Buy and sell books on Amazon

Like so many people I am looking at ways of making money in this ongoing economic crisis and selling on-line is a very popular method of raising some cash. I had a look around at what I have here and realised I have some good books to sell.

I have never tried to sell my books like this before, although I have often felt a need to buy books on the Internet. Websites like Amazon and eBay are an obvious choice if you want to buy and sell books.

Selling books for me in the past has not been a very rewarding experience when I have attempted to sell them to second-hand book-stores and I found it very discouraging getting offered such small amounts for books that the shop-keepers did want to buy.

With selling used books online it is much better though because on Amazon you can decide what price to set. It is possible to look at what prices other sellers are charging so you can either price your books around the same price or a lot lower.

You have to decide what condition the books you have to sell are. This is important because on Amazon you have to enter this information about any used books to sell that you have.

You are also asked to give a brief description of the condition and to state whether the dust-sleeve has any marks on it, for example. It is quite tricky deciding what to put because many books are actually sold in shops that are far from mint condition but are nevertheless sold as new.

For someone like myself who is not so concerned with the condition of a book but is far more concerned with the contents this is not a problem, however, when you are looking to be selling books it becomes very important.

Fortunately for me I tend to look after the books I have got so I have books that are 'Like new."

I have some collectable books too because as an author I have experienced having a book go out of print. When this happens prices rocket on sites like eBay and Amazon.

My book Herbs of the Northern Shaman, for example, which was originally published in America by Loompanics Unlimited but is now going to be published again by O-Books from the UK in a new full-colour version is selling for as much as $239, and the original cover price was just $14.95.

Used copies of this book are starting at around $90 so I came up with a plan that I hope will sell my books. I am going to sign the copies I have here and am selling them as new.

If used ones start at $90 and the most expensive price is $239 then I think $100 for a new copy signed by the author of this collectable book is very reasonable. Let us hope I am proved right.

Amongst the books to sell that I have are some rarities. I have the only books written by the very controversial Dr Gary L. Glum.

His book Full Disclosure , which was published by Silent Walker in 1994, is about HIV and AIDS. The book was supposedly confiscated by the authorities and Dr Glum was threatened, he said, because they wanted to stop the information getting out.

He claims that the virus was deliberately invented as a bio-weapon to get rid of large numbers of people. This idea has filtered into conspiracy theories on the subject but whether Glum was the first to reveal it I really cannot say.

I also have Dr Gary Glum's Calling of an Angel, which is the story of the nurse Rene Caisse and how she discovered the herbal cancer-cure known as "Essiac" which is her surname reversed. It was published by Silent Walker in 1988.

I have priced this book about Essiac at $95 for a copy that is "Used -Like New."

The highest price being asked for Full Disclosure is a crazy $465 for a "Used - Very Good" copy and the lowest is at $90.16 for a copy said to be "Used - Good" and another at $90 for a book that is "Used -Like New." The one I have is in near perfect condition so I have it marked up at $100.

It is obvious to my mind, and by what prices I can see being charged online, that if you are hoping to be making money from selling books that rare books for sale should bring in the best prices.