It's August now, when a young man's fancy turns to... textbooks. Oh no, thinking of springtime and love, but in August, my thoughts turn to selling textbooks. Around three years ago, sick of looking at a stack of textbooks that had accumulated over the years, I decided to sell them on Amazon. While I had an account with e-bay, I choose Amazon because that is where I shop on-line for books, so I reasoned it would be the best place to sell them. Amazon makes it really simple to sell your books, another plus. After you set up a Seller's Account, you click on "List Single items", then you type in the title or ISBN code of your book and up pops the same, or similar books for sale. You then click on "Sell Yours Here" and it gives you spaces to fill in. It will ask you for the condition of the book: (New, Just Like New, Acceptable), the price, and what type of shipping you will offer. I research the book first to see what it is going for. If I can't sell the book for more than $5, I don't list it. Amazon takes out 15 percent of the price of the book as a referral fee, plus $1.35 for closing costs and a per item fee of 99 cents. After you list your books, you need to check your e-mails daily, especially if you have offered expedited shipping. Once you get a notice that you have sold a book, you are supposed to ship it out within two business days.
Amazon automatically charges $3.99 for shipping but, there were times, that $3.99 did not cover the cost of shipping, and I ended up paying more. After two days in a row of the shipping costs eliminating my profit, I complained about it to a post office employee. He asked: "What are you running, a charity?" Not intentionally. If a book is especially heavy, it may be more to mail than the standard rate, and it also depends on where it is being shipped. I try to offer my books at the lowest price (even by a couple cents), so I can be sure they get sold. Once you list them, you can check "Manage Inventory" from time to time, to see if you are still the lowest price. If not, you can edit your posting.
When I listed my textbooks for sale, I made a wonderful discovery. My textbooks laying around like lumps of coal, were actually hidden gold, waiting to be mined. Textbooks, it turns out, can cost a pretty penny. I made close to $500 selling textbooks that year, but had a friend who took it to another level, selling books for friends and family. She made close to $1000! So if you have textbooks lying around, what are you waiting for? Mine that gold!
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