Selling Books on Amazon

Amazon has a couple of solutions if you want to sell your new or used books. The site's Trade-In Program allows you to sell books to Amazon, or you can sell to buyers via the Marketplace as an individual or professional seller.

Use Amazon's Trade-In Program

If you have an Amazon account, you can automatically trade in books, as long as the book you want to sell has a listed value and meets Amazon's eligibility requirements. In return, you receive a gift card credit to your account.

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To get started, go to the Your Account page and select Your Trade-In Account. Search for the book to find out if it's eligible for the program. If its listing in the results has a Trade-In button, you can sell it, but you must confirm that the book matches Amazon's ISBN and meets the default Good condition.

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Once you've added a book to the trade-in list, you get a quote. If you decide to go ahead, use the free prepaid shipping label to ship the book. When Amazon receives it, it credits your account with a gift card, if the item meets its criteria. If the book's in a better condition than Good, Amazon may increase your credit amount. If it's in a worse condition, it may reduce the credit or return the book to you.

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Tip

  • You can also see if a book has a trade-in value by searching for it on Amazon and looking in the main listing area for the Trade-In button.* The Amazon Trade-In Program also accepts video games, CDs, DVDs and electronics.

Warning

  • Amazon will not accept books with certain types of damage or books that come from libraries.
  • Not all books on Amazon are part of the Trade-In Program.

Sell Books on the Amazon Marketplace

You must register as an individual or professional seller to sell books on Amazon. To get started, go to Your Account and select Your Seller Account to choose a plan and sign up.

If the book you want to sell already has an Amazon listing, the easiest way to create a selling page is to use the Sell Yours Here button on the listing. You then use the Amazon template, adding information on the book's condition, price and shipping options. If you can't find a listing for the book, create a product listing.

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Amazon sets standard shipping rates that it collects from buyers when they pay for items. You pay for shipping but get a credit from Amazon when it makes payments to your bank account. Payments include the selling price and the shipping credit minus fees.

You don't have to pay to list books, but you do pay fees when you sell them. As of June 2015, individual accounts allowed you to sell up to 40 items a month with no subscription fee, but you'd pay $0.99 for each book sold. Professional accounts can sell more than 40 items a month. They have a monthly subscription charge of $39.99 and no per-item charge. Both types of account also charge referral and closing fees for each sale.

Tip

  • To make sure your pricing is competitive, check how much other sellers charge for the book before you set a price.
  • Calculate your shipping costs before you set the book's price.
  • Make sure to read Amazon's condition guidelines before you choose the book's condition.
  • If you're creating a listing for a book, follow Amazon's advice on listing quality.

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