As you know, Adam and I have begun to pack our belongings in preparation for moving more than half way across the country from Detroit to San Diego. I’ve been trying to box up items that I don’t anticipate needing over the summer (winter jackets, crystal, knick knacks). One thing that Adam and I have a lot of is books. We still have most of our college text books and over the years we have accumulated all sorts of other books.
The thought of boxing up all those books was daunting so Adam and I agreed to list them on Amazon.com. You know when you look up a book on Amazon.com and you have the option of buying used? Well, that’s us. It is simple to set up. When you go to Your Account page on Amazon.com you will see a box to the top far right called Marketplace. Click on the button marked Sell your stuff. From there you will be instructed to enter the books that you are selling. It is as easy as entering the ISBN number for each book, describing the condition of the book and setting a price. (Consider cost of shipping and Amazon.com commission fees when deciding on the price of the book.) When your book is purchased you will have two business days to go to the Post Office to mail the book. In the meantime Amazon.com will deposit your earnings directly into your checking account.
No, we aren’t making millions from selling our books this way. But we are making a profit.
Another creative idea is to sell books as a fundraiser. A few years ago our church youth group went on a overseas missions trip. One of the ways that we raised funds was to accept book donations and sell the books through Amazon.com. Worked for us.
More WFMW (Works For Me Wednesday) tips at Rocks In My Dryer.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I made a couple hundred books right before we moved selling all of my books from school. You have to list them reasonably but most of the time people will actually buy them. It worked for me too!
I hear ya. When my husband and I first got married, he had about a million DVDs and CDs. Now of course everything is on his Ipod. Over the years, we have made about $7000 selling off his media addiction. I love it.
I also recently discovered paperbackswap.com and have enjoyed that too.
Argh! I tried Amazon.com three moves ago to get rid of my *many* books. I sold only one–and by the time I paid for shipping, I lost money on the deal. If mine don’t go in my garage sale this weekend, I’ll let you list them and use the proceeds toward moving expenses!
We are doing pretty alright. I’d say we sell a book every other day. We are no where near the $7000 (!!!) range but money is money.
With people becoming more conscious of buying used items, I bet those books are selling! Every book sold is one you don’t have to cart across the country.
My parents were running into a weight limit with their last move, so they boxed up all of their books and mailed them Media Rate to their new home. It was much cheaper than paying movers to get them there!
Thanks for letting us know how easy this is. Maybe I’ll get the nerve to try this.