Selling used books is an easy way to make money on Amazon – and even for kicking off your online venture. However, before getting started, you must learn how to sell used books on Amazon, and where you can find used books to sell on the platform. Additionally, you must research and find out the kind of books that you can or can’t sell on AMZ.
How to Resell Books on the Amazon Platform
To resell books on Amazon, you must make three important decisions:
- Choosing the fulfillment method you want to use (FBM or FBA)
- Whether you want to be a Professional or Individual seller
- How you will source for inventory
After making these three decisions, you can then list the books on AMZ immediately, and wait for the first sale!
In this article, we break the three decisions further for you!
1. How to Fulfill Orders
You can fulfill orders on AMZ in two different ways: FBM or FBA.
FBM (Fulfillment by Merchant)
When you make a sale on Amazon, you have to pick, pack, and then ship the books yourself, using your preferred carrier i.e. UPS, FedEx, etc. The inventories for FBM sellers aren’t stored in Amazon warehouses. Remember to calculate your storage costs if you choose this route if you won’t be storing the books in your house, as well as handling and shipping expenses.
FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon)
If your product is ordered by a customer on Amazon, AMZ will pick, pack, and ship the ordered book/books. Additionally, Amazon will store the books in their warehouses and handle customer service issues.
It means that you won’t have to pay for handling, shipping, or storage costs, or any labor costs; you only pay AMZ a stipulated FBA fee that will cover all those costs. Use this method if you have many orders that need to be fulfilled and if you don’t have a storage space.
2. The Type of Seller You Should Be
Professional sellers
Third party vendors who sell approximately 40% or more of their products in a month fall in this category. If you have huge inventories, this method is ideal for you.
Individual sellers
If sellers sell less than 40% of their products in a month, then they are categorized as individual sellers. If you are selling a few products or doing it as a hobby, this method is ideal for you. There are different charges for individual and professional vendors.
3. How to Source for Inventory
Many people prefer selling books that they have online already, but you can go an extra mile and source your books from various places to increase your sales on Amazon.
The following are some of the easiest ways to source for your inventory:
- Selling your own books
- Visiting book sales and purchasing books from there
- Purchasing books from websites selling them at lower prices as compared to Amazon and reselling them (Online arbitrage)
- Wholesale or bulk purchase; you can purchase many books online for lower prices on Facebook, Craigslist, and eBay at reduced prices
- Closing/Estate book sales; you can find many book collections since they are normally sold at once
Final Say
There are many places you can source for books that you can sell on Amazon. However, ensure that you do proper research to avoid incurring losses.