The key to selling books online: honest descriptions

Good condition is the key to salability of used and collectible books. For a rare book, the dust jacket can account for as much as 80 percent of its value as a collectible. So it’s best to pass up books that have major flaws like broken bindings and missing dust jackets. Buyers understand that a used book will show some wear, but nobody wants to receive a book that looks abused.

No matter how many precautions you take to warn a customers about a book’s defects, the risk is you’ll end up with an unhappy buyer who didn’t read the description or forgot the details. Many buyers on Amazon Marketplace, for example, do not notice the "seller’s comments" area of a book’s listing, the only place available to add details about condition.

Sometimes condition problems will escape your attention and the customer will receive a book with blank or missing pages, for example. Don’t be shocked if the customer accuses you of fraud. Lots of Marketplace buyers assume that if they buy a used book, you’ve just finished reading it. And so the reasoning goes, if you failed to mention the condition problem, you’re obviously untrustworthy.

Calmly explain that you weren’t aware of the flaw. Offer a full refund and a prepaid return mailing container. It’s part of the cost of doing business.

When you list new books for sale, it's a good time to spruce up their appearance. Thumb through the book carefully to look for highlighting or underlining. Light pencil marks can usually be completely erased with a quality eraser. Straighten any bent pages and remove any foreign objects like bookmarks and paper clips. Remove price tags from the cover. Sticker residue and most ink stains can be removed with a solvent like Goo-Gone.