In simple terms, Book Arbitrage simply means locating books priced much lower than their current market price on the internet and then buying them for below market price. To do this, you need to find either an Amazon affiliate account or have one of their affiliates email you when a book is listed for auction. Once you have one of their books, you will then bid on it. If you win the auction, you then sell the book on your website at a much higher price than you paid for it.
If you have a website that sells books, you are eligible for Amazon’s Gift Cards. When you qualify for the card, you can redeem it for any retail price of your choosing. Therefore, you are able to offer the book prices on your website as retail prices. This is how you make money with Amazon.
So, what should you focus on when searching for books to sell on Amazon? First, know that this strategy will work with any book. It doesn’t matter whether the book was published by a major house like Harvard University Press, or whether it is a self-published work. It will always sell just as well at Amazon as it would at your local retail outlet. You will simply have to know how to find the books and then price them right.
The first thing that you should consider is where exactly you will be selling the book. For example, if you are interested in using Amazon to sell textbooks, you will have a much easier time finding the books you need because they will be in demand. If you were interested in using Barnes & Noble or Borders, you would not have nearly as good of a selection and you would need to do some research to find out which sellers were offering the books in your area. Now, with the Amazon website, it is as easy as entering the book title into the appropriate search box. The website will then give you a list of available sellers in your area who might be interested in carrying the book.
Once you have this list in hand, you can simply begin looking through the books and seeing what they are selling for. If the book is selling for less than its official retail price, you should take note of that information and price match the book to Amazon. You can also check out the price listings for all the other books for sale on Amazon and do the same.
What happens after you find a bargain? Sell the book on eBay. The price that you initially set for the book should still be the price for the book when you sell it on Amazon. However, you should make sure that the price on the listing is lower than the Amazon listing for the book. This will allow you to generate some sales and hopefully make a little money off the book.
One last thing you can do is try to contact the author or illustrator of the book and ask if they would like to see the book listed for an extended period of time at their “buy now” price, and then have the book marked up so that you make a profit off of it. Some people will be willing to do this, especially if the book’s future potential is worth more than the upfront cost. Just be careful not to violate any copyrights by doing this, especially if you have the book signed by the author or illustrator. A quick Google search will provide you with a list of individuals and companies willing to do this.
Book arbitrage is an easy way to make some extra money online. You need to buy the right book at the right price, mark up the price a bit to get a profit, and then sell the book. It’s an appealing way to make some extra cash with a book you already own and is certainly one of the best ways to earn extra cash when buying books at Amazon.
