I have been getting a lot of emails from readers who were surprised to find out that they can make money on the last days of a library book sale.  I just added up my numbers from a book sale that I attended on the last day only a few weeks ago.  The prices weren’t as low as I was hoping (basically 50 cents per paperback & $1 per hardcover).  I also had to travel to the sale so I spent money on gas.  While the numbers aren’t as impressive as my last book sale post I will still make $150-$250 not including gas cost.  The funny thing about this sale is that is was advertised as having 150,000 books and was only 3 days long.  Despite this, I didn’t see anyone else scanning books on the last day!  It just goes to show that there is money to be made on the final day of a book sale and very little competition in your way.

I’ve spent an hour or so each morning this week at a local library book sale and have just totaled up my findings.  The main conclusion that I got from the sale is – Why would you not sell books online??  Even though I make my living by selling books and other products online, I am not good at keeping track of anything really – especially profits from book sales.

I’ve decided to turn over a new leaf and actually track my progress from this sale. I am going to use a special SKU # to track books from this sale and will be posting my sales #s on my Twitter account regularly.  Here are my estimates and a couple of things to keep in mind:

• All of the books I bought are high sales rankings – 100K and mostly much lower.  This means that I can sell these books very quickly, especially if I price the book at the lowest selling point on Amazon.
• These #s factor in estimated Amazon fees
• I price my books high, usually 10-20% below the Amazon price – this is the price used for “high value” minus fees.  The price for “low value” is matching the lowest listed price on Amazon minus fees.  I will probably sell my books for a total of slightly under “high value”.  If a book is listed too long without selling, my repricing program will lower it (these books should sell fast and most won’t need lowered pricing).
• This sale was local so I didn’t have any traveling expenses.

For my $248 investment, my worst-case scenario is a profit of $640.  My best case is $1500.  I am sure I will be towards the top number and will post my results when most of these books have sold in the next few months.

One thing I have learned from these numbers is that is looks like I did better later in the sale – long after most of the other book sellers had given up.  The prices also go down as the sale gets later which is great for me!

If you would like to keep track of my sales with me, please follow me on Twitter.

Book sale season is upon us! This is a great time of year to build up your book inventory as big library sales are going on all over the place. An easy way to find one in your area is to check booksalefinder.com.

If you are new to book sales, it is a good idea to go into one with a strategy. Book sales are usually very crowed and crawling with other book sellers.   Without a plan, the sales can be overwhelming and even intimidating.

To develop a plan, here are a couple of things to consider:

• Your budget
• The lowest pricing point of books you want to sell (not as easy as it sounds)
• What genres of books you want to sell

It is easy to go over budget at a book sale – especially if they take credit/debit cards. I used to go in with $100 cash in my pocket and easy spend two or three times that once I found out that they took debit cards.  Now I try to pick a high budget for the entire sale, this way if I spend more than I plan the first night it is ok as the prices usually go down each day of the sale.

My current plan has been to sell books for at least $6.99 with FBA. This way I am clearing around $4 minimum per lightweight book (I look for a higher value for hardback/heavy books). This doesn’t take into account the price I paid for the book however.  If a paperback book is $2 at the book sale, then I am looking for books that will sell for at least $8.99.  This isn’t the whole story however; I also have to consider:

• The sales ranking – if the ranking is below 50K then I can go a little below my $8.99 minimum and usually be alright as the book will sell fast.  If the ranking is above 200k then I usually look for a little higher starting price
• When scanning a book, I can’t always go by the lowest price.  Why? I rarely ever sell my books for the lowest price.  A lowest price book could be $2.50, but I could price my book at $10. If the lowest price book isn’t on FBA, then the $2.50 automatically becomes $6.49 ($2.50+$3.99 shipping).  If the ranking is high then I will price my book a few dollars above this, so the $6.49 becomes $8.49-$8.99, right in my price range.
• Sales rank is a huge factor for me – I try not to bother with books over 500K unless the value is high ($20+?). Of course if I stumble upon a book that is worth $50 or more, I will usually buy it regardless of sales ranking.
• There are other factors to consider as well such as the condition of my book and my competitors’ book, the reputation of the seller (I have a great reputation/feedback on Amazon), and whether my competitor bothers to even describe the condition of their book.  With FBA, I get the eyes of “Prime” customers, something my competitor is probably not going to get.

Another good piece of strategy is to decide beforehand what genres of books that you want to sell most, or at least some sort of order of what kind of books you are looking for.  If you have a unique niche of books to look through you may be able to avoid being trampled by all of the novice book sellers racing to textbooks.  Some sellers do well with CDs/DVDs/Vinyl at book sales.  These tables are usually a lot less crowded than the book tables.

I hope this helps you with some ideas on how to handle library book sales. Please let me know if any of these tips help you or if you have any of your own to add!

As I am preparing for Hurricane Irene at my home in coastal NC, I have discovered another benefit to using Amazon FBA.   I have a few hundred books & other items I am covering in plastic and trying to protect in case of flooding.  I am thankful that I do not have the over 2000 books I have in storage with FBA at my home!  I can’t imagine how long this would take me to prepare for and how much money I could potentially lose if they were damaged.  I better go finish preparing my home for the incoming storm – I will post again soon & thanks for reading my blog!