Selling Textbooks via Auction and Fixed Price

 Are you done with college or high school and are wondering how to get rid of all those extra books? Well, if you are interested in making a few extra coins from the process while at the same time disposing of all that unwanted material, you may want to think about selling them. Most people do consider selling their textbooks, but since it is not that easy to find places where second-hand books are accepted easily, the process becomes complicated. To avoid this, think about online avenues where you can list your books and either auction or sell them at a predefined fixed price. Here are a few things that you need to know about selling books using these two methods and the pros and cons attached to each method.

Auctions for book sales

An auction is where you place an item on a site that does auctions such as eBay. Here, there is no set price for the book, and it is the people bidding for the book who will determine the last price. The highest bidder usually gets the item. While it is common to expect that a book will depreciate in value after you have used it for a number of years, it is also important to note that an auction could lead to the bookselling for much less than it would have on a fixed price site. Other demerits which come from the auction include:

• Time limit is a disadvantage: most of the sites that perform auctions will set a period of about seven days for interested participants to place their bids. If your item is a textbook and someone needs to use it immediately, they will lose interest and go looking for a fast solution on a fixed price site.

• Lack of Google Indexing: when you are selling a book online, you want to place it in such a way that when a related keyword is entered on Google by a prospective buyer, the link to your book will appear. Because auctions only run for 3 to 10 days, you will not be indexed. Websites take close to 30 days to be indexed, and you need one that is indexed to advertise and get rankings.

• Reduced visibility: There is also the possibility that the interested person will not see the book within the number of days which you have set for the auction. On the other hand, when a fixed price listing is made, the item will be available for a longer period, and people who might have an interest in the item will eventually see it.

• Slow payments and lack of automation: if the item is not sold within the days that the auction was set, you may have to either list it again or discard it, manually. Also, payment will be processed in four days or more.

The benefit that comes from the auction is that as long as you do not have a stated fixed price for the item, it can go for any amount, even more than the original cost, depending on the demand in the market.

The benefits of fixed price listings

Fixed price listings seem to be the best way to sell textbooks because of the many benefits which come with the process. For instance:

• More automation: the sites which have fixed price listings are made in a way that everything is on sale all the time. If they have an eBay account, the items will be renewed every 30 days, making them easy to access for the prospective buyers.

• The best offer feature: the other benefit which comes with the fixed price listings is the best offer feature. This is like the auction feature where the person who puts in the best price to the seller gets to walk away with the book. It keeps the book on sale for a longer period while still working like an auction.

• Markdown feature: the fixed price sites also give you a markdown feature whereby you can pull down the price of a book which you feel has stayed on for too long and want to sell. The markdown manager lists the book as on sale and indicates the percentage discount to try and attract potential buyers.

• The immediate payment feature: The best thing about this system is that as soon as the sale goes through, you get paid. You do not have to wait the four days which are a characteristic of the sale.

These are some of the pros and cons of these two sale methods which are common in textbook sales. It is important to note that as long as you list with the right sites, the sale process will not be long or frustrating. Here is a summary of the typical process you would follow in making such a sale:

• Gather the books and approach the site. Some will allow you to create a seller account while on others they manage the storefront. You will price your books and have them placed on the shop.

• The site will offer shipping services when the books are sold

• As soon as the delivery is done, you will get your money.

Selling your old books is therefore as simple as picking the right sellers to help connect you with prospective buyers. Just take time to assess and price your books and then list them on BooksRun, the best retail shop online for used textbooks. You will not regret the service.