Wanna know the best sites to sell used books online?
Well read on.
Once we’ve read them, books become pretty useless.
They just sit there taking up space and gathering dust.
You could actually make a profit through selling used books online.
It’s so, so easy to do as well.
Dust off your collection and sell them online – you’ll thank us when you have extra cash in your pocket and more space in your home!
In this post we’ll list the best place to unload your old books, including reading books and textbooks.
That’s not all though. We’ll also tell you exactly how to sell your books online and give you tips for success.
Let’s get started…
Table of Contents
Where is the Best Place to Sell Used Books?
Online or in person?
Which is better for selling used books?
Now that’s a pretty common question.
Really, online is better just because a lot of these sites that buy books generally have lower overheads than your good old fashioned brick and mortar stores do.
For you, this means better prices.
Now we’re not saying that websites will offer you the best deal every time.
For the most part though, you’ll get more cash when you sell books online.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at offloading your used books online.
How to Sell Used Books Online
There are basically two ways to sell used books online.
List your books for sale on online marketplaces
Think Craigslist and eBay – you list your books for sale and wait for a customer to buy them. Selling through these sites takes a while longer than the method below, but you can set your own prices!
Here’s how it works:
- List your book for sale. You may need to pay to list your book. On some sites, it’s free to list stuff for sale.
- Wait for a customer to purchase it.
- When the customer buys your book, you will need to ship it to them. You may need to pay a commission to the site. This means you don’t get to keep 100% of the profits. Not all sites take a cut but some do.
Sell your books directly to buyback sites
You sell your books directly to these sites. It’s a quick way to make money from secondhand books.
Here’s how selling to these sites usually works:
- You find your book’s ISBN number.
What is an ISBN number you ask?
It’s a 10 or 13 digit number that’s on pretty much any book you purchase.
To find an ISBN, look on the back cover of a book for the barcode as it can normally be found there.
- The next step is to enter the ISBN into the site’s search bar.
- You’ll get a quote. If you like the quote you’ll ship the books to the site for free and get paid!
Simple right?
Most of the places to sell books are buyback sites, rather than those online marketplaces we mentioned above.
We’re going to cover both buyback sites and online marketplaces.
Now you know how it works, let’s get onto the sites…
Best Sites to Sell Used Books
Looking to sell reading books for cash?
Check out these sites. On there you can sell everything from mystery novels to cookbooks!
1. Cash4Books
We’re going to start with Cash4Books because it really does make selling used books so easy.
Just enter your ISBN (you can enter a bunch of ISBNs at once if you need to) and you’ll get an instant quote.
Ship your books to Cash4Books for free and you’ll get paid by check or PayPal when your books arrive.
Simple, effective, and profitable!
2. BookScouter
Next up is BookScouter. Now this one is a little different.
You don’t list your books for sale or even sell directly to the site.
Instead, you use BookScouter to find the best deals for secondhand books.
Enter the ISBN of the book you want to sell and BookScouter will compare the price you’d get for it with more than 40 different buyback vendors.
You pick the best deal and ship your books for free.
It just streamlines the process and ensures you get the best deal – and who doesn’t want the best deal?
3. Decluttr
Want to know where is the best place to sell used books?
One of our favorites is Decluttr.
You sell directly to the site – how easy is that?
Just enter the barcode for the book and you’ll get a quote from Decluttr.
There’s even a Decluttr app you can use to just scan the barcode of a book – as if selling on there wasn’t already easy enough.
Like the quote?
Just ship your items for free and get paid! It’s as simple as that.
4. Craigslist
Want to sell your books to someone nearby?
Give Craigslist a go.
You get the best of both worlds – you’re selling online but if you want to you can meet up with the buyer in person to make cash from your books. If you do ship the items to the buyer, you or the buyer will have to pay the shipping fees – do keep that in mind when pricing your stuff.
5. Sell Back Your Book
Enter the ISBN of your book, get a quote, ship your books for free and get paid with Sell Back Your Book.
Like Cash4Books and Decluttr, Sell Back Your Book makes it so easy to make cash from unwanted books!
6. Letgo
List your used books for sale on Letgo and make some cash!
With this app, you sell stuff to people in your local area.
There’s even an app available as well.
7. Blue Rectangle
Check out Blue Rectangle.
This site is awesome as it has a clean design and really just makes selling books a breeze.
Like with the sites above you’ll need to enter the ISBN for the books you have to unload.
You’ll get a quote, and you can ship your books to the site for free and get paid by check or PayPal.
Again, easy right?
8. 5Miles
On 5Miles you can list your old books and make a profit from them.
You don’t get charged a commission on this site which is awesome!
You get to keep all of the profits!
To make selling even easier, 5Miles has an app.
9. CKY Books
CKY Books will buy books directly from you.
All you need to do is visit the site and enter your book’s ISBN to get a quote.
Ship your books to CKY Books if the quote suits you.
The only issue with this site is that it’s not always free to ship your books as it is with the places above.
Only orders over $20 will qualify for that free shipping.
If you have a larger collection to get rid of or some high value books you shouldn’t have much trouble hitting that limit though.
CKY Books pays you by PayPal or check, depending on which payment method you select.
10. Paperback Swap
Now this one works differently to the options we mentioned above. With Paperback Swap you can trade books with other people.
Simply list the books you’d like to swap.
When a person requests it you mail it to them.
In return you can choose from more than 1 million books for free!
You just pay for shipping on the books you mail out, but postage is paid on the books you receive.
It’s an easy way to get new books for free while thinning out your own collection. Despite the name, paperbacks aren’t the only type of book you can swap. You can also trade hardbacks, audiobooks and textbooks.
11. Comic Book Classifieds
Do you have some comic books you want to sell?
Well, give Comic Book Classifieds a go!
Just as its name says, Comic Book Classifieds is a free classifieds site where you can buy, sell and trade comics, as well as related collectibles.
12. Carousell
Carousell is another online marketplace like Craigslist and 5Miles where you can list your old books.
It’s super easy to use the platform and the app makes selling even simpler.
13. BookFinder.com
Like BookScouter you can use BookFinder.com to compare books prices with different buyback vendors.
While not as cleanly designed as BookScouter, it’s still a great option if you have a lot of books to sell and want to get the best deal.
It’s also been around since 1997 and it’s been featured by the New York Times, Newsweek, and Forbes so it’s definitely well-established.
14. OfferUp
Sell books on OfferUp. Just create a listing and wait for your stuff to sell!
You can post your items for free and you can ship it or meet up in person.
There’s an OfferUp app available as well.
How to Sell Textbooks Online
Have some textbooks to sell?
Well, you’ll want to check out the sites below.
Although you can also sell textbooks to the sites above, the ones below are particularly great for unloading your unwanted textbooks.
As with selling regular books, when you sell textbooks you have the same two options:
- Buyback sites where you sell directly to a site.
- Online marketplaces where you list your stuff for sale.
Same as above, simple!
Now let’s take a look at the best sites for selling textbooks.
15. CampusBooks
Want to know the best way to sell college books?
Take a look at CampusBooks!
You can compare prices on offer from different buyback vendors all in one place!
It’s just like BookScouter only it’s designed specifically for textbooks.
Just visit the site, enter the name or ISBN of the book you have to sell and you’ll get tons of quotes.
It just makes selling textbooks a whole lot easier.
16. Bookbyte
Next up is Bookbyte.
This one’s been around since 1999 so it’s a bit of a staple.
It also has an A+ rating with the BBB which is pretty impressive.
Now selling on there is super easy.
You just need to enter an ISBN and get a quote.
If you like the offer you can get a prepaid shipping label to mail out your books.
Now only orders that are worth more than $10 ship to the company for free.
Make sure you hit that threshold to avoid that shipping fee.
You get paid through Check or PayPal depending on the payment method you select.
17. Textbook Buyer
Just like its name says Textbook Buyer buys books right from you.
It’s been around for a decade so it’s legit.
There’s a $10 minimum order amount you’ll need to meet to sell your books to the site – just keep that in mind.
18. Chegg
Want to sell your old textbooks?
Check out Chegg!
Enter your IBSN, get a quote and sell your book if the offer suits you.
It’s really that simple.
You can ship your books for free too which is awesome.
It’s so easy to sell books to Chegg!
19. TextbookRush
This is another site where you can enter an ISBN (or a bunch of ISBNs at once) and get a quote.
Just ship your stuff for free with the company’s prepaid shipping label.
You get paid by PayPal or store credit.
20. FirstClassBooks.com
FirstClassBooks.com buys books directly so it’s another one where you can get some quick cash.
Payment is sent to you through PayPal or check.
The part is that the site gives you prepaid shipping labels meaning shipping won’t cost you a cent.
21. ValoreBooks
Sell your books directly to ValoreBooks.
Just input your ISBN for a quote. You can enter more than one ISBN at a time too – a real time-saver!
If you like the quote you can ship your stuff to ValoreBooks for free – great right?
You get paid by PayPal or check.
22. Barnes & Noble
Sell books to Barnes & Noble.
Yes, it’s true.
Barnes & Noble buys textbooks.
To sell your stuff to the company you need to have at least $10 worth of books.
This is another site where you enter an ISBN to get a quote and then the site buys directly from you.
You can only enter one ISBN at a time which is kind of annoying, but hey, it’s simple to sell to the site otherwise.
23. Textbook Recycling
This is another one where you can sell your stuff directly to the site.
As with most of these buyback sites, you just need to enter an ISBN, get a quote and then ship your stuff.
The only problem with Textbook Recycling is that you only get free shipping if your order value is less than $50.
Check out the site for more details on shipping costs.
24. Student2Student
Student2Student is site where students can buy and sell textbooks directly from each other.
You cut out the middleman and can sell books right to students on-campus. How awesome is that?
Get started by entering the ISBN of the book you want to sell.
What we love about this site though is how versatile it is.
You can also compare textbook prices at different online buyback vendors if you don’t want to sell books in person.
You’ll get online and local selling options once you’ve entered your book’s ISBN.
25. eBay
List your textbooks for sale on eBay.
It’s free to list your first 50 items!
Sometimes eBay does charge other fees so be sure to check.
While selling used books on eBay isn’t the quickest way to get cash, it can be profitable as you can set your own prices and it’s such a popular platform that tons of people can see your listing.
How Do You Sell Used Books on Amazon?
Want to sell books online with Amazon?
Well there are a few ways to do it:
26. Amazon Trade-In
This is the method we’d recommend for selling books through Amazon because it’s just so easy.
With the trade-in program, you can trade your old stuff, including books for gift cards for Amazon.
Now if you’re looking to get actual cash for your books then this program isn’t for you because you’ll get Amazon gift cards instead of cash.
Having said that though, it’s basically like getting free cash because Amazon has so many different things that you can buy!
This is also a good option if you want to sell books back to Amazon.
27. Amazon Individual Seller
You can sign up to Amazon as a seller and list your stuff for sale on there.
When someone buys your stuff, you’ll need to ship it to them.
You can sign up for a Professional account or an Individual one.
Unless you’re planning on making a business out of selling books we’d recommend sticking with the Individual account.
Just because the Professional selling plan costs $39.99 a month, whereas with the Individual plan only costs $0.99 for each item sold plus other selling fees
It’s ideal if you are looking to sell fewer than 40 items a month.
Just visit the page we linked to above and scroll down the page to where it says “Just have a few items to sell? Sign up to become an individual seller,” and click to sign up.
28. Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA)
Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) is another one to consider.
It’s easier than just selling through Amazon yourself because with FBA, Amazon will pick, pack, and ship books for you and will also provide customer service as well.
Pretty great right?
The only downside is that in addition to the regular selling on Amazon fees, you also get charged fees for order fulfillment, storage and optional services.
So it’s a little pricier. If you’re looking to make a business out of selling books though, FBA really is a great option.
How Can I Sell Used Books for Cash Near Me?
Selling used books online is great.
But what if you’d like to sell nearby instead?
Well you can!
The places below will give you money for your books in-person. If you’re looking to get cash on the spot, it’s definitely worth considering!
29. Half Price Books
Take your used books into your nearest Half Price Books store and get a quote for them.
Like the quote?
Well accept it and you’ll get paid in cash!
For quick cash, this is a great option.
30. Powell’s Books
In the Portland, Oregon area?
Visit a Powell’s Books store and you could get money for your secondhand books.
You’ll get a quote and if you accept it you get cash or store credit.
You can actually sell books online to Powell’s. Just enter the ISBN of the book you want to sell to get a quote.
You can ship your books for free to Powell’s if you like the quote.
If you sell to Powell’s Books online you get paid to your PayPal account.
31. Used Bookstores
Just checking out local used bookstores is a great idea.
Sometimes used bookstores and thrift stores will buy your unwanted books from you. Give them a call to ask if they purchase books – if they do then take them to the store and make some cash!
Tips for Selling Old Books
Here are a few tips to keep in mind when selling used books:
Be Honest
Always be honest about the condition of the book. Mention things like damaged corners or highlighted sections.
Buyers won’t be happy if they find that your book was in much worse condition than you stated!
Package your stuff carefully
Keep your book in its current condition by packaging it well.
If your book was in excellent condition when you mailed it out but arrives in fair condition you’re going to get less cash.
Make sure your book arrives in excellent condition by wrapping it well.
Compare prices
The biggest tip we can give you is to just check prices at a lot of different places.
Doing this will get you the best deal – and we all want the best deal!
Whether it’s inputting ISBNs on a few different sites or using a site like BookScouter or CampusBooks to compare prices from multiple places all at once, doing a quick price comparison will ensure you get the most money for your books.
Closing Thoughts
As you can see, there are so many places where you can sell your used books.
These buyback websites make selling used books so easy as well!
You just enter a few numbers, get a quote, ship your stuff for free, and get paid.
Try one of our best places to sell used books for cash online and start making money from your unwanted books!
Please share it with us in the comments section below if you have any experience with selling used books or know of a great website for selling them that we haven’t included in our list.
