10 Places to Find Used Books to Sell on Amazon FBA

There are many sources of books for you to take advantage of. If you think outside the box and get resourceful you can get ahead of your competition. 

Here are some common sources but there are plenty of other source out there that are not covered in the following sections, such as online arbitrage, "the bins", posting flyers, storage auctions, and more. Books are so undervalued most of the time that you should have no problem finding sources for your new business.

Also known as resale stores and secondhand shops, are great places to find cheap books. You can find shelves of books for $0.10 a book or sometimes even free. 

Larger chain stores like Goodwill and Savers tend to have higher prices for books, up to $3-$4 sometimes, but most of the mom and pop type shops are really cheap. Some Goodwills and Savers have rewards programs so you definitely want to join those to get more savings. 

You can find thrift stores by searching Google Maps but you should also keep an eye out while you are on the road because many are not listed on Goolge maps. You can ask people when you're at a thrift store if there are any other thrift stores around and you may find other ones that are not listed. 

Before you start scanning at a thrift store you will want to know what the prices are. If you can talk to the owner or a manager in charge you may be able to negotiate better prices. Just tell them that you buy a lot of books, would they be willing to give you a better deal if you bought, say, at least 20 books? 

You don’t need to tell them that you resell books when you are negotiating prices unless they ask, but expect them to know once they see you scanning. At that point, don’t be shy about it, just be straight up about what you do. Ninety nine percent of the time they won’t care or will be interested in what you are doing. Being upfront about your business can lead to new opportunities!

Lots of thrift stores have books in storage in the back that they haven’t shelved and they may give you backroom access when they find out what you do. So don’t forget to ask if they have more books especially if the shelves are full. 

You should also find out about how much donations they get every week and when they stock the shelves. This will give you a clue as to when you should come back to the store again. 

If the books are unsorted you may want to take a second to consolidate them a little and clear off a couple of shelves. Chances are that when the person brings out the new books they are just going to add them to the space you cleared. This is one way of saving time by not having to re-scan all the books over again when you return.

Yard sales are a lot of fun to source at and you can find great treasures at them. The quality of books at yard sales is usually higher than thrift stores because they haven’t been picked through by other resellers or the public yet. 

You can find yard sales listed on Craigslist, Facebook groups, and websites such as yardsales.net and garagesalefinder.com or you can just keep an eye out for them as you make your way to your other stops.

Before you start scanning make sure you ask what the prices are. Once they see you scanning they may know that you are a reseller so you want to have already agreed on prices. 

Once you know what the prices are and have entered that number into ScoutIQ don’t be afraid to start scanning. If they ask you what you are doing just tell them, I resell books on Amazon. They might ask you a little bit about what app you use but most people are friendly so don't be shy.

You can also ask the owner if they have any more books for sale. They may have more in the house that they don’t want. If you find a good amount of books then you may be able to negotiate a better price. It doesn’t hurt to make them an offer. 

Keep plenty of business cards on hand and give them out wherever you go.

You can find some phenomenal deals at estate sales. You will usually have access to their entire house and some people have some substantial libraries which have not been picked through.

You can find estate sales at estatesales.net, on Craigslist, local Facebook groups, and by just driving around, if you keep your eye out. 

You can look up estate sale companies in your area and get on their mailing lists.

If you have a lot of competition in your area then you have to make sure you get there early. Try to research the sales the night before, so you can figure out which sale has the best potential and go there first. When you arrive, Look for a room of books or a shelf of books somewhere in the house and scan them all. You can find fantastic collections of books. 

Don’t be shy about negotiating. 

If you can get into a business relationship with the estate sale owners it can be profitable for both parties. Introduce yourself and get friendly with them, leave them your card and start to make business connections.

Library sales are competitive and fun treasure hunts but expect to pay a little more than average. If you have a system to get to books faster than the other sellers or can find library sales with very little competition you can rake in the profits. 

Get the schedule for your local library sales. There are also websites where you can find many library sales listed. There tends to be a lot of competition from other resellers at library sales especially those that are listed online on library sale directories. Treat them as competitive events.

Some library sales will have a pre-sale where you can pay $10 or $20 to view the books before everyone else. You should take advantage of this if it is available. Call library sales ahead of time to make sure that they allow scanners. 

You may want to hire a helper or two to help you beat the competition. There are fold out compact carts that you can buy from an office supplies store to help you transport books quickly to the holding area. 

The last day of the sale is sometimes fill a bag day. You may want to scan again on this day because your buy cost is significantly reduced. You might be able to pick up books for $0.10 that the day before would have cost you $2. 

Have fun but be respectful to the library workers and the other shoppers so that this will continue to be a good source for scanners.

Used bookstores have the benefit of having a lot of books. Usually there will be thousands and thousands of used books to choose from. 

The only problem is sometimes they can be overpriced. Sometimes they get their prices by taking the recommended retail price and just halving it. In this business, you won’t be able to afford to pay $10 for a non-fiction book with a cover price of $20 most of the time. 

If they have a textbook section it's worth checking that out but most of the time it's not worth going through the entire store if they're charging higher prices. 

If you can find book stores that have decent flat rates for books, around $1 to $3 then definitely scan through those stores. 

You can find used books stores on Google maps or other business directories. 

Again, try to speak with the owner and negotiate prices if you do end up finding some books

Selling books on consignment is a good way to get your inventory for free and get access to books that you would not otherwise have access to. 

Consignment partners could be thrift stores, libraries, estate sale companies, or anyone else that has a good source of books that they would like to get more money for.

There is a tab in the tracking spreadsheet that will allow you to easily track the consignment inventory and issue reports to your partners. Everyone in this business will get a huge benefit from the tracking spreadsheet but if you are wanting to sell books on consignment then you definitely need to purchase it. 

If you jump through the Amazon hoops to be able to sell in different categories like restricted textbooks, DVDs, Blu-rays, and games you can accept those types of inventory on consignment from other resellers.

Hauling away lots of free books is a good way to get free inventory but you have to move a bunch of heavy books and deal with all the books that you can't sell through FBA. 

You will almost always be expected to take everything, not to pick and choose what you are going to take.

You can keep an eye out for free books in your local buy/sell groups, Facebook Marketplace, and on Craigslist. You can also post free ads in those locations and offer a pick-up service. 

Some people would rather you come and pick up their books than try to sell them or cart them off to a thrift store. 

There are different ways to make a little money off of the books that aren’t profitable enough to sell FBA. You can sell some of them to SBYB, or sell them on Ebay, or merchant fulfilled on Amazon. However, if it is costing you too much time for too little return you can always donate the duds to a thrift store.

You should create business cards for yourself and keep them on hand at all times. You never know when someone will ask you about your business or what you are doing and you will have the opportunity to give them a card. 

You can also get a custom shirt made that says "I buy books" on the back or the front. Then you can be a walking advertisement for yourself. 

If you get the opportunity to go to someone's house and scan their personal collection you will have access to books that no other resellers or the public has access to and they will likely be much better quality than the books that you will find at the thrift store.

Just let them know ahead of time about how much you're willing to pay or give them an idea how much you normally pay for books so that they aren't expecting to get top dollar for their books. You can leave some room for negotiation as you may be willing to offer more for books that are worth more. 

You will also want to let them know that you are not likely to buy more than 10% of their book collection. Setting the right expectations from the beginning will help you to feel less awkward in their house, get you better deals, and will prevent them from getting disappointed.

You can also find great deals on books on Facebook Marketplace. 

You can search for "books" or "book lots" to find cheap books in your local area. You can either cherry pick through these books or pay a small price for the whole lot depending on the asking price, type, and quantity of the books.

Purchasing gaylords of books is more of a different business model than a different sourcing strategy. 

A gaylord is just a unit of measurement. A standard gaylord is a large box that is 48" x 40" x 36” and fits on a pallet. 

You will need a warehouse to intake, sort, and store the gaylords or at least a large garage. You will probably need a pallet jack or a forklift.

You may be able to get them delivered or you may need to pick them up depending on who you work with. 

There are different sources of gaylords such as goodwill and other thrift stores. You will have to do your research, make contacts, and snoop around to find out exactly where you can purchase these large boxes of books. Get as much information as you can about the quality of books, whether they are pre-scanned and picked through and where they came from.

The articles within this blog contain all the information you'll need to start and run a successful book selling business. 

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