Hello! Enjoy this post on how to make money selling books from a blog friend of mine. You can find other ideas in my side hustles series.
I love books. In graduate school I read a great many of them, and for years books have been both a hobby and a reliable side income for me.
Over seven years I worked in a couple of bookstores, and for more than a decade I’ve bought books at clearance sales, library sales, and garage sales, then flipped many of them on Amazon for profit.
Another profitable strategy has been selling used books, CDs, and DVDs to chain bookstores. Several franchises that operate in multiple cities will buy used items—Half Price Books is one example—but most of the tips below are drawn from my experience selling to Hastings Entertainment. Many of these strategies apply to other secondhand retailers as well.
Although I still shop garage sales and library sales, I’ve often found better bargains at retail stores clearing out older inventory.
For a couple of years I bought from a franchise whose local store discounted older new books to as low as $0.47 each. I would load a shopping cart, resell the most valuable finds on Amazon, donate select titles to a university library project, and trade in the rest at Hastings Entertainment.
At another bookstore that eventually closed, they discounted new books that had been in stock for a few years until you could buy a full sack for $15. Every few months I would buy several sacks—each containing books with a retail value of hundreds of dollars.
I kept the most lucrative titles to sell on Amazon, kept a few for myself, and traded in the majority at Hastings. It was consistently profitable and relatively easy to make money selling books.
Below are practical tips for how you can replicate this approach and make money selling used books, whether at Hastings or a similar store.
Tips for Making Money Selling Books
1. Buy books in good condition. Avoid volumes with inked notes or heavy markings, and watch for remainder marks (a cut or stamped line on the bottom edge). Hardcover books should include their dust jacket, and paperbacks should be trade paperbacks (larger size), not mass-market paperbacks (roughly the size of a checkbook). Also, most chain stores require a barcode on the back to accept a book; older editions without barcodes may sell on Amazon but typically won’t be accepted for trade-ins at stores like Hastings.
2. Look around and be flexible. When you bring books in, store staff usually ask for ID and then scan each item. If a book isn’t in their inventory system or the store already has enough copies, they may decline it. However, one store’s reject might be another store’s purchase—don’t assume a single refusal means the title is worthless to all buyers.
3. Compare cash vs. store credit offers. After scanning, the associate will present an offer—often both a cash amount and a higher store credit amount. Store credit is usually worth more, and I typically choose it on a plastic card that can be used at any branch or online. If you need cash, accept the cash offer, but expect it to be smaller than the credit amount.
4. Use store credit strategically. I’ve used trade credit to buy items like an acoustic guitar for my older son, rent DVDs, and purchase games. A lesser-known advantage: you can often buy gift cards with store credit. Over the years I converted trade credit into phone minutes, restaurant gift cards, movie tickets, and retail gift cards—effectively turning low-cost books into everyday expenses, gifts, or necessities. Even a few dollars of books traded in can yield real value when turned into things you already buy.
How to Get Started
If you want to make money selling books, the natural first question is: where do I start?
Begin at home. Sort through your own books, CDs, DVDs, and video games and ask whether you’d rather have the item or a couple of dollars. When you have a dozen or so items, take them to a buyer like Hastings and watch how the process works.
If you want to pursue this as an ongoing side hustle, start scouting local bookstores for clearance sections and watch those prices. Clearance items are often toward the back of the store—check regularly because prices are frequently lowered over time. Your goal is to find titles that you can buy for less than $0.50 each; those yield the best margins when reselling or trading in.
Once you find a store with consistently good clearance deals, make it your regular source. If new-book clearances are limited in your area, expand your search to library sales and garage sales as well. This approach combines the joy of hunting for books with the potential to earn money.
Sometimes I find books worth reselling on Amazon; other times I find titles that are better suited for trade-in at stores like Hastings. And occasionally I find books I simply want to keep and read—after all, the hobby itself is rewarding.
Author bio: Carey is a husband, father, and blogger. He and his wife have been married for 20 years and have two teenage sons.
Are you interested in learning how to make money selling books? What side hustles do you pursue?