How to Sell Homeschool Books Successfully

Knowing how to sell homeschool books is not rocket science. If you use these simple tips, you should be able to successfully sell what you are no longer using for home schooling.

Best tips on how to sell homeschool books:

sell homeschool

Accurate Description - Inside Observe what you see when you look at the book. Start with the inside.

Are all the pages clean?

How many pages have been written in?

Is there highlighting throughout the book or just in the first few chapters?

Are there margin notes made in pencil or pen?

Is there any water damage on any of the pages?

Have any of the pages been torn out?

Are there any tears on any of the pages?

Do you have any pets or cigarette smoke in your home? If you don’t have any, then mention that too. It can be a selling point.

The more accurately you describe your book, the better chances you will have of getting an informed buyer and a successful sale. You are not doing yourself any favors by making the book sound better than it is. If your buyer gets any surprises when she receives your book, you might end up having to go through the hassle of a refund and losing your shipping cost.

If you don’t have much space to write a description, either buy more space or tell them to email you for more details.

Accurate Description - Outside

List what edition this book or curriculum is if it has an edition listed on it. Some people are looking for a certain edition. You might just have the one they are looking for. You will get less money for an older edition even if you paid retail.

Look at the cover and binding.

Is it hardcover or soft cover?

Are there any bends or tears on the cover?

Are all the pages still attached to the binding?

I usually end all my listings with “good strong binding” unless that is not the case. That ends the listing on a positive note.

Some examples of what you can write for a listing:

- “No markings inside or out. Cover shows some shelf wear mainly around the edges. Good strong binding. 2nd edition.”

- “Some highlighting throughout book. Cover shows edge wear. Good strong binding.”

- “No markings inside or out except for name written inside front cover. Hardcover shows very little wear. Binding is coming loose on first 50 pages of book.”

- For curriculum set - “Used 1 year for 2 children. All books show minimal shelf wear. No markings in books. Workbooks not included.”

What to Charge - Usually you can charge at least 40-50% of retail for your books. If you spent $10 for a book, you should be able to sell it for $4-5 plus shipping.

With pricing to sell homeschool books, you have to decide if you want to make lots of money or get rid of the books. If you want to make lots of money, then your books will be priced higher, but you might not sell as many of them. If you just want to get rid of books, then your prices will be lower and you will sell more books.

To check what books are going for you can check www.homeschoolclassifieds.com,eBay.comhalf.com or amazon.com. That will give you a better idea of what to price your item when you see what others sell homeschool books for. Then you can list yours a little bit lower if you’re motivated to sell it.

Don’t get stuck on shipping - Familiarize yourself with the different types of shipping options at usps.com. The cheapest shipping option to sell homeschool books is media mail. If you’re shipping books, Cds, or DVDs you can use media mail. If you want items to get there faster then you can use Priority mail. The Priority mail envelopes can be picked up for free from any post office. You can ship as much as you can fit into an envelope for $4.95. They are approximately 10x14 in size.

For heavier packages UPS is probably your best option. If you don’t have a shipping scale (I don’t either) then you can weight yourself on a regular scale and then weight yourself with the package. Subtract the two weights and you have the weight of your package. Make sure you measure the length, width and height if you are trying to figure out how much to charge for shipping. The size of the package also adds to the cost.

Basically, to sell homeschool books online, you will want to look at the book and describe it as best you can. Then decide what you want out of the book and figure how much it will cost to ship the item.