How Did You Get Started Selling Books on eBay or Amazon? Here is My Story!

[@rachaelwarrington25]

Catching up on your videos, and your question about how I got started. The answer is you! I came across your channel and loved it. I’ve sold before over the years, the odd item. But watching you perked my interest and now my husband and I are heading for full time resellers, so thank you 😊.

[@sandy-sagerabbitvintage2681]

So good to share and find out what triggered your venture. I'm an artist (my profile pic is a sample) and I always loved vintage fairy tale books for their artwork. Well, one day I went to an estate sale at this stately old farm with tons of books and I found a corner with lots of these books. I bought twenty of them for $40. I felt guilty with that purchase, so I decided to sell some. I watched a bunch of KZbin videos and talked to the eBay guys at work and opened my shop. I discovered I could sell those books for many times that $2 cost. I had not realized I had 1st editions and highly sought after books (Peter Rabbit, Wind and the Willows, etc.). After my first successful sales I was hooked. Still a thrill to hear that "Cha-ching!"

[@christinadarque8246]

I’m a bibliophile since childhood. I’ve always had tons of books for myself but I stumbled on Raiken Profit’s 5 hr step-by-step video & was like “this is the one!” I said that lots of times but I knew this was it since I’m a book lover my whole life. So I opened my fba acct & found Mike the Used Book Guy. He is AWESOME! I’m part of the weekly zoom calls now & everyone is so helpful. I also do eBay. But I work full time so just plugging along until I can make this my permanent gig. You’ve also helped a lot- especially with your shipping vids. Thanks! 💜😃👍🏻

[@christopherpace282]

I sell books as a hobby and got started selling my children’s college textbooks.

[@MrGlasgow51]

What hooked me is when I bought a First Edition of From Here to Eternity by James Jones for 25 cents at a yard sale, and flipped it for $200. I have had a brick & mortar store and sold online off and on since.

[@Bookcity300]

This is fascinating . Enjoyed the story!

[@oldnndway4641]

I got started on e-Bay selling my childhood collection of silver age Marvel comic books. Local comic stores offered very low prices but e-Bay would get into Overstreet range of prices on some and more on key issues. I started seeing that I only had a finite number of comics so started looking into books and found the thrill of the hunt in that. That was around 20 - 25 years ago. Been at it ever since.

[@gymarsh1235]

You must have really wanted those filing cabinets. That's a funny story. Thanks for sharing. I picked up a copy of Atomic Habits at a garage sale for $1.00 earlier this year, put it on ebay for $21 and sold it overnight. That got me started. I sell about one book a week and I'm reading more now too and have found a few gems. I picked up an autographed copy of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It's a later edition and may be worth around $500 for $1.

[@lindahehemann7949]

Hi Shane - I sold an 1879 book called Little Folks in Feathers and Fur recently. I picked it up at an estate sale and paid up for it...too much in my estimation looking back - I spent $15 and figured it was a newbie mistake. But I listed it on Etsy and sold it recently for $137! I'm just getting into book reselling. Previously I sold new toys on Ebay that I found on discount at my small local Walmart in Arkansas; usually after Christmas. They were things that were sold out in other locations after Christmas. My most interesting sale probably 20 years ago was to Amy Carter, President Carter's daughter, which was a Zurg from Toy Story for her son!

[@richardschuyler9491]

I got started by selling my grandchildren’s homeschooling books.

[@theartofflipping]

@Curator of the Lost - Shane: Sourcing is slowing down for me too. I recently picked a small estate sale that had only two book shelves that were probably 50% full. The fiction titles were very old but, unfortunately, the cloth on the boards and spine were badly deteriorated. (No DJ's). Then my eyes wandered to the text books. Almost all were math or chemisty and looked "before my time". I looked at the verso pages and found they were old - early 1930's to early 1950's. I hadn't seen texts older than mid-1960's before and I thought of your finds involving math and hard sciences and thought, what else would I do but look them up. I was a bit more optimistic than I would have been otherwise thanks to your videos. It turns out that a few remain in print and the early editions seldom come on the market. I don't know what the values will total. I'll need to subscribe to Worthpoint to find a sales history. I'll post a video about this find soon and give you a shout-out. Thanks for posting informative content.

[@curatorofthelost]

Awesome and thanks for that feedback! I hope they end up being big scores for you. I appreciate the shout out!

[@jcau99]

I am having the same problem sourcing. I haven’t bought anything in maybe 6 weeks. I don’t believe for a second that elderly man was your father making you get rid of your playboy art work

[@tobiesmom]

I wonder what those magazines would be worth today? I don't believe eBay allows you to sell adult magazines anymore. I wish I could remember the first book that I sold on eBay. Or even the first item for that matter! I do remember when I became serious about selling on eBay, though. My brother had some silver bullion that he wanted to sell. He asked me to do it for him because I had an account in good standing with 100% positive feedback. I was selling books on Amazon at the time and after I closed my FBA account, that is when I switched to eBay.

[@dechinta]

"I didn't call my wife about this." LOLOLOL Then you were driving down the highway in a white Bronco...🤣 Or maybe it wasn't white. I was going to type out my Ebay story, but I can't top that! LOL A co-worker told me about Ebay in 1998-1999 and I sold my Nancy Drew collection at first, then I got hooked and have been at it ever since. I had, originally, a WebTV, which means I couldn't post photos on Ebay. All I could do is describe them in detail and thankfully, book lovers know what they want and were okay to take a chance on someone with just a (0) feedback rating. It's (4260) now. I haven't always done this full time and I wouldn't say I'm full time now, but I do what I can do with a disabled body and mind. My goal is simply to pay my utility bill with it. I have 264 active listings at the moment and need to list more and more since it's 4th quarter and I still owe on the ever-present utility bill...sigh.. I haven't had any trouble sourcing lately even though my major honey hole shut down due to water damage. I guess it's all where you go. I'm only about an hour or so from you, in the Shoals, but everyone has their own honey holes, I guess. Plus I have so many thousands and thousands of books in this house. When I moved back here from Tampa, I left most of my furniture and brought my books in a big trailer I had to hire someone to drive. And I imagine most of those books are still upstairs in my death pile. LOL It's all a numbers game. I always enjoy your videos!

[@hdood]

Imagine the sliding doors moment where instead of thinking “I can make money selling books online!” you were like “Wow, lots of money in erotica!” I think your channel would have been totally different!