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Originally published on October 21, 2020, updated April 15, 2024
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Despite Amazon getting its start as an online bookstore, today selling books on Amazon is quite difficult. Not only is the competition for book sales steeper than other categories, but also the demand for print books is gradually slipping thanks to the popularity of eBooks.
So how do you sell books on Amazon and turn a profit? Here are three strategies for how to make money selling books on Amazon.
The competition on Amazon is vicious, and customers almost always go with the lowest-priced bid. You want to undercut your competitors’ pricing as much as possible, but doing so eats into your own profits. The best way to survive selling books on Amazon is to keep your margins high and your prices low — and that starts with smarter product sourcing and acquisition.
Here are a few recommendations on where to get books to sell on Amazon.
Although used books won’t net you as much as new books, if you get them for next to nothing, your margins remain the same. That’s why you should always keep your eyes out for free or cheap books.
Libraries are excellent for buying used books to sell on Amazon at low prices, but they don’t always have books for sale. Thrift stores can offer some amazing deals, but they don’t always have the best selections of books. You can also try online forums like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace — people often use these when they want to get rid of their books quickly, so buyers tend to find great deals here.
Sometimes, your product source is right under your nose! You might try selling your own used books on Amazon at whatever price you want.
Related reading: How to Sell Used Items on Amazon
Got a good eye for deals? If you find a book outside of Amazon that’s sold at a lower price, you can buy it and then resell it on Amazon at a higher price, a practice known as retail arbitrage.
Although it may sound easy, retail arbitrage requires paying extreme attention to markets in your area — online and off — and staying in tune with general eCommerce trends. It rewards sellers who have a general knack for spotting deals, but only if they act fast. This can be particularly effective for selling textbooks on Amazon.
In a nutshell, higher volume means higher margins — any price breaks you get buying in bulk can be transferred to your customers to beat out your competition.
The best way to buy books in bulk is from wholesalers, but if you’re lucky you can find a clearance or liquidation sale from stores going out of business. Estate sales or garage sales can also be excellent options for finding used books.
If you’re having trouble unloading your books, the problem may not be “books” in general, but the particular books you’re offering. As we all know, some books are better than others.
If you're struggling with how to make money selling books on Amazon, look into offering better, more popular titles. This doesn’t just mean stocking up on New York Times Bestsellers — you can specialize with a particular niche or genre and sell the most in-demand books of that niche.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to predict what used books sell best on Amazon. Judging by a PublishDrive report from earlier this year, however, we can see the top categories at the moment are:
Of course, there are plenty of other genres to choose from, and if you play your cards right, you can leverage the limited supply of smaller niches to avoid the gross competition in larger niches. Try to discover lesser-known but still in-demand niches that suit your brand — SEO tools and search statistics can shed some light on what used books sell best on Amazon.
Booksellers don’t always get the same happy endings their wares enjoy. One account from an independent seller describes just how hard it is to sell books on Amazon for a profit. Usually, only serious booksellers with efficient product sourcing can sustain themselves in Amazon’s book market — more casual sellers can’t get their margins wide enough to stay out of the red.
If you can’t seem to find a viable and sustainable method of product sourcing books, you can always cut your losses and sell your stock to Amazon as a vendor. Many people ask about this: we hear "can you sell used books to Amazon?" a lot, and the answer is yes! You won’t get as much money per item as you would if you were an Amazon seller, but you can at least unload your inventory and get something in return. The Vendor program is by invitation only, but you can take measures to raise your chances of an invite.
Technically speaking, vendors are closer to the manufacturers in this relationship, with Amazon being the primary seller. You’re essentially providing Amazon with their inventory, which they in turn sell themselves. There’s very little room for negotiation, and payments take up to 90 days, but if you’ve got a garage full of books that no one else seems to want, it’s better than nothing.
Although selling books on Amazon has its own particular best practices, it still more or less adheres to the rules of good selling in general. That means if you want to sell books on Amazon at scale, you have to employ the best sales strategies for selling in general.
If you’re looking to improve sales, check out these resources:
And, as always, eComEngine is also here to help. Our FeedbackFive software can help you monitor the reviews of books sold by competitors to help you make more informed buying decisions of your own. Then, once you begin carrying the item, you can use the tool to automate your review requests and increase your presence in the marketplace. It's a win-win!
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