How to Sell Books Online

Many books (especially paperbacks) already have store prices on the back. If the book you're selling is new, you can actually use that as your selling point. However, if your book is used -or if you just want to get more potential customers- you should sell under that. For example: A book normally costs $9.99. It is used but still in great condition. I would sell it for $7. If it was used but only in good condition, maybe 1 or 2 pencil marks and some page wear, I'd sell it for $5. You should never try to sell a book for more than market price unless it is a special, limited, or first edition.

If you do have a rare edition, for most books, it can get you $5-$10 more. However, certain books with rare editions can get you far more. Be sure to do your research (or just look around to see how much other people are selling the same exact books for).

Do note that some books are naturally rare. Those can sell for an enormous amount.

Part 2: Telling apart rare editions

1. Special and Limited editions can easily be told apart. Simply look at the back cover, the front cover, or the book info page (with all the publishing information) and see if "limited edition" or "special edition" is written anywhere.

On certain occurrences, there may be other types of editions, such as "revised" or "renewed". Those are not usually considered to be rare editions and therefore will sell for around the book's market price.

2. First Editions are slightly harder. While you can still look on the covers, more oft than not, 1^st edition will not be written (but sometimes they will so look anyway). Unfortunately, you can NOT look at the book's publishing page for the words "first edition". Many books will have "first edition" written on the publishing page even if they're not. It's very confusing, but they're actually talking about when the first edition was published, not about the current book's edition. In order to find out what edition it is, look for the numbers.

Many books will have sequential -though they don't have to be sequential- numbers on them (e.g.: "4 5 6 7"). For this example, the edition of the book would be edition 4.

3. A way to easily check for any rarity: Google the ISBN number (well, any search engine is fine). Searching for those will often help.

Part 3: Finding the weight of the book(s).

Knowing the weight of a book is very important for the next section. While this may seem like an easy task, it's actually harder than most people think. Many books weigh mere ounces; many scales don't calculate ounces. If you're going to use a scale, I would recommend a Kitchen scale; these are scales that are meant to calculate ounces of ham and other ingredients; they sell for about $30. You can also use electronic scales that include decimals; then just use a calculator to find out how many pounds and ounces that decimal number would be. If you don't own a scale with ounce capability, and don't want to buy one, you can simply take your book to your local Post Office or bakery and ask for a weigh in. (Heck, you could even bring it to any shopping mart that has a self-weighing for fruits and vegetables.)

Another method is to search the book's ISBN number on Ebay. Very often, people use pre-written descriptions that include weight and size of books. Unfortunately, not all books have a pre-written description so this is a rather unreliable method.

Part 4: Choosing a shipping service

0-13 ounces: These books can be shipped either using first class mail or media mail. Media mail is more commonly used for books so I would recommend it over first class mail.

13 ounces-10 pounds: Media mail definitely.

10 pounds-25 pounds: These books should be shipped with Parcel Post mail.

25+ ounces: These books can be shipped with Parcel Post mail, but it may actually be cheaper to use Flat Rate Priority mail seeing as there are extra fees for Parcel Post mail if you use books of over 25 ounces. Going to USPS's online postage calculator can help you decide which is cheaper (but remember to click on the link below Parcel Post mail that says "fees may occur" as the current price is given without the fees) . I don't know how often you'd use this service though. 25 lbs is quite a lot.

Do note that everything regarding shipping is written for USPS use. If you like another service, you will have to compare their services yourself. If you use UPS, it's fairly similar to this.

If you ship internationally, you'll most likely end up taking a similar service. What I mean is: if you would pick First Class mail for domestic shipping, you'll most likely end up using First Class International mail for international shipping.

Part 5: Choosing a package type

If you're using First Class, Media, or Parcel Post mail, you have a lot of freedom with the type of package you can use. Chances are, if you're using any of these services, your book will be relatively small and will have any of the three following options.

One, you can use a padded envelope. There are different sizes and some of them can fit books. Prices for these envelopes will usually vary per size, but may also vary according to where you buy them (For example, I can buy a size 000 envelope for 40 cents, but my mother buys them for 99 cents because she buys them at a different place than I do). Two, you can use regular envelopes. However, for protection, I would recommend buying a roll of bubble wrapping and cover the book. If you use tape to hold it together, make sure you put the tape on the bubble wrap and not on the book cover.

Three, you can use boxes. You can buy them or use your own. One time a person sent me a "box" that only had 4 sides; the top and bottom didn't have anything; he used cardboard. Thankfully the package was so tight, the item inside couldn't fall out.

If you're using Priority mail, you have to use the Priority mail boxes. Do note that they have different boxes for regular Priority mail and flat rate Priority mail boxes. While you can buy them at a store or the post office, you can actually get them for free. You can order 10 or 25 boxes to be sent to your house completely free of charge. I suppose USPS makes so much from this shipping service that they can spare boxes. Ebay actually has a section on free boxes, but if you don't use Ebay just search "USPS free boxes" and I'm sure you'll have no problem getting some.

Part 6: Whether or not to charge for shipping

Having the customer pay for shipping is rather common. After all, shipping can be expensive and most sellers would rather not have to pay out of their pocket. However, don't dismiss the power of partial or free shipping. Doing so can increase interest on your item, especially if you have competition. Just considering how much you're selling it for (or how much you think you'll sell it for if you're using an auction), then consider how much you'd pay in fees (ebay, paypal, etc..). That would be your current profit. If you think that your current profit is too little for you to give discounted shipping, make the customer pay. However, if your current profit is large and the shipping is small, a discount of any kind would be appreciated.

A few examples:

1. A book is on buy it now only for 5$. I'll probably end up paying about $1.5 in total fees. That leaves me with $3.5 profit. Shipping in the US for this book would end up costing about $2. Should I give free shipping? No. The customer will have to fully pay for shipping.

2. A book is on buy it now only for 15$. I'll probably end up paying about $1.8 in total fees. That leaves me with $13.2 profit. Shipping in the US for this book would end up costing me about 2.5$. Should I give free shipping? No, but a discounted shipping would be alright. I would only charge $1 for US shipping and 3$ for Canada shipping.

3. A light-but-rare book is on auction and likely to sell for $50. I'll probably end up paying about $3 in total fees. That leaves me with 47$ profit. Shipping in the US for this book would end up costing me about 2$ because it's light. Should I give free shipping? To the US and Canada, yes.

4. A 2.5 ounce book is on sale for 50$. I'll probably end up paying about $3 in total fees. That leaves me with 47$ profit. Shipping in the US for this book will be about $9. If I gave free shipping, I would only earn about 38$ (compared to 47$) and that's for the US only. Canada shipping would cost me slightly more, and international shipping would earn me even less. In this case, I should give a discounted shipping rate. I'll pay 5$ of shipping, but USA buyers will pay 4$, Canada buyers would pay $6, and any other country would need a specified rate.

Extra Note:

While this was a guide for books only, a lot of this can be used for similar items. CD's, DVD's, video games, and little toys can use a similar approach.