How To Sell Books Online With These 5 Platforms

Let’s tackle the giant first. Selling books on Amazon can be an easy way to create a profitable stream of income, but the process involves more steps than other platforms. There are two fulfillment options, FBA and FBM—along with two seller options, Individual and Professional. What you choose depends on your personal preferences, how many orders you expect to have and whether or not you have any interest in pursuing a small online business.

Amazon FBA vs. FBM

FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) means the conglomerate stores your book inventory, then packs up and sends out your books once they sell. With FBA, you ship books to an Amazon Fulfillment Center and it takes care of everything else, including customer service and returns.

FBM (Fulfillment by Merchant) puts you completely in charge of the storage, sales and shipping of your books. Choosing FBM can mean more money in the long run, since you determine the final selling prices, but it does come with an additional fee that Amazon tacks on.

Individual vs. Professional

The Individual plan is for sellers who don’t plan to exceed 40 items per month. If you’re seeking to sell ten to 15 books every few weeks, go with the individual option. You’ll pay a $0.99 fee to Amazon when an item sells, plus be responsible for managing your inventory and following Amazon-set shipping rates.

The Professional plan is geared toward individuals who are planning to sell a good deal of books, essentially creating their own online store through Amazon. This plan will cost you a flat $39.99 per month, but you’ll avoid the $0.99 per item fee, plus be able to set your own shipping rates.

If the Amazon choices feel too overwhelming, BookDeal offers a more straightforward way to sell used books online. After creating an account, you’ll start by entering the ISBN (International Standard Book Number) into the search bar, then view different offers based on the condition of the book. If an offered price works for you, you’ll see a Deal Summary synopsis in your cart, and then choose your method of payment: PayPal, Zelle or Venmo. Finally, you’ll confirm the deal, print the shipping label, pack up the book and drop it off at a local post office. After the book has been received, you’ll get paid within five days.

Portland-based bookstore, Powell’s Books offers an online bookselling option. After adding in the ISBNs, your books will get a bid from Powell’s. Once you accept the bid, you can choose to either ship them on your own or use their prepaid mailing label. You’ll receive a confirmation upon arrival, and be paid with a Powell’s account credit or PayPal deposit.

Still holding on to those grad school textbooks? Hop on to BookScouter to see who is currently buying them, and how much they’re willing to pay. The site serves as a search engine for a long list of book buyers, along with their customer ratings. You’ll need the ISBN to start with, and when you click “Sell,” you’ll be taken to the affiliate’s website to complete the process.

If you have even more college remains to unload, Textbooks.com offers a direct way to sell used books that you’ll likely never reference again. Once you accept a buyback quote, that price will remain in effect for 30 days and you’ll be sent a UPS label for free shipping. Payouts come in the form of a check or PayPal deposit within one to four weeks of your book being received.