Used Books Online

Over the years I have bought many used books on line. Most of them have been first editions by my favorite authors. Others have been books that are no longer in print. Still others have been books that I wanted to read, just out of curiosity. Whatever your reason, buying used books online is a great way to get the books you want.

Buying used books online is a great way to build your collection, without spending a fortune, but what do you do, when you begin to run out of shelf space? Do you build more shelves? Store them in boxes under your bed? Pass them onto friends? Or sell them again?

If you have rare or popular books that no longer interest you, selling your used books can be an excellent option.

While there are many options for selling your books online, they require work. Listing the condition, deciding the price, and then hoping nothing happens along the way to upset the customer. What if the book you have to sell is widely available on the used market, and your book is torn up? What if you could just trade those books with others who wanted them?

For those looking to give books away, there are book swaps. This is like an old fashioned library sale, where everyone in the community donated books they were done with, and then came back on the big day, to buy the ones they had been longing to own. It is like that, except now you have access to books from around the world!

BookMooch is a simple to navigate site, available in a number of languages. It is designed for world-wide use, so if you are looking for a book that was printed in another country, you may be able to find it here.

BookMooch has a wish list, for books that are not currently available, but that you are sure you want. It also has a ‘save for later’ list, where you can keep track of books you are interested in, and check to see if any of them are available.

Getting books is based on a point system. You list ten books and earn one point. You give a book away, you earn a point, unless it is shipped overseas, then you earn three points. You spend one point to get a book within your own country, two points, to get one from outside of your country. You can also earn points by leaving reviews for the senders of the books you receive. BookMooch maintains a 2:1 ratio of books received to books sent.

The only cost involved is the price of shipping. You pay to ship the books you are giving away, and in turn, others pay to ship their books to you.

Give your points to charities: If you just want to get rid of the books you have on hand, and are not interested in using the points you accumulate, then you can give the points to one of several charities they work with, including children’s hospitals.

Paper Back Swap is a place to swap books, paper backs and hardcovers, audio books, text books, CDs and DVDs. They have a running total at the top of the page of how much members have saved, over buying used, how many books are available, and how many members are currently online.

Paper Back Swap’s search allows you to look for books via title, author, ISBN number or keyword. They also have an interactive browser on the front page, of hot topic books.

Getting books is based on a credit system. The first ten books you list earn you 2 credits. You can get one book per credit. When someone requests one of your books, you receive an email, and then go to the site to print out a wrapper for sending the book. As with BookMooch, you pay the shipping for the books you give away.

Bookins is a place to trade books and DVDs. The webs site provides shipping labels, with the correct postage, so that you don’t have to run to the post office. Unlike other sites, on Bookins, you pay for the books and disks you receive, at the going rate of $4.49 per item. Shipping things out is free. This may be the best site for just giving away what you have. They have a quality guarantee, so books you receive will be in good shape, and DVDs playable, or they will provide a refund.

With Bookins, the points system is based on the value of the books you are offering. More points are assigned for popular items and best sellers.

Most of the rare books I have purchased have came through Alibris.com.  I have always been pleased with the condition of the books and amazed at the prices.  I have also ordered used books through Amazon.com. Just take a look, if you can't find what you want anywhere else.

Recently, I signed up with BookMooch.  I listed 15 books, and within the first 24 hours, three of them had been requested.  I chose to swap the books, instead of sell, because most of the titles I have are very common on the used market or unheard of paper backs.   For me, the option of being able to send for other's books, without having to price shop is worth the few cents my books might be worth.  Let a curious reader have them!

Ivorwen, 2009.

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