Sell your books and make money! Here are 14 places where you can easily sell books for cash to clean out your home and make some side income.
Are you a bookworm? If so, chances are you go through books faster than you can find shelves to store them. Or perhaps you have a dusty old collection that hasn’t been cracked open in years. Regardless of where they come from, you can sell books for cash online to make a quick buck and declutter the house while you’re at it.
But it doesn’t have to stop there. Trying to sell books for cash can actually turn into quite a lucrative side business. Even with the rise of Netflix and Kindle, the book industry is still thriving, and plenty of readers out there would love to buy your used books at a lower price than buying straight from the big box stores. It’s easier than you think!
Basics About How to Sell Books for Cash
If you have a massive collection of books you want to get rid of, that’s an excellent place to start. Otherwise, you can find books by checking out thrift and second-hand stores, garage sales and yard sales, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and even local used bookstores trying to get rid of their excess stock.
Before shopping for books to resell, always have a number in mind of what you want to spend. This forces you to make better selections of books that will help you make a profit. While $1 books seem like a great deal, they won’t be worth the effort if they only resell for $1.50 each. Your time and energy are also worth money!
If you spot a book that you think may be a good resell, a handy tool to use is the best seller rank (BSR) on Amazon. The lower the number, the better. For example, books ranked as #1 have sold 1,500 or more copies that month. Anything lower than 100,000 is typically good. This info can be found in the product details when you search for the book.
Other helpful tools for price checking include Jungle Scout, Keepa, and the Amazon Seller App (it has a scanner that will instantly tell you the product price).
Selling Textbooks Online
As the most expensive books on the market, reselling textbooks can be lucrative. Students are always looking to get textbooks cheaper than retail — who can blame them?
Of course, selling can go with the season. September, January, and June are the most popular purchasing months as each school semester begins. The best time to purchase them is when the semester ends, and students want to get rid of them!
Modern Bestsellers
Between book clubs and Instagram recommendations, books can quickly become instant hits. People seek to purchase these for a good deal, as they are typically quite pricey. If you spot a hardcover first edition of a book published in the past five years, it’s probably a good resell!
How to Prepare Books to Sell
In order to sell your used books, you need to get them ready. Here are a few tips to help you prepare them for their second life:
- Check them out and ensure they’re in as good condition as possible.
- Honestly report each book’s condition. Some buyback companies will accept books in less-than-perfect condition, while others won’t. However, if you say your book is in excellent condition and it arrives to the vendor in acceptable condition, they may be rejected, or you won’t earn as much as you expect.
- Prepare a shipping box and print a shipping label. If you aren’t shipping to a vendor that offers free shipping, you will need to pay for shipping.
- Carefully pack your books and do everything you can to ensure they arrive in the same condition they were when you packed them.
Best Places to Sell Books for Cash Online
1. Amazon
Amazon got its start as an online bookseller. Can you believe that? To this day, it remains one of the top bookselling platforms for both new and used books.
If you’re interested in becoming an Amazon seller, you can either be an individual seller (selling less than 40 products per month) or a professional seller (more than 40 products).
Amazon takes most formats, including hardcovers, paperbacks, comic books, rare hardcover collectibles, non-fiction books, and children’s books. To list your books on Amazon, you’ll need to pay fees based on the selling plan you choose (e.g., $0.99 per item on the Individual Plan or $39.99 per month on the Professional Plan). You can also choose cash or Amazon credit for payment.
Depending on your preference, you can pack and ship the books yourself (called Fulfillment by Seller) or have Amazon store your inventory and take care of the shipping on your behalf (called Fulfillment by Amazon). If you want to sell some of your own books or don’t mind having books sit in your house while you wait for them to sell, doing it yourself is often the easier (and cheaper) choice.
So, it all comes down to how many books you have! If you have fewer than 40 to sell each month, the Individual Plan with Fulfillment by Seller makes the most sense.
2. Barnes & Noble
If you have a stack of textbooks that cost you an arm and a leg while in college, chances are they still have some value. Don’t wait on these! New editions come out periodically, which reduces the value of earlier editions. With virtually any subject, the newer the textbook, the better.
Barnes & Noble offers a service, Sell Your Textbooks, that makes selling your old textbooks easy. All you need is the ISBN of the book. If you have at least $10 in resale value of books, you’ll receive a postage-paid label that you can use to send your books into the Sell Your Textbooks program.
3. BookScouter
BookScouter is one of the handiest tools when it comes to bookselling. It boasts itself as “the world’s largest textbook buyback price comparison tool” but can be used to sell any used book. By searching the ISBN, it connects you to 30+ various online buyback programs so you can find the highest buyer.
Being able to compare different vendors in one spot makes selling that much quicker and ensures you get the best buyback prices for your books.
4. Ziffit
Like others on this list, Ziffit allows you to sell textbooks and used books. This site has a handy app you can download onto your smartphone, enabling you to scan your stack of books quickly using the barcode. Once you scan, you’ll receive an instant pricing offer.
For payment, you can either select direct deposit or PayPal. The company has partnered with FedEx to provide shipping services, so you don’t have to worry about paying to ship your books to them.
According to their website, Ziffit accepts a wide range of titles, so this is an excellent option for selling more obscure books that other sites may not take. The only requirement is that the books need to be in decent condition, with no water damage, missing pages, or damaged spines.
5. Powell’s Books
Flagshipped in Portland, Oregon, Powell’s is one of the largest used bookstores in the United States. The company purchases books from readers online or in their physical store locations to help keep their supply up to date.
The process to sell on Powell’s is hassle-free. Simply enter the book’s ISBN number online. You’ll get an instant offer, and if you want to move forward, you’ll be paid in your choice of store credit or cash via PayPal once they receive your books.
If you have a large number of books or a specialized collection, the company recommends you email them at [email protected] and give a brief description of the books for more accurate pricing.
6. GoTextbooks
As the name suggests, GoTextbooks is another website for selling your textbooks. Since you’ve spent so much money acquiring them, you might as well let them have a second life and get some of that cash back!
On the website, you can get an instant quote, ship your books to GoTextbooks free of charge, and then get payment by check or Paypal upon the vendor receiving your item. Their platform is straightforward, so sending your textbooks off to their new owner won’t take up much of your time. GoTextbooks gets average ratings on Trust Pilot.
7. Decluttr
Are you going through the whole house? Decluttr can help you get rid of quite a few items you no longer need but are still in good condition. They accept cell phones, technology, DVDs, CDs, video games, and most importantly, books! They accept all sorts of books, from children’s picture books to classic novels and textbooks.
Their app makes getting an instant price evaluation easy by scanning the barcode. Next, you pack up your books (and any other items you want to sell) and ship them free of charge to Decluttr. They will then pay you through PayPal or direct deposit once they receive the items.
This option is ideal for anyone who wants to declutter their home of books and tech items.
7. eBay
You can never go wrong with eBay, the original online seller. It has stood the test of time and, to this day, remains one of the top places online to sell your used goods. And that includes books!
Unlike many others on this list, you’re selling directly to another consumer through the platform. On the plus side, you get to set the price and will likely earn more than you would using the other platforms. On the other hand, it takes a little more work and is harder to determine an appropriate price for the book.
Simply use the app to take photos and make your listing easily. You can search for the book you’re listing on eBay and set a similar or slightly lower price so it sells.
eBay allows you to hold an auction where the item goes to the highest bidder or as a sell-it-now item where it’s sold for the listed price. The site’s bidding system method can be beneficial if you have rare, niche, or collectible books to sell. Once sold, the shipping is all up to you!
You can earn $500 a month by selling on eBay – here’s how!
9. Half Price Books
Sometimes you don’t want to worry about the hassle of shipping your books. While they sell used books online, you can drop off your used books at a Half Price Books store to get instant cash or store credit. Like other used bookstores, they will take a look at your stack while you hang out for a bit, and you may even find something you want to purchase yourself.
Besides books, they also accept music, movies, comics, magazines, collectibles, electronics, and games. If you’re clearing out the house, this may be an excellent place to get rid of a few items while still making a profit, although they may not offer as much as other sites.
10. AbeBooks
AbeBooks is an online selling site for rare books, online trade & textbooks, art & collectibles, maps, comics, and paper collectibles. It costs $25 a month plus fees to set up a seller’s account and have AbeBooks promote it to millions of visitors so you can reach a huge audience. You are responsible for storing and shipping the items using this option.
Or, if you only have a few books to sell, they have a book buyback program through Textbook Rush and Ziffit. Just enter your ISBN to get a quote, receive a free shipping label, and choose your payment method.
11. eCampus
eCampus not only purchases used textbooks, but they also purchase novels, biographies, non-fiction, and more! If you only have a few books to sell, you can use their instant ISBN quote tool, or you can become a marketplace seller. Payments are distributed via PayPal, check, direct deposit, or in-store credit (you get a bonus for receiving payment through store credit).
If you have a lot of books to sell, you can become a marketplace seller and sell directly to other students. eCampus will keep a 15% commission, but they handle payment processing and provide a shipping credit to help cover the shipping costs.
12. Booksrun
You know the drill by now! On Booksrun, you can sell used textbooks, as well as cookbooks, non-fiction, and fiction titles, too. Just enter your book’s ISBN on their website and its condition to see how much it’s worth. Note: You must have at least $10 worth of books before you can send your shipment to them.
Once you have your titles, print out a free shipping label, pack up your books, and ship them to Booksrun. Once they receive your books and verify the condition, they’ll issue payment within four business days via check or PayPal.
They also have a smartphone app for Android and iOS devices, so you can quickly scan your book’s ISBN. I’ve not used Booksrun, but they claim to pay top dollar for books and have fast payments for sellers (receive compensation within four days).
13. Etsy
You probably know Etsy as an online marketplace for buying and selling handmade goods. But did you know you can also buy and sell craft supplies and vintage items on the site? The rule for selling vintage items on Etsy is the item must be at least 20 years old. For craft supplies, the item must be a tool, supply, or material used to create a handcrafted item.
If you search on the site, there are many people selling bundles of books for craft projects and rare vintage books. So, if you have an old vintage book or a bunch of books that nobody will buy, you might be able to sell them on Etsy. They charge a small listing ($0.20) per listing transaction fees, advertising fees, and shipping fees, so keep this in mind when deciding where to sell your books.
14. Sell Back Your Book
Sell Back Your Book buys used books and takes everything from textbooks and teaching volumes to children’s books and novels.
Simply enter the ISBN numbers of your books via their website or app to find out if the vendor is currently accepting those titles. If they are, you’ll receive an instant price quote that’s good for seven days, along with a free shipping label.
Once your books arrive at Sell Back Your Book, they are inspected, and payment is quickly sent to you.
Conclusion
Whether you want to sell used textbooks, old novels, or rare finds, these buyback sites offer plenty of options for making some extra money. And if you’re motivated, you can make selling books your full-time gig like this TikToker who chronicles his six-figure bookselling journey. With some research and spare time, selling books can be a great side hustle of a full-time business!
If you want to know more about starting a book reselling business, this post has some great tips!
Originally published on November 8, 2021. Content updated October 2023.
