Items to Look for: Textbooks, Continued

On Saturday I discussed criteria for determining if a textbook is a good investment. Today I'm going to talk about pricing textbooks for both buying and selling.

When buying books, it's important to know if it's worth the investment before you purchase it. As I said in my last post, if the book is older than four years, don't bother checking it; it's almost guaranteed to be outdated.

What's worth the investment varies from person to person. If I can get a book for $0.10 to resell it for a $7.50 profit, I'm fine with that. Some people require larger profits to be bothered to list the book, take it to the post office, etc. Remember that Amazon's fees and shipping add up quickly; your profit is equal to the books selling price * (1 - 0.15 in fees) - the book's initial cost (ie, how much you paid for it at the garage sale) - $2.34 in fees + $3.99 shipping credit - ~$3-$5 shipping fees. So, if you sell a book you bought for $2 for $20 on Amazon, you're really only making ~$12.50 after shipping. It's important you do the math before you make the purchase so you don't end up making an investment that loses you money.

When buying textbooks, it's very important you don't overspend. Had you spent $10 on that hypothetical textbook from above, your profit would drop to less than $5. Like everything else, be conservative: try to make your purchase as cheap as possible.

Personally, unless I am very sure I can sell the textbook very quickly for a fair sum, I am unwilling to invest more than $0.15 on it. Spending $0.50 on a book on March 3rd in which I had no idea of its value was very unusual for me; usually in this situation I wouldn't spend more than $0.10. For whatever reason I felt like taking a gamble; it paid off as the book sold for more than $28 after fees and shipping.

I employ two venues for selling textbooks: Amazon and Craigslist. I use Amazon when I'm more interested in a quick sale than I am in making a little more money; I also use it when I have failed to find a buyer on Craigslist. Like selling on Craigslist, the trade-off effect is very present: you are more likely to get more money if you're willing to wait.

Textbook prices on Amazon don't seem to fluctuate like video game prices, so listing your book in the middle and simply waiting for it to be sold doesn't seem to work. I have noticed, however, that people are willing to spend more for a book in better condition or for a book from a seller with good feedback. Obviously, don't lie about the book's condition (this will only get you negative feedback), but a good way to build good feedback is to list like-new books at the low price.

When pricing a book on Amazon, I usually don't list it at the lowest price. Instead, I price it six to eight cents cheaper than the fifth or sixth cheapest copy. This way, I'm still on the first page of used copies but I'm making a few more dollars than sellers at the top of the list.

I sell books on Craigslist in the following situations:

1. I know the book is used at a university in my area
2. It's an older edition or it's worthless on Amazon
3. I don't mind holding on to the book to potentially make more money

First of all, it's almost guaranteed you will make more money selling books on Craigslist than you will on Amazon. I've had people pay me $40 on Craigslist for a book that starts at $0.01 on Amazon. Furthermore, many students are willing to buy older versions of their books; I've had many students happy to spend $30 for the 4th edition of a book in its 4th edition that costs $150.

Perhaps the best part about selling books on Craigslist is that there's little competition. You can set your book at $50 and people will offer $40 and be happy, whereas on Amazon the book may start at $20 and there may be thirty sellers trying to sell the book for $20-$50; in this situation your copy would never even be looked at at $50.

I usually base my Craigslist asking price on the lowest Amazon price for the current edition of the book. I usually price my copy two and a half times the Amazon low price; so, for example, if the Amazon low price is $30, I will list it at $80 with a disclaimer that I will consider all reasonable offers. This way, the buyer will offer $50 and I will counter at $60. I still walk away with a good profit (even better considering I didn't have to pay Amazon's fees) and the buyer is happy.

If the Amazon low for a textbook is less than $5 I will list my copy at $20. If someone offers $10 I'll take it.