contact a few of them about selling your books.
There are also book store directories you can use to find used book stores near you. Here are a few to get you started:
- Used Books 101: http://www.usedbooks101.com/search.php
- Indie Bound: https://www.indiebound.org/indie-bookstore-finder
- The American Booksellers Association Directory: https://www.bookweb.org/member_directory/search/ABAmember
All you have to do is enter your city or zip code hit “search”. The site then will bring up all the book shops near you with their contact info and address.
How to Make Money Buying & Selling Used Books
To make the most money selling used books, the first step is to get a book either for free or for an enough of a low price that you can profit from it by selling it.
Thankfully, there are tons of ways you can get your hands on free or very cheap books.
Here are some ways you can do that…
1. Friends and Family
If you decide to try selling books to make some money, you need to find places to get them.
One of the most obvious places is your own bookshelves and those of your friends and family.
Let friends know that you want to rescue their books, as some people simply throw them in the trash when they’re finished.
You’re not likely to find any high-value or rare books this way, but it should get you started.
2. Yard Sales
Yard sales are a useful source of cheap books.
Often you will get a box of books for a low price, or even free if you buy something else at the sale.
Some people watch out for rare and nice condition books at yard sales, but generally, books are not a big seller so you can build up your inventory cheaply.
3. Estate Sales
You can find a lot of books for sale at estate sales.
Some of them may be rare and collectible, and therefore not very cheap, but if the deceased was an avid reader the estate will have many books to dispose of and may offer them in bulk.
4. Libraries
Watch out for your local library having a book sale.
Periodically, libraries sell off books that no longer seem to be popular.
Some are simply worn out, and therefore not worth buying for resale, but others that never caught on may be in good condition.
Libraries have to sell the old stock so that they can make room on their shelves for the never-ceasing supply of new books.
You can also look in your local library to see if they have a book swap box. Some libraries encourage their readers to drop off books they’ve finished with into a communal swap bin. People swap books out on an honor basis, so you should be prepared to give a book that you can’t sell in exchange for another.
5. Bookstores
In a similar way, bookstores often have a shelf of books that they are selling at a discount, perhaps for $.25 each, because they need to make way for new books on their shelves.
Just because they have decided the books need to be sold off, doesn’t mean that they are not worth something to you.
6. Charity and Thrift Stores
It is worth checking in your local charity and thrift stores to see what books they have.
The price charged for them can vary, and they may not be worth buying, but it’s worth having a look to see if you can find a bargain.
7. Abandoned Books
If you keep your eyes open, you may well find books abandoned in many public places, such as on park benches or in the seat pocket on an airplane.
Some people don’t like to simply throw them away and hope that someone else will find them and make use of them. That person may as well be you.
A source of potentially higher value books is the college dumpster at the end of the Term.
Academic books are in high demand, but some students don’t have time or can’t be bothered to find buyers for them.
Others will sell them back to the campus bookstore for recycling to new students, but the amount that the bookstore pays is usually much less than the book’s value, which makes the exercise hardly worth it.
8. Publishers
Surprisingly, you may find that you can get free books from publishers.
Publishers are always looking for reviewers, and while they may prefer professional reviewers, they send some review copies out to members of the public too who apply.
For example, Bethany House has a program called Bethany House Blogger Review Program where they give free books to bloggers in exchange for reviews.
You can find out about their policy by checking each publisher’s website.
Note that sometimes books are marked as review copy only, and technically can’t be sold. But you may be lucky and get a market ready copy.
Of course, you should do your part of the deal, and read and review the book before offering it for sale.
9. Book of the Month Clubs
Book-of-the-Month Clubs often attract new readers by offering a dozen or so books free of charge when they sign up.
You need to check the small print, as sometimes there is a commitment, such as buying one or two more books during the first year of membership, but even then you will find this is a cheap source of books.
10. Craigslist
Craigslist is one of the best sources for finding all kinds of free or cheap stuff, including free books.
Simply keep an eye on the “Free” section of your local Craigslist for people posting ads where they want to get rid of old books.
Selling Books Online: Summary
As you can see, there are so many places where you can sell your used books.
These buyback websites make selling used books so easy as well!
You just enter a few numbers, get a quote, ship your stuff for free, and get paid.
Try one of our best places to sell used books for cash online, and start making money from your unwanted books!
And if you have any experience with selling used books, or know of a great website for selling them that we haven’t included in our list, then please share it with us in the comments section below.
Thanks for this list of book buyback options. I use Chegg and Valore Books as well and think they are pretty good. Valore often has a highest offer guarantee which is nice. I think bigwords.com is my favorite site though since it compares so many websites for you to get the highest offer price. I had not heard of several listed here however so it is definitely helpful info! Thanks so much!
You are very welcome Alison. I am really glad you find it helpful.
Yes, Book Scouter is one of my favorite since it does the same thing as BigWords- comparing and letting you know which site pays the most for your books. Thanks Alison.
Hey man great article I really liked it. I have also used Book Scouter in the past but recently I have been using Bonavendi.com
It does the same thing as Book Scouter but you can also get a price comparison for your dvds, cds, and video games. Its worked really well for me in case anyone is looking for some additional options
Hope this helps!
Thanks for sharing your experience, James.
In the past year I have sold almost 3,000 books of every variety.
I have dealt with most of the vendors mentioned here and I have had mixed results.
I primarily use Bookscouter.com to conduct my searches. They scour 50 or so vendors to generate the highest buy back offer.
They recently upgraded their website and it’s a breeze to use. They also have a smartphone app that makes it very handy to use at library book sales or yard sales.
First off, most of the used book sites sort of cater to certain types of books; some are more general, while others lean towards educational, technical, or historical subjects.
I have sold to Valore with mixed results. True, they generally offer higher prices for the books they are interested in and the prices are pretty consistent where some other vendor’s prices fluctuate almost daily.
My problem with Valore is, they have claimed on numerous occasions that they didn’t receive the books I had sent and they have not be responsive to address the issue.
Powell’s: They buy mostly mainstream books, not the technical or educational types. As mentioned above, they do have a very strict acceptance policy. The only writing they will accept is a name written in the front of the book – not even “to my favorite daughter, hope you enjoy this book as much as I did, love mom.” Absolutely no highlighting or underlining.
Their turn around time is pretty quick.
Another vendor that is not listed above is Textbook.com, not to be confused with Textbook Buyer listed above.
Textbook,com offers good prices and contrary to their name, they do purchase more than just textbooks. Their turn around time is pretty quick as well. One of the benefits of selling to them is they have a pretty liberal acceptance policy.
Just a word of advise though. Regardless of the vendor, when you get a buy back offer, don’t put off selling your books. The offer you receive today may be reduced or non existent a couple of days later.
If the offer is no longer available, put the book aside and try again in a week or so. If, after two or three tries there are still no offers – no one is interested in the book. In that case donate it(them) to your local library.
Great advice Todd. Thank you so much for taking time to share your experience. I am sure many will benefit from it.
Waste of time, i tried the first 6 websites and got offered $1.69 for one book out of 10 different books.
Sure for you and some of us it may be a waste of time, but for many people, an extra few dollars for a book that was going to gather dust and never be used again, is better than nothing.
Plus, you have to remember that every book has its own price. Obviously not every book you have is going to be worth $20.
I am new to this and came across AbeBooks… my concern is not losing money on shipping. How does BookScouter work for that? Do they offer free shipping? I don’t have the cash to pay shipping upfront…
AbeBooks offers a printable FedEx label….
Hi Sonya,
BookScouter basically searches over 40 sites (like AbeBooks) to find the ones that pay the most for the book you are trying to sell. So, you don’t sell it to BookScouter necessarily.
That said, most book buy-back sites (like Cash4Books) will actually send you a prepaid shipping envelope you can use to send the book in, so you don’t have to pay a dime for shipping.
I hope that answered your question.
I just went through my book room and did some weeding out because we need some extra money. This has been EXTREMELY helpful! Thank you so much!!
You are very welcome Keri. I am very happy this was helpful to you. Let us know how it goes.
can i do this from India?sell books online. i have an address in US too. my billing address.
money wud come in paypal and m not worried about shipping.
please help.
I am not 100% sure about this, Siffharth. I would contact the site(s) you want to work with and ask them directly.
Hi, I have access to about 200k dollars worth of excellent condition art and artist related books. Each book was purchased in the last30 years at a cost of$30. To $150 per books. What would the best way to sell the lot. Approx 4000 books. Thx sam
Sam, if these are rare and collectibles, you may want to look into selling them to collectors or even art galleries. Craigslist could be a good option for finding interested parties. Other than that, you could always try one of the sites mentioned above. But I wouldn’t send in all the books at once. I would send in a sample, then see if they have any deals for you since you have a big volume.
Also, at 4000 books, you may also want to check with local book stores. That’s a lot of books, certainly more than many small used book stores have. Good luck.
This was SO helpful! I just used Bookscouter to sell a bunch of books! Thanks for this info!
You are very welcome, Nikki. I am glad it’s been helpful.
Hi, I found your article to be very resourceful, however I’m trying to sell some novels that I don’t read anymore and the websites listed above only accepted to buy my textbooks but not my reading books. Do you know of any sights that would be willing to buy regular, fictional novels (with the exception of Amazon)?
Have you tried BookScouter?
I have sold a few hundred books on ebay. Books of all types, especially more obscure books that would have a very limited prospective group of interested parties. I nearly always charge for shipping, usually making some extra money for this to help cover bubble wrap, tape, padded mailers and even gas to the post office ! Usually start with an auction format, then if the book does not sell, I change to a good til cancelled format. It then stays listed on ebay until it sells or you decide to delist it. You do incur more fees that way, but books that I have found at yard sales. library sales, etc. often surprise me at how much they sell for. I have had books that I bought in a bag sale at the library sell for as much as $150.00 ! so patience is often worth it. I never know what will sell, nor for how much, but several times a week I open my ebay account and find something that has been listed for months has now sold. So, if you can wait to be paid for your books, ebay is a great site. If you need your money right now, the other sites seem to be better, but you will seldom get top dollar.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience and expertise, Carl.
How do you ship the books? Is there USPS boxes that are best?
Most sites will send you a prepaid shipping label that you can use to ship the book(s) to them.
I am thrilled with your information and the help of your commenters. They all provided lots of help to sell my book collection. I have alot of research books, mainly Native American/Cherokee books and Vampire books and have decided to stop carting them around even though I love them. I am excited with the information provided here and will check them out.
I’m glad we are being helpful, Margaret. Please let me know if you have any question. God luck with the sale of your books, Margaret.
i have some older books with no ISBN numbers at all. Some of well-loved, some might be of interest to collectors, etc. How do I check those out on a website?
Joyce, without the ISBN, you can use the name of the book or even search using the author’s name.
As a long-time book collector and book seller, I am curious why abebooks, alibris, ebay & craigslist weren’t included somewhere
in the discussion. Abebooks & alibris are excellent sites especially
if the books are above average and collectible. They do have fees,
but I have found them to be reasonable and they take the order,
collect the selling price and rate all sellers on their site. They do
expect all sellers meet certain standards, but as a collector they
are quite reasonable
Thanks for sharing your experience, Ronald. There was no particular reason other than we just wanted to include the top 15 places that based on our research are the easiest places to sell all kinds of books. That said, we do have other posts where we did include Abebooks & Alibris and many others.
What websites will buy books back if you live in Canada?
Jenn, try https://www.abebooks.com/books/Textbooks/textbook-buyback-Canada.shtml
I can also recommend this bookstore booksrun.com they will buy back your used books in any city
Thanks for the addition Stasya. Do you onw the site or work for the company behind it? If so, how long have you guys been in business?
I found a French playwrite book from 1878, not in good shape. Could it possibly be worth time and effort to try to sell this? Any tips on doing so would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Judy, I would start with some research on the internet using it’s name, author, and other identifiable information. That should give you an idea of what to expect, pretty quickly. You can then take it from there.
i want to sell individual single magazines but only see gumtree uk or ebay uk
but want to list till sold in the uk do you know any that will let me show 2 photos in the uk
gerry
Gerry, selling single magazine is kind of hard, unless it’s a vintage one or something special (like collectibles).
Is there any site that is like the buy back ones that give cash offers on video tape magazine?
Not sure, Morgan. That said, it wouldn’t hurt to ask some of the sites mentioned in this post. Their email can be found on their “contact” page.
Has anyone had any success selling books older than 1970, without an ISBN anywhere other than eBay or Amazon?
Can anyone give advice to where is the absolute best place to sell books. I have a very large collection from my closed bookstore. Several thousand to be exact.
Hi Faye, I would contact any of the companies in the article and see what kind of bulk deal you can make. Thanks for reading!
Unless you’re making $50+/hour at your work its probably best to list them individually. Sure it will take a long time but its a lot of money. If you don’t have the time pay someone that can do it quickly. Realize there are certain websites that cater to certain types of books. Browse them to see the types they promote. Punch in lots of ISBN numbers and you’ll a huge difference in pricing. If you sell to a reseller kiss your money goodbye.
No wonder so many people are broke. When you sell to a reseller they will have to make a HUGE profit to make it worthwhile for themselves. So you get almost nothing comparatively. Don’t be a fool Take control. Set your price and be patient. If it doesn’t sell you can always lower it later. BE PATIENT. The key to wealth is to be in control and not emotional.
Hello,
Faye…Bobs advise is the best from my experience as well. I would like to add that, especially on Amazon. You’re competing against various people and making yours. The cheapest from those is not necessarily the best way to get it sold as someone mentioned Amazon customers pay top dollar much more than any other site that I’ve studied… to the point that I raise prices when something has set for a while without any views, I was quite surprised when you picked up!
People with disposable money like to show they have money even if it’s themselves LOL.
I’ve shown my girlfriend for example how she’s overpaying 60+% of the items she buys on Amazon showing her the exact same thing for cheaper on eBay or locally on craigslist… obviously shes seen that there is no difference between the sites as I sell all three so she knows more then most how it works.
Yet she has this idea that she’s buying from a higher-end company with better customer service and sticks to Amazon. It’s so embedded in her brain, that she can’t find an item on Amazon. She has in the past gotten it from eBay, but only if I order it for her! LOL. Too high a risk to use her own credit card on those ghetto sites apparently!
which YES totally made me reevaluate our relationship after doing it several times. Would you say I’m just beneath her and ghetto so ok for me to use them, or my credit or security is just not as important from her perspective??!
LOL. Moving on, thought I would expand on Bobs advice. Individual books for the highest profit Amazon for sure I’d rather sell them there than locally even there’s books there that have a ridiculously high price range for no apparent reason. But if you have a lot and you want to sell bulk or lots that place for that I found is eBay or direct to other companies.
Hope that helps. Have a great day.!
I have a question as well I have a bulk set of books, written in Hebrew, or possibly Arabic? I’m honestly ignorant to whether those two are exclusively different.?
My question is where can I sell books such as those I’ve tried Amazon and the main ones talked about but even with advance AI picture taken and most books I can do is have them translated which I find that these are New York time top selling books they’re just translated into Middle Eastern audience…. after the name I’m unable to find anyone or any place that has the same book for sale so do a search for the title in Arabic pull up nothing 95% of the time.
For the 5% when it does pull up, it’s usually on Amazon and the book is usually much much higher than the English version. However, in most cases, I’m unable to list there as they are locked to the original listing seller only.
So right now I’m thinking of either having to create my own listings which will be a drag on so many different titles but I’m sure we’ll pay off…. Or find someplace where I can solve the bulk of them and if I could get even half of what Amazon sells them for, for the few I found that would be enough for me.
Any help would be greatly appreciate guys. Thank you.
Oscar
Oscar, this may sound strange, but have you tried Facebook Marketplace? You may have a better chance of having your “ad” seen by speakers/readers of those languages!
If that fails, your best bet is to create your own listing on Amazon.
I consistently receive excellent payment for my books when selling through BooksRun. I highly recommend checking them out.
Thanks for the suggestion Teyana. I hadn’t heard of BooksRun. Do you sell books via BooksRun often?
I want to start selling more books actually. I’m trying to find ways to buy unsorted gaylords of material. Why would I get those?
Patti, have you tried your local thrift shops, auctions, and even garage sales? If you have a thrift store like Goodwill or Saint Vincent de Paul, check their warehouse specifically. You can buy books for a few pennies. Sometimes they sell them by weight.