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I have enjoyed many great reads this year however I only have so much space to store books.
In order to make room for new titles, I decided to try out Amazon’s trade in program for books.
One thing I notice right away is that they tend to buy back only books that are from popular authors and current titles.
I received between $1 to $3 per novel, for an overall average of just over $1.50 per book. I have heard prices are significantly higher for textbooks.
I sent my books out late Thursday afternoon, and the money was deposited into my gift card account on Amazon by Tuesday. When you subtract the weekend, that is a 3 business day wait, which I thought was fast.
I also liked how easy the service was to use. You simply punch in the ISBN numbers found on the back of your books, and it will tell you in seconds whether they are accepting that title or not and how much you will receive if you decide to trade it in.
When you are done entering your books you will be asked to verify their ISBN and condition, after that you will be taken through the check out process.
You decided whether you want to send it UPS or USPS and then print out the appropriate shipping label, which brings me to another thing I love about the Amazon trade in program, they pay for the shipping.
Amazon will also pay for the item to be shipped back to you should they decided not to accept it upon inspection.
My Final Thoughts: I would definitely use the Amazon trade in program for books again. In fact since I wrote the first draft of this article I already have used the service a second time. The selling process is extremely hassle free and fast which more than made up for the few extra dollars I might have gotten through other methods of selling.
post linked to Teach Me Tuesdays at Growing Home, The Mommy Club at Crystal and Co. WFMW at We Are That Family, WLWW at Women Living Well, Frugal Fridays at Life As Mom
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Tina says
November 19, 2012 at 1:56 pmThanks for the info! I’ve been wondering if it was worth it to do this – sounds good, esp since they pay for shipping!!
Lisa says
November 21, 2012 at 9:40 amThanks for letting us know about this program. It is a great option, even if there isn’t much money in it.
Paul says
December 29, 2012 at 1:34 pmA lot of people complain about the prices Amazon or other similar places offer, but it’s really quite reasonable considering they take all the risk of being stuck with the book, and they pay shipping. And an Amazon gift card balance is basically as good as cash, whereas a lot of other places will give you higher trade in values of their own store credit which is much less versatile. There is a (fantastic) used book place right down the road from me (http://www.bookbarnniantic.com/). But they offer $0.20 for paperbacks and $0.50 for most hardcovers. And most books you would be lucky to sell for a dollar or so profit on eBay (in my experience). So for low value books I usually try Amazon first, local place second, then donate to the library.
Victoria says
December 29, 2012 at 2:04 pmYes I too have a similar system for books. Amazon trade in first, then Homeschooler’s secondhand curriculum sale, yard sale and then second hand book store for trade paperbackswap and donation. I haven’t donated books to library but I have donated DVD’s before.
glenn says
September 24, 2016 at 7:13 pmDo you know if any way to convert the AMAZON gift cards to cash ?
Victoria says
September 25, 2016 at 11:29 amNo sorry I do not.