Meredith’s Online Bookseller Story

For this post, I decided to share another online bookseller story that I got from Meredith, a fellow online bookseller that sent in her story to me with some minor edits by me.  I hope that you enjoy it.

If you missed the last story, you can access it at Online Bookseller Story #1.

I got started doing this because I was looking for a way to be able to quit my full-time job and concentrate instead on doing something I loved rather than just doing something to get the bills paid. As much as I like it, though, it is still very much a hobby. I’ve learned by doing–buying and seeing what sells and what doesn’t, building inventory lists and then having to rebuild them, starting out with an unorganized storage system and learning that once you get to a certain point, you have to get organized, etc.

My dad and I have been doing this together, and some of our best success–and biggest surprises–have come from his buys. He lives in a medium-size town and goes to estate sales (he now knows most of the people who run them, especially one woman) and buys up all the leftover books at the end of a sale for 15-20 cents per book. We also had some older friends (in their 90s) donate their extensive library to us, and as others have learned about our venture, they’ve donated books, too. [Adam's note: An online bookseller can manage to get TONS of books for free!]

We thought the older books would be valuable but quickly learned that just because a book is old, it isn’t necessarily valuable. We also had to learn by trial and error that library book sales are great, but not many people will buy ex-library books, so those aren’t always the great buys they seem to be. Just by chance (and because it’s what was in some of these libraries we acquired), we learned that self-help books, books about health, and financial guides make good sellers–but not ALL books in those categories, so we’re still having to figure out some of the finer points of what will and won’t sell in those categories.

As an online bookseller now, we had also, early on, concentrated on WWII and Civil War books (because of my Dad’s interests, as well as because that’s what some of the advice out there suggested), and some of those have sold well, and some haven’t. The biggest surprise to me was that Danielle Steel books can sell for a nice profit. Who knew? I figured they were published in such big runs that they would be “penny” books, but som e of the older ones are apparently collectible. (A buyer taught me that and sent me a request list to look for when I go to the sales which was a fun–and unexpected–connection I made with someone. Another fun connection was working to get a book to a customer’s mother for a Christmas present last year, complete with wrapping paper and personal note.)

We’ve been selling books for about a year and a half now. The first book I sold was The Secret, and I sold it at a huge loss because I got impatient and wanted to make that sale! But it was so fun that I was hooked, and I started going to book sales, estate sales, thrift stores, etc. and building up my inventory as an official online bookseller.

I really don’t know what the most I’ve made in one month is, but I’m guessing it’s probably about $200-$300. A couple of times I’ve sold a $100 book, but 99.999% of the time, I sell 15 cent books for $2.00, minus commissions and fees and stuff, so I figure I make about a quarter per book…maybe a little more. So, needless to say, I’ve kept my full-time job to keep paying the bills, but I’m going to keep doing this, too.

The more I read about online bookselling and becoming an online bookseller, the more I think my experiences are typical, so I don’t think there’s much here I can offer anyone–other than maybe helping them feel like other people are going through the same things–but, as I said, I would like to read others’ experiences and maybe pick up on some tips and tricks of the trade that I haven’t learned yet. Like you, I think there are an awful lot of books–and readers–out there, and there should be plenty to go around.