The textbook business is for the most part an obscure and seldom heard of way to earn a living. Odds are you had never heard of it before watching my You Tube video. This is the first literature to ever present the business to the public in full detail. There are only a hand full of home based textbook sellers across the country. Traditionally most textbook sellers are large corporations which charge large corporate prices for their books. Your success in this business will come from selling textbooks to potential buyers for far less than the books can be purchased from a major corporation or from schools.
You are getting in on the ground floor of a virtually untapped area of income. You will make money in this business if you follow through with the information which follows.
Over and over again I am asked the question, “What type of work do you do?” When I reply that I sell school textbooks, the next questions which follow are most often, “How did you get into that business?” and, “Is it something I can do?”
I was introduced to the business by one of my clients while working in my previous career. My response to the second question is that my business is so easy that anyone who can read can do it.
At the time of this writing our country and most of the world is in a historically deep economic recession. Each day the media reports more and more job loses and business closings. Fiscal recovery seems a long way off.
Thousands of people are finding themselves losing the income they have become dependent upon. The fear and uncertainty of how to replace that lost income is like a heavy weight on the minds and shoulders of both friends and strangers alike. The “Is it something I can do?” question is being posed to me so often that I have decided to write a step-by-step how-to manual.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
How Much Money Can Be Made Selling Textbooks from Home?
I operate a small to medium sized textbook business. The cash figures which follow are based on the size of my individual business model. Textbook sales tend to peak during the summer months. On average my profits from book sales are about $2,600 per week between the months of May and September. During this period textbook sales can rollercoaster wildly. One day $300 dollars in textbook sales may come in. The next day $800 dollars in overall sales may come in. Each day can be radically different than the preceding day. Much will depend on the titles in your inventory and the demand for those titles.
Sales drop off after September. Sales dip after September because students have settled into the new school year following their summer break. By the end of September students have acquired all of the textbooks they will need to complete their semester or school year. They have purchased their books either from their school or from me or from some other textbook seller. Between the months of September through December my profits from sales average about $850 per week. In January sales slowly begin to pick up and typically start to level off near the $1,200 per week mark. Profits continue to hover near the $1,200 per week mark until the month of May comes around again. Then profits climb back up in or above the $2,600 per week range.
In May the seasonal profit cycle begins again.
A word of caution: Developing a personal budget when your income swings so radically can be tricky. I would advise that you avoid taking on too many regularly occurring financial commitments based on one or two exceptional sales days, weeks, or months. In the textbook business your income will fluctuate.
Sales drop off after September. Sales dip after September because students have settled into the new school year following their summer break. By the end of September students have acquired all of the textbooks they will need to complete their semester or school year. They have purchased their books either from their school or from me or from some other textbook seller. Between the months of September through December my profits from sales average about $850 per week. In January sales slowly begin to pick up and typically start to level off near the $1,200 per week mark. Profits continue to hover near the $1,200 per week mark until the month of May comes around again. Then profits climb back up in or above the $2,600 per week range.
In May the seasonal profit cycle begins again.
A word of caution: Developing a personal budget when your income swings so radically can be tricky. I would advise that you avoid taking on too many regularly occurring financial commitments based on one or two exceptional sales days, weeks, or months. In the textbook business your income will fluctuate.
How You Will Be Paid For The Books You Sell Online?
Every two weeks you will receive an email from either Amazon.com or Half.com notifying you that money from your textbooks sales account will be deposited into you bank account. The email will contain the dollar amount to be deposited into your bank account. It may take a few business days after the money is deposited for the funds to post in your account, depending on the bank you use. What follows is an example of an actual email notification from Half.com to me. Your 1st and 15th notification of deposit emails will be similar.
We wanted to let you know that we will soon be depositing $1320.72 into your bank account for the sales that you made in the recently completed selling period. This amount will be sent to your financial institution on the 7th business day after the end of the payment cycle. It could take an additional 1-3 business days to post to your account, depending on your bank.
We wanted to let you know that we will soon be depositing $1320.72 into your bank account for the sales that you made in the recently completed selling period. This amount will be sent to your financial institution on the 7th business day after the end of the payment cycle. It could take an additional 1-3 business days to post to your account, depending on your bank.
How Big Can You Grow Your Textbook Business?
As previously stated I operate what I consider to be a small to medium sized textbook business. I have no employees and do all of the work involved with the business myself. Other book businesses that I know of have multiple employees and make 5 to 6 times the money that I do. My point is that you can grow your book business to the size you are most comfortable with. Or you can stay relatively small as I have decided to do. I like having free time to go to the beach, cycle, exercise and generally spend most of my days pursuing my interest instead of working all of the time. You, on the other hand, may decide to go for the big paydays instead. There is nothing wrong with that. In the online textbook business you can write your own check, so to speak.
What Is An ISBN Number?
The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is located on the back of every book. Pause here and take a moment to look around your home or office for a book to examine. Any book. Turn it over to the back cover. Above the barcode you will see the ISBN number. This number will have either 10 or 13 digits.
Now, go to your computer and type in http://www.amazon.com/ or http://www.half.com/. In the search box of either site type in the 10 or 13 digit ISBN number located on the back of the book you are examining. Hit enter. The price of that book will appear on your screen. This is the price you can expect to sell your book for on that website. The current sales price of the book will depend on the condition and demand for the book. Some books will sell for a lot of money and some books will sell for a small amount. Books can sell for anywhere from .01 to $250.00 per copy. The average sales price of a book is $55. The price of a book will go up and down depending on the condition of the book and demand for it. The shipping cost for the book is paid for by the customer who purchases the book.
Now, go to your computer and type in http://www.amazon.com/ or http://www.half.com/. In the search box of either site type in the 10 or 13 digit ISBN number located on the back of the book you are examining. Hit enter. The price of that book will appear on your screen. This is the price you can expect to sell your book for on that website. The current sales price of the book will depend on the condition and demand for the book. Some books will sell for a lot of money and some books will sell for a small amount. Books can sell for anywhere from .01 to $250.00 per copy. The average sales price of a book is $55. The price of a book will go up and down depending on the condition of the book and demand for it. The shipping cost for the book is paid for by the customer who purchases the book.
What is the process of selling textbooks online and will you have to advertise your inventory
My textbook inventory is sold on Amazon.com on Half.com and to other textbook companies. You will not have to advertise your inventory. You will simply have to list the ISBN (International Standard Book Number) of your book on Amazon.com or Half.com. These websites allow you to
list your books for sale on their sites along with other sellers of the same ISBN. Whenever someone eventually sells their textbook on Amazon.com or Half.com the website will take a small percentage of the sales price of the book for themselves. This is considered payment for allowing you to sell on their site.
list your books for sale on their sites along with other sellers of the same ISBN. Whenever someone eventually sells their textbook on Amazon.com or Half.com the website will take a small percentage of the sales price of the book for themselves. This is considered payment for allowing you to sell on their site.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Selling Your Books To Other Textbook Companies
Whenever you want to sell to textbook companies you simply go to their websites and check to see if there is a market for the books you would like to sell. If there is and if the purchase price offered by the company is agreeable you can go ahead and ship the books to them. Then you wait for your check to arrive from the textbook company. Generally speaking it takes about a month to receive your payment for the books.
When you sell to other textbook companies they often provide printable shipping labels that you affix to your shipping box. I avoid selling to companies that want to reimburse me for shipping cost. Whenever I have
dealt with companies which promise to reimburse shipping cost they have always found an excuse to only pay back a portion of what it actually cost to send them the books. Or not reimburse me for the cost at all.
Here is a short list of companies who will purchase books from you. Be aware that textbook companies pay less for books than you can make for them by listing them on Amazon.com or Half.com . The only time I sell to companies like the ones listed below is when I have far too many copies of a particular title.
When you sell to other textbook companies they often provide printable shipping labels that you affix to your shipping box. I avoid selling to companies that want to reimburse me for shipping cost. Whenever I have
dealt with companies which promise to reimburse shipping cost they have always found an excuse to only pay back a portion of what it actually cost to send them the books. Or not reimburse me for the cost at all.
Here is a short list of companies who will purchase books from you. Be aware that textbook companies pay less for books than you can make for them by listing them on Amazon.com or Half.com . The only time I sell to companies like the ones listed below is when I have far too many copies of a particular title.
- www.bigwords.com
- www.valorebooks.com
- www.ecampus.com
- www.Bookbyte.com
- www.webuytextbooks.com
- http://buyback.abebooks.com
- www.cash4books.net
Updating The Prices Of Your Books
There will often be other individuals and companies selling the same books that you are attempting to sell. The book which is selling for the least amount of money will appear first in the search results when someone types in the IBN on Amazon or Half.com. For this reason you must always try to sell your books at a cheaper price than others who are attempting to sell their copies of the same book.
You do this by regularly updating the prices of the books in your inventory. Drop the price of your book .01 (one cent) lower than the lowest price listed by other sellers. For example, lets say seller XYZ is selling a copy of Intermediate Algebra for $35.00. XYZ’s $35.00 sales price is lower than all other sellers of the same book. XYZ’s copy of the book will be offered for sale first as the result of an ISBN search. Simply because XYZ has the lowest sales price. You must update the price of your copy of Intermediate Algebra to $34.99. This will make your copy of the book .01 lower than seller XYZ’s price. Now your copy of Intermediate Algebra will appear before every one else's whenever a buyer goes to the site searching for a copy of Intermediate Algebra. Buyers often purchase the least expensive book listed. Even if they will only save one cent. I update the prices of the books in my inventory every 2-3 days. There is currently 416 individual titles in my inventory. It takes me about 1 hour to update all 416 book prices.
You do this by regularly updating the prices of the books in your inventory. Drop the price of your book .01 (one cent) lower than the lowest price listed by other sellers. For example, lets say seller XYZ is selling a copy of Intermediate Algebra for $35.00. XYZ’s $35.00 sales price is lower than all other sellers of the same book. XYZ’s copy of the book will be offered for sale first as the result of an ISBN search. Simply because XYZ has the lowest sales price. You must update the price of your copy of Intermediate Algebra to $34.99. This will make your copy of the book .01 lower than seller XYZ’s price. Now your copy of Intermediate Algebra will appear before every one else's whenever a buyer goes to the site searching for a copy of Intermediate Algebra. Buyers often purchase the least expensive book listed. Even if they will only save one cent. I update the prices of the books in my inventory every 2-3 days. There is currently 416 individual titles in my inventory. It takes me about 1 hour to update all 416 book prices.
Three Business Days To Ship Orders
When a book is purchased from you through Amazon.com or Half.com you will be sent an email notifying you that you have received an order which must be filled. You will have up to 3 business days to prepare the book(s) for shipping and to get them into the mail and on their way to the customer. Your books will be sent at Media Mail rates through the United States Postal Service. This is by far the least expensive way to ship books. The shipping amount that the customer pays you when they order your book will be based on USP Media Mail rates. After you mail off your order yo may be required to send a confirmation email to your customer letting them know that their order has been shipped. This is very easy to do and only involves a couple of keystrokes on your part.
Every now and then a book will get lost in the mail and you may have to send a replacement book to the customer or provide a refund for the order. This is a rare occurrence but can and sometimes does happen. For orders of $20 dollars or more I pay for Post Office delivery confirmation at my own expense. In the event that the book gets lost it can be tracked if it has delivery confirmation. This is only my way of doing things. You may elect not to add delivery confirmation to any of your book orders. If you feel confident that a book will arrive safely without delivery confirmation that will be your call. Because it is your textbook business you can do most things however you want.
Every now and then a book will get lost in the mail and you may have to send a replacement book to the customer or provide a refund for the order. This is a rare occurrence but can and sometimes does happen. For orders of $20 dollars or more I pay for Post Office delivery confirmation at my own expense. In the event that the book gets lost it can be tracked if it has delivery confirmation. This is only my way of doing things. You may elect not to add delivery confirmation to any of your book orders. If you feel confident that a book will arrive safely without delivery confirmation that will be your call. Because it is your textbook business you can do most things however you want.
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