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Buying books, and reselling them...

by bigfoot12
8 replies
I took heed to some advice given to me yesterday about the sales rank of books and competition on Amazon
And that was...

  • Go with higher sales rank and lower number of offers.
So today, I went to the Salvation army to see what used books that they had. Turns out, that pretty much all of them either had a high sales ranking, or the competition was too high (in the hundreds)

So I went to the dollar store and found these books - with low sales ranking and low competition:

Take Four (Above the Line Series #4): Karen...Take Four (Above the Line Series #4): Karen...
The Secret Speech: Tom Rob Smith: 0971487614076:...The Secret Speech: Tom Rob Smith: 0971487614076:...
Lord of Mountains: A Novel of the Change (Change...Lord of Mountains: A Novel of the Change (Change...

But the problem when I got home, I found out that on all 3 of them that it was that Amazon was the featured merchant. So what is a person like me supposed to do?
#books #buying #reselling
  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    Originally Posted by bigfoot12 View Post

    I found out that on all 3 of them that it was that Amazon was the featured merchant. So what is a person like me supposed to do?

    Have you heard of Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon)?

    If not, I think you should get acquainted:
    Boost your sales with Amazon’s world-class fulfillment.
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    Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
    Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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    • Profile picture of the author Mormo
      I've been in the book business for five years and it's getting harder every month. I can't even sell books for .50 a piece on ebay, I haven't had a sale in weeks. My brick and mortar bookshop missed paying the bills by $150 last month.

      I love books but for the last year I have been looking for something else to get into.
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  • Profile picture of the author lastreporter
    Trying to get book inventory at thrift shops and then selling it on Amazon was a good model 10 years ago, but today it is a waste of time and energy.

    Most thrifts sort the good stuff and only put the garbage on the shelf. They sell the high-value books online themselves.

    You also need an iPhone with an app that gives you instant access to the going market rate of the books you are considering buying. Otherwise, you are wasting your time.

    My honest suggestion is to find another product. The book niche is super competitive and offers razor-thin margins.

    Sorry to be a bearer of bad news. But I am telling you what I know from experience.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve B
      . . . agree with what's been said.

      The book business is being dominated by the big boy Jeff. It's a cutthroat business, and has been said, you probably should either join him (as an affiliate or via FBA) or just sell your own titles to your subscriber audience and niche prospects.

      I have seen both small "ma and pa" bookstores as well as big box (Borders) go out of business in my local area.

      Think about it - where do you head when you want to buy a book? I go to Amazon and maybe check eBay for a cheap used copy.

      Sorry for the bad news,

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author raiko
        Well, I've sold books and CD's on Amazon for about 8 years now. It's true that everyone is trying to do it now. When I started I would only see another person with a book scanner once in a while. Now I see many each weekend. When I started I was consistently doing $1000 weekends. My girlfriend scanned software, games and DVD's and did almost as well so together we made pretty good money for a side activity. I also started buying vintage items to sell on ebay.

        Nowadays I do a couple hundred+ in books and CD's per weekend on average but do a lot better with eBay items since I've learned what to look for. Unfortunately when bar code scanners came out it made it very easy for anybody to check the value of items with a barcode. But, learning about vintage or even newer items that have value but don't have barcodes is a lot harder and money can be made there.

        The books you linked to I would not have bought. I usually pay 25 cents to a buck per book and sell them for $10 and up. Same with CD's. Those books do not sell for enough to make a decent profit - if any. I occasionally hit the thrift stores to look for things but I don't usually find too many books because there is almost always someone else there doing the same thing at nearly all times of the day. Maybe it would be different if you live in a smaller city. I mostly buy ebay related items at thrifts now.

        If you have a smart phone get Amazon's price check app. You can use it to scan bar codes or take pictures of the front of the book and it will tell you what they sell for in used condition. It's a free app and is perfect for someone starting out. It's not very fast though so if you start going to rummage sales and yard sales you'll probably want to get a scanner. They are much faster.

        Check out some yard sales around your area on the weekend and you might find more to sell. Once you've done it for a while you'll get a feel for what to look for and you won't waste as much time looking at worthless books. Most fiction is worthless. Most coffee table books are worthless. Look for newer text books and relatively obscure non-fiction.

        Anyway, I thought I'd chime in on the more positive side of the equation. There is still money to be made but it's work. Now with IM you just sit back in your lounge chair sipping an iced tea next to your mansion and yacht and watch the money roll in. That's the life!
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  • Profile picture of the author DWaters
    As an FBA seller I would suggest staying away from books and CDs as a general rule. You may occaisionally find a gem but from my experience they tend to sell slowly with a low margin and the competition is fierce. Look for other NEW inventory items.
    The high ranking with low competition method makes complete sense. If I have an item with high competition (lots of other offers) I price so I am the lowest priced FBA seller. Than keep an eye on as others will cut their price, either manually or with auto repricing software.
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    • Profile picture of the author anna112
      Originally Posted by DWaters View Post

      As an FBA seller I would suggest staying away from books and CDs as a general rule. You may occaisionally find a gem but from my experience they tend to sell slowly with a low margin and the competition is fierce. Look for other NEW inventory items.
      The high ranking with low competition method makes complete sense. If I have an item with high competition (lots of other offers) I price so I am the lowest priced FBA seller. Than keep an eye on as others will cut their price, either manually or with auto repricing software.
      I use this strategy of being the lowest prices FBA seller too. i have half fba and fbm listings. I use logicsale repricer on my whole stock but on my fba items I only compete with other Fba. It is way quicker than manually looking like i did before and it happen 24/7 now. I suggest taking a method like this... hope one of my Amazon competitors isnt reading this
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