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How Much Do Used Bookstores Buy Books For?

by Jerry JuaMaking Money

Jun 24, 2020

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Having bought a few books from second-hand bookstores, I often wondered how much they buy their books for. So, I did some research and put together this helpful article to explain how much they buy them for.

So, how much do used bookstores buy books for? Used bookstores purchase books, on average, at 50% of what their store would sell them for. This means if a store sells a book for $5 they will buy it for under $2.50. Used books that aren’t best sellers but still have some demand are usually purchased for $0.50 to $2 each.

There are exceptions based on the title, and how much stock the bookstore has already in a particular category such as romance, mystery, and sci-fi. So, below I will explain where to get the best price for your used books, who pays the most, and where you can sell them for cash.

How much do bookstores buy books for?

We have found that bookstores buy books on average for 25% of the price to buy them new. This allows the store to mark them up 50%, but also offer a discount to their customers. So, if a book is $20 in the store, they will buy it second hand for $5.

Second hand book stores may have a surplus of books in a particular category, such as sci-fi. In which case, they won’t offer to pay 25% of the price to buy them new. They will offer a lot less to make up for the fact that they will be holding the books until their current inventory sells out.

Although secondhand book stores aren’t always the best places to sell used books, it is worthwhile to ask around the different stores in your area or online. This is because they will have different amounts of books in each category that they sell, and you may be able to get a better price.

Many used bookstores will make use of yard sales, lot sales, and liquidations to acquire their inventory at a much cheaper price. They can often find boxes of books for $1 to $5. This is a huge market and there are many people who buy books in lots, and then sell them at a markup of 2-3 times the original price. This can be seen at websites such as 888lots.com and booksliquidation.com. I put together the table below to show the pricing of buying books in bulk.

Learn how to sell used books online: a step by step guide.

Bulk books from Booksliquidation.com

Below is the table of pricing for bulk orders of books. They are priced by the pound (0.45 kg) and sold in 10 lb (4.5 kg) lots.

Book category	Price per lb	Price per kg	Price per book minimum	Price per book maximum	Resale value	Average markup
Paperback fiction	$2.00	$4.44	$0.57	$0.80	$2 to $5	1:4 to 1:10
Romance	$1.80	$4.00	$0.51	$0.72	$2 to $5	1:4 to 1:10
Mystery	$2.30	$5.11	$0.66	$0.92	$2 to $5	1:3 to 1:9
Science Fiction	$3.00	$6.67	$0.86	$1.20	$2 to $5	1:2.5 to 1:4

Although these prices are for paperback books only, the numbers are almost identical for hardcover books because people pay more for hardcover books.

So, we can see from the table that this is an economical way for second hand book stores to acquire inventory. There are however, cases where selling them through an online marketplace or through your own website will earn you more. This is because some of the books might be rare or in demand in which case you can sell them for much much more. If you are selling through your own website this will work, but you will have to market a lot to get enough people to your website.

This is why many book sellers prefer to sell on an online marketplace. This website that are on now is an online marketplace and we offer up to 3 listings for free. If you have only a few books or want to start a store then you should check out this page here to register for an account.

Now, other providers of bulk books offer even bigger sizes. Though there is more risk when purchasing such a large quantity the rewards are typically much higher. A website like 888lots.com gives an estimate of how much the lots are worth if books are sold individually. They offer a full manifest of the books in the lot so you can see check how much they sell for individually online, before buying the lot.

This is another stream of income that second hand book stores use, to increase their profitability.

Learn how much money you can make flipping books.

Who pays the most for used books?

You can get the most for your used books by selling them yourself directly online. This is too much work some people, in which case the next best place to sell them would be to a local second hand bookstore whether they are online or have a physical store.

There are aggregate websites which pull in information about how much each book is worth. They collect information from many different sources about the price of specific books. You can use this information to get a more accurate picture of what you can get for particular books.

Another place to get an idea of what you can sell your used books for is to browse Amazon. This data is not a guarantee, however, and you should take these numbers with a grain of salt. You may know that certain books sell well, and this will inform you as to whether the prices people are selling the books for is reliable.

Where can I sell my books for cash?

You can sell books for cash at a local second book store. They pay you cash for books. Many second hand bookstores have different levels of inventory. Which means that some of them might have too many of a particular books, such as romance, or mystery novels. So, you should talk with a few of them to see if they will take them.

With the prevalence of the internet and e-commerce, most people will go online to buy books. This means that it can make sense to sell them online yourself through an online marketplace. You can even set up your own website to sell your books. This is usually a lengthier process, but you will get a much better price for your books. This is because second hand books stores buy books at 25% of the value of the new book.

The advantage of selling to them is that you can often sell them quickly if they need your books. This makes sense if you aren’t too fussed about how much you sell them for.

Conclusion

Used bookstores buy books on average for 25% of what the new books sell for. They will buy them in bulk from companies who have acquired the books from liquidation, or estate sales. This way they can sell them at a good margin of 1:2 or more. If you are wanting to maximize how much you sell your books for, you should sell them yourself on an online marketplace or on your own website.

If you sell them through an online website you will have to market it and get people to go to your website. This is why people prefer to sell books on an online marketplace where they can leverage their marketing to get people to their listings.