Here are the top ten single sources for used books in 2014. This list includes the exact profits, source, and pictures of the books. The sources include Craigslist, Bookstores, Library Sales, and Thrift Stores.
#1 Library Sale – $1085.56
The number one spot of last year goes to a library sale. This was a two-day sale with most of purchases on the last day. On the last day of the sale, the children's books were only 20 cents each. So I bought 503 of them. With the prices so low, I decided to go beyond my normal sales rank cut off. Over 280 of the books had a rank of over one million at the time of purchase.
Here are the numbers:
Book Purchased: 503
Books Sold: 229
Total Gross Sales: $2602.39
Amazon Fees: ($1098.83)
Cost of Books: ($215.00)
UPS Shipping: ($110.00)
Amazon Label Service: ($93.00)
Total Profit: $1085.56
#2 Library Sale – $1007.94
The number two spot goes to a library sale as well. This was my favorite sale of last year primarily because it was so hidden from the competition. I was the only one buying for resale purposes, so I got all the good books for myself. I attended this sale on the preview night and on the last day (bag sale). Here are the numbers:
Books Purchased: 257
Books Sold: 185
Total Gross Sales: $2289.89
Amazon Fees: ($929.82)
Cost of Books: ($219.00)
UPS Shipping: ($81.53)
FBA Label Service: (51.60)
Total Profit: $1007.94
#3 Library Sale – $916.78
This was a regular advertised book sale on BookSaleFinder.com. The preview night had a limit of 20 books. I originally thought this would be a disadvantage, but it seemed to work out in my favor. There were very few booksellers that actually showed up. Although, I was only able to purchase 20 books, they were quality books. I also attended the sale on the following day where there was no limit to the number of books purchased.
Books Purchased: 164
Books Sold: 120
Gross Amazon Sales: $1764.94
Amazon Fees: ($585.11)
Cost of Books: ($164.50)
UPS Shipping: ($54.75)
FBA Label Service: ($43.80)
Total Profit: $916.78
#4 Bookstore $680.85
I started going to bookstores in 2014 when I found out I could actually make a decent profit. I always assumed that the owner would know that exact online value of his/her inventory – I was wrong. Although, the books are priced much higher than library sales, I was able to do OK. Three books sold for over $100 in this lot.
While the total profit is not has high as the library sales, the profit per book is much higher. The average profit for each book sold is almost $19. For the library sales, it is around $7.
Books Purchased: 42
Books Sold: 36
Gross Sales: $1357.08
Amazon Fees: ($315.78)
Cost of Books: ($344.61)
UPS Shipping: ($15.84)
Total Profit: $680.85
#5 Bookstore – $589.16
Same store as the previous example but a different location. I attended this bookstore on September 20th, 2014.
Books Purchased: 52
Books Sold: 48
Gross Sales: $1183.68
Amazon Fees: ($306.87)
Cost of Books: ($277.55)
UPS Shipping: ($10.10)
Total Profit: $589.19
#6 Craigslist $527.58
I started buying textbooks on CL in early 2014. I saw an ad where a woman was selling her criminal justice textbooks. She listed the pictures and ISBN numbers, so I was able to quickly research the books on Amazon. It was obvious she was in a hurry to sell so I put in a low-ball offer. She counter-offered and we agreed on a price of $340.
I use a website called IFTTT.com that automatically sends me emails when there is a new listing on CL.
Total books purchased: 22
Books Sold: 21
Total Sales: $1117.12
Amazon Fees: ($239.12)
Cost of books: ($340)
UPS Shipping: ($10.42)
Profit: $527.58
#7 Library Bag Sale $482.10
In April, I attended a bag sale at a university library. They were selling large bags of books for $5 each. This is one of my favorite ways of obtaining inventory because there is virtually no risk. The books are extremely cheap – usually around 10-20 cents each. The return on investment (ROI) is very high. The downside is the amount of labor involved. There needs to be a large amount of books purchased to make the trip worthwhile.
Books Purchased: 173
Books Sold: 92
Total Sales: $982.42
Amazon Fees: ($423.88)
Cost of Books: ($25)
UPS Shipping: ($51.90)
Total Profit: $482.10
#8 Thrift Store $462.70
A thrift store finally makes the list. This is one example of when being proactive paid off. I asked the person working behind the counter if they had any extra books in the back. He showed me a room full of very valuable counseling and therapy books. It was a gold mine. One of the books sold for $299.
Here they are:
Books purchased: 22
Books Sold: 17
Total Sales: $658.86
Amazon Fees: ($163.02)
Cost of Books: ($25)
UPS Shipping: ($8.14)
Profit: $462.70
#9 Bookstore $460.62
There’s good news and bad news regarding this bookstore. The good news is that I made a nice profit. The bad news is that I went back a few days later and they told me that they do not allow scanners. I haven’t returned since.
Here are the books.
Books Purchased: 29
Books Sold: 27
Total Sales: $994.74
Amazon Fees: ($244.70)
Cost of Books: ($275.79)
UPS Shipping: ($13.63)
Profit: $460.62
#10 Library Sale $434.77
This was a hidden library sale (not advertised on BookSaleFinder.com). Most of the books were former library books, but Amazon customers don’t mind as long as there is an accurate description. For example, here's what I write in the condition notes, “Good Condition – Former Library Book with usual Stamps and Stickers”.
Books Purchased: 84
Books Sold: 50
Total Sales: $837.26
Amazon Fees: ($281.27)
Purchase Price: ($93.50)
UPS Shipping: ($27.72)
Total Profit: $434.77
There you go. There are my top ten single sources for used books. What were your best hauls in 2014?
Cool post!
I don’t track sales/days, but just looked at last 6 months of sales for percentage, and all over 50-75% sold – so not complaining there. Long as I hit 10k+ in sales a month, I am fine.
The bookstore that asked you not to scan – was large chain or mom/pop? I would just go back on day when other workers were there – weekend maybe – unless a one owner store – then still just scan with phone – no scanner – slow as heck, but what is time – life is long – might as well stretch it some more!
It’s a Mom and Pop, but they have several workers. I was told on two separate occasions by two different people that they do not allow scanners.
You shouldn’t absolutely have to be using a scanner in order to make reasonably good selections. Would you be out of business if your scanner broke, or would you have to leave a sale when you couldn’t make a connection? There are some books, or categories of books, that are pretty good bets all the time.
Hmm. For me at least, this is not the case. I have seen far too many books I though would be winners weeded out by the scanner, and vice versa. Many of my bookstores I have to scan quite a bit (20 -40 books) before I hit a good buy. This works if I am scannning because it goes quick, buit without the scanner I would be sunk.
10k+ sales a month in just books? That’s amazing! How do you get that kind of volume as one person?
In my own experience, I find a direct corollary between inventory volume and sales. I’ve only been doing this for 15 months and only have my own data, so I don’t know how universal this is but with used books it almost seems like you can count on having twice as many sales (in dollars) per month as your number of books in inventory. So if you have a steady 1500 books in inventory, you can count on 3k in sales a month. Again, I don’t have anyone else to compare it with. But if it works, that would mean you need 5k books consistently every month to do 10k sales. That’s a lot of books!
Hi Nathan,
Thanks much as your site has been very helpful. I have done FBA for 3 months & have inventory up to 1400 but not the sales I would like yet (about 40-60 per month but increasing). Can you give me an idea of what % of inventory sold each month would be a reasonable goal?
As to sourcing, I regularly hit local thrifts & libaries. I feel pretty lucky as my best source is a monthly libary bag sale for $5/bag. Pretty sure I picked up about 200 books for $30 this last time (havent counted yet). I also recently expanded my range to about 40 miles and found 2 great thrifts that have all books between 0.25 & $1.00, both with HQ books and quite a few textbooks. Will be probably obtaining 100-200 per month from each of these from now on. Also have been reading Peter Valley and bought the 3 books he just put out. Great stuff, and I now am picking up CDs, VHS, casettes & am more open eyed for other stuff (found a sirius radio at yard sale for $5, thats listed for $185 on Amazon), and also typing in more ISBN’s. Anyway, thanks so much for your information. 2 last questions – Do I read it right that FBA inventory placement is now 0.40 per item now? 2nd question – I am probably pricing too high – what kind of minimum profit do you shoot for?
Thanks again
Ed
Hi Ed,
Your percent of inventory sold really depends on the type of books, the sales rank, and how you price them. The inventory placement service is 30 cents for one pound or under, and 40 cents for over a pound. I set a minimum FBA price of $9.95 for most items, which guarantees about a $5 profit.
Hi Nathan, great info….. been following you for many years now. I have now decided to try selling books. Had little luck but I need to dedicate more time to it. Ive learned alot from you. So now Im off to implement.
Thanks Again
I’m glad you’re enjoying the info!
The bookstore that doesn’t allow must be Ed McKay. Never understand that – they price them, we buy them at the price they like, buy more than other folks and they don’t like it. Not the best business model for them.
Thanks for the great post! Awesome, Very encouraging results.
Lot of libraries here in california (bay area) do not allow for scanners – not the best situation. Tried doing some guess work and buy, but doesn’t work. So I now drive around 1-2 hours to get to libraries where they do not have any buyer restrictions – realized its best to know what you’re buying!
AG, I live in San Francisco and attend the FOSFPL big book sales that take place twice a year at Ft Mason, and for as long as I have been attending, they allow scanning. Now the prices of the books are higher than at other places, but the selection can’t be beat!
Thank you for doing this summary of your book sources last year. Been enjoying following your treks.
I do have a request. I was wondering if you could do a post or series of posts about how you price your items to maximize your sales, esp when it comes to textbooks. I have not had any luck with them. Maybe you could talk about how sales rank comes into play in terms of your pricing and how long you will wait it out until you get a sale? I just need some general rules of thumb. Thank you!
Thanks for your request, Serena. I’m planning on doing my next blog post on the relationship between Sales Rank vs. Time Until Sale.
When I look at used books it seems like they are all priced at a penny no matter what. So how do we make a profit in used books when they are priced so low?
Vicki,
Skip the books that are priced at a penny, and only send in books that have value. Most books are not worth sending in, so it’s necessary to have a fast scanner.
I noticed you mentioned raising your normal sales rank upper limit. Would love to know what that is, since so far (four months) I do not sell anywhere near the percentage of items listed that you do. As I go forward, I have always known I’ll need to finetune things.
Somewhere, I heard the rule of thumb that every million in sales rank means about a year to a sale. That is, a rank of three million means you have to be prepared to wait three years or so for a sale. Does that jibe with your experience? I’ve already sold a couple books with 3M ranks, and a fair number of 2M. So I’m trying to see through the fog here.
I will go up to 3 million or so. I’ve sold plenty of books within 6 months that have had rank between 2-3 million.
Thank you for all the info you share. How do you know what books are selling from what sales locations and dates you purchased the book?
I code the SKU numbers with the source and date purchased. Then I use http://www.sourceprofit.com to determine the exact profits for each sale.
Hello. I do not live in the United States and in my country do not make sales of cheap books , I was thinking of selling but buying books online and send them to FBA . this would be easy ?
Nathan, I have a question about selling children’s books. Is the sales ranking for those types of books the same as for adult books? In other words, do children’s books with the same ranking as adult books generally sell at approximately the same rate? Or, for example, is a children’s book ranked 1 million, like trying to sell an adult book ranked 5 million, etc.?
Thanks for all of the great information you share on your website. I’ve learned more here than anywhere on the internet.
Hi Sherry,
The rank is the same for Children’s book as adult books. There is no difference.
Regards,
Nathan