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Selling Used Books Online: The Complete Guide to Bookselling at Amazon's Marketplace and Other Online Sites

Selling Used Books Online: The Complete Guide to Bookselling at Amazon's Marketplace and Other Online Sites

List Price: $17.95
Your Price: $12.57
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best Advice You'll Find Anywhere
Review: Stephen Windwalker has written a comprehensive and easy-to-follow guide for anyone interested in selling books online. Whether you're interested in part-time selling (to make some spare cash for your own used books), or in a full-time business venture, you'll find the guidance you're looking for in this manual.

We came across his book shortly after we began online listing of inventory from our bookstore. We found the advice in his book to be the best we'd found anywhere on the basic how-to's of getting started.

After covering the basics, the book goes on to explain the finer points of online selling, as well as the finer points of running an online bookselling business (taxes, insurance, etc.)

If you want to feel confident in your new bookselling venture, buy and read this book. It will give you a solid foundation of information you'll use for years to come.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Some Excellent Advice for the New & Experienced Seller!
Review: Stephen Windwalker has written a very good how-to guide on selling used books online, specifically on Amazon.com's own website. He begins with a brief section that must be required for any author to write if they are writing about something entrepreneurial - is this business for you? and continues with a brief overview of the bookselling business in general. Then he walks the beginners through setting up an account online so that you can begin selling. The middle section was one of the strongest with sections on suppliers & sources (who to buy from, how to find suppliers, mailing materials, etc.), building your inventory: where to get your books, which contains some interesting ideas as to where to go to buy the books (libraries, garage sales, dumpster diving, local churches, etc.), and what books to get, which provided some excellent advice, especially for beginners, on what books to avoid purchasing because they do not sell well or there is a big glut in the market for ($0.01 book, anyone?). I feel that these chapters in the middle would be a great reminder and resource for anyone who is already selling, as well. Still, take the author's advice with a grain of salt because I have been quite successful doing some of the things that the author encourages sellers to avoid. The author then continues with basic selling advice including where to sell your books, grading & describing your books, and posting and pricing your books, all of which are pretty obvious to the experienced seller, but may be of use to newer sellers. Probably my favorite section was on book repairs, which was by no means extensive, but did provide some good, basic tips on what to do with books that are slightly damaged so that you can maximize your profit from them. The end section is mainly for serious sellers, as it contains sections on business organization, taxes, dreams of getting bigger, and some fulfillment & customer service advice.

Again, I would recommend this book to beginning sellers as it does answer quite a few questions that they may have and experienced sellers will find some value in there as well, but it is a pretty expensive trade paperback so if you already know what you are doing, you may not feel that you are getting your money's worth. My only complaint with the book is that the author doesn't deal with a few issues that I feel are very important if you are going to be selling on Amazon.com's marketplace. The number one thing that he didn't deal with is the shipping charges issues, as in Amazon keeping $1+ per transaction as "shipping charges" that the seller never sees, but the buyer is always complaining about. It would have been nice for him to go over this, or at least mention it, as it is one of the most difficult things for new sellers to understand. A few more specific tips would have made this book a 5 star instead of a 4.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Some Excellent Advice for the New & Experienced Seller!
Review: Stephen Windwalker has written a very good how-to guide on selling used books online, specifically on Amazon.com's own website. He begins with a brief section that must be required for any author to write if they are writing about something entrepreneurial - is this business for you? and continues with a brief overview of the bookselling business in general. Then he walks the beginners through setting up an account online so that you can begin selling. The middle section was one of the strongest with sections on suppliers & sources (who to buy from, how to find suppliers, mailing materials, etc.), building your inventory: where to get your books, which contains some interesting ideas as to where to go to buy the books (libraries, garage sales, dumpster diving, local churches, etc.), and what books to get, which provided some excellent advice, especially for beginners, on what books to avoid purchasing because they do not sell well or there is a big glut in the market for ($0.01 book, anyone?). I feel that these chapters in the middle would be a great reminder and resource for anyone who is already selling, as well. Still, take the author's advice with a grain of salt because I have been quite successful doing some of the things that the author encourages sellers to avoid. The author then continues with basic selling advice including where to sell your books, grading & describing your books, and posting and pricing your books, all of which are pretty obvious to the experienced seller, but may be of use to newer sellers. Probably my favorite section was on book repairs, which was by no means extensive, but did provide some good, basic tips on what to do with books that are slightly damaged so that you can maximize your profit from them. The end section is mainly for serious sellers, as it contains sections on business organization, taxes, dreams of getting bigger, and some fulfillment & customer service advice.

Again, I would recommend this book to beginning sellers as it does answer quite a few questions that they may have and experienced sellers will find some value in there as well, but it is a pretty expensive trade paperback so if you already know what you are doing, you may not feel that you are getting your money's worth. My only complaint with the book is that the author doesn't deal with a few issues that I feel are very important if you are going to be selling on Amazon.com's marketplace. The number one thing that he didn't deal with is the shipping charges issues, as in Amazon keeping $1+ per transaction as "shipping charges" that the seller never sees, but the buyer is always complaining about. It would have been nice for him to go over this, or at least mention it, as it is one of the most difficult things for new sellers to understand. A few more specific tips would have made this book a 5 star instead of a 4.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Indispensable Resource for Online Booksellers
Review: Stephen Windwalker's book is an indispensable resource for anyone wanting to sell books on the Web. It is a VERY enjoyable and informative book. I have already read it thoroughly and reread portions of it (almost a complete reread, in fact). His conversational style of writing is extremely easy to follow.

I personally found every chapter to be informative and an interesting read. The up-to-the-minute information and tips are well worth the price of the book. Just the appendices in the back of the book are so helpful.

I highly recommend it to anyone who is contemplating selling online or if they have sold online for some time. Even the most experienced seller will find this information-packed book to be a quite helpful resource to keep handy right by the computer. This book is a "MUST-HAVE" for all online booksellers, whether you sell part-time or full-time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Like Having Your Own Personal Coach
Review: This book is a must read if you are contemplating selling used or new books on the Amazon.com Marketplace, or elsewhere. Mr. Windwalker has taken the basics of bookselling and compiled it into an easy to read manual, that is akin to having a personal coach by your side. The resources alone are worth the price of the book, but there is so much more. He clearly explains the steps required to be successful in the bookselling business, as well as the pitfalls to be avoided. Every facet of the business is covered, including important information on providing top notch customer service. I would recommend reading the book once for an overview, then reading a second time with highlighter in hand.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Resource Book that will STAY with me!
Review: This book is not only a wealth of information, but is also enjoyable to read. Whether a seasoned online bookseller or Novice, or an individual curious about online bookselling this book provides a host of information beneficial to anyone who takes interest in the subject.
One of the best features of the book that makes it so enjoyable to read is Stephen Windwalkers balanced and informative approach to "teaching" the subject. Many "How to" books come across with a patronizing tone, as if all that read need everything spelled out to them. Windwalker conveys his opinions without ever making the assumption that we don't know what he is talking about. He never comes across as authoratative or preachy, and often refers to us (the reader) as colleagues. Last, but not least is Windwalker's respect and recognition of the importance of all the surround the circle of the bookselling market. He has great respect not only for the pleasant customer and transaction, but also recognizes the necessity of the large corporation, the authors, the lowballing bookseller and the less than pleasant customer. He sees them all as important!
On to the wonderful content of the book. He gives an excellent historical account on the beginnings of both brick and mortor used bookselling to the birth of Amazon.com. He has great selling suggestions, listing suggestions, and a wonderful chapter on great ways to find affordable books to sell. He has so many helpful ideas, that not only is it an interesting read, but great reference material that will stay in my collection. Plus you will be surprised by the many fantastic websites he lists in his book, that I didn't even know existed. This book is well worth your time and money to check out!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This Book is a must to read if your planning to sell books
Review: This is a bible of helpful information on selling used books online. It helped me out so much that I bought this book for my girlfriend. I think she is planning to start selling books on line. This book is easy to read and easy to understand. The do's and don'ts in selling online. This book is would be great also for people who want to know where to look for that special book. Buy it... You will see that this book is loaded with helpful information.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Everything you ever wanted to know...
Review: This is a very comprehensive book that goes into more detail than I need but will be perfect for others.

Every aspect of selling books online is looked at carefully. The language is simple and easy to understand for just about anybody.

The author, a successful bookseller, gives a lot of good tips on what and how to sell. There is a section on this topic that is a real eye opener as to just how little so many book are worth.

But, if you are hoping to unload a few old books to clear off a shelf, or go whole hog and start a full-time business, you will find a lot of helpful advice in this book.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Save your money
Review: Very disappointing. There is not a single piece of information in this book that is not available for free by reading about a month's worth of messages on the "Seller Connection" discussion board that Amazon provides as part of its Seller Resources. The author doesn't seem to have taken the time to do even the most rudimentary independent research. For example he recommends the envelope vendors usually mentioned on the board, whereas a simple independent google search finds a number of cheaper vendors!

Of course if you like free information pre-digested and neatly arranged for you, then this book is great. But if that's the case, you might want to reconsider being a bookseller, since a willingness to gather and digest your own information seems to be a basic requirement for success in the field.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Windalker's Selling Used Books Online best of the best
Review: Windwalker's Selling Used Books Online. This is a great book. I would rate it 20 stars. I wished I had read this book 9 months ago. I believe I would have made thousands more dollars selling books with what useful information that is in this book. This not only gives tips but also tells where to go for buying and selling. This a booksellers bible. If you are thinking about selling books online this is the book. This is a great book if you are collecting books also. I can not say enough about this book. Go buy two. Give one to a friend.


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