As an English graduate, I ended up with a huge collection of classic literature. Selling them back to the school bookstore didn’t give me nearly as much money as I spent initially. Holding onto these books forever didn’t seem smart either, so I often thought about whether it made sense to sell them for at least a bit of cash.
Before, I thought my only options for reselling were the school bookstore or websites like half.com. Listing books on these sites was not only time-consuming but also not very profitable. With heavy competition, I was selling books so cheaply that the shipping costs were more than what I made.
I was about to throw my boxes of books into the recycling bin until I found websites where I could sell my books online almost instantly. These platforms offered a set price for gently used books and credited the amount to your PayPal account within days after receiving the books.
For anyone with a lot of books to sell, this was a perfect solution. Here are some benefits of these book-buying websites:
No Need to List: Traditional selling often requires listing each book with condition descriptions, a very lengthy process if you have many books. On book-buying websites, you just enter the ISBN number to identify your book automatically.
No Hidden Fees: Sites like Amazon, Half.com, and eBay have charges that reduce your profit. Book-buying sites, however, give you exactly what they promise for your books, and sometimes you can find coupons for even more money.
Immediate Selling: On other sites, you have to wait for the books to sell before shipping them. Sometimes listings expire, and you have to relist your books. Book-buying sites instantly tell you whether they will buy your book.
Quick Payment: These platforms pay you within one to three business days after they receive your books.
Where can you sell your books online? There are several book-buying websites like Cash4Books, TextBooksRUs, and SellBackYourBook. Often, a single site won’t accept all your books. You can use BookScouter.com to compare offers from different sites.
However, keep in mind that some sites have a minimum requirement where you need books worth $10 or $15 before shipping. If you have a lot of books to sell, this usually isn’t a problem.
My experience with these platforms has been extremely positive. After dealing with my books taking up space in my garage, selling them was an easy and rewarding process.