I've sold a few books on eBay, but I've never really tried seriously to make money at it. However, I have the advantage of having long experience in the book trade. Still, I was wondering what might be particular about the online world, so I decided to take a look at this book since Steve Weber is someone who started small and built a successful online business. For the most part, this book is a valuable tool for someone who really wants to make it.

There are a number of things that I really like about this book. He's very smart about where to find books and about what books are smart to acquire. He's particularly acute with suggesting areas that should be avoided and those that are easy to overlook (certain types of textbooks, particular areas of history-- "learn to find unusual books"). In these areas, his suggestions often gibe with my own experience, though I'm more excited about certain areas than he is.

He's also quite good on the mechanics of running an online business, though I focused mainly on his general suggestions about tracking inventory, pricing and customer service. He goes a bit overboard when suggesting websites and software worth looking at to manage some of these tasks. A few simple, straightforward suggestions might serve the beginner better.

And, of course, this book suffers from the fate of all books that deal with online services. Published in 2006, some of the specific suggestions, particularly concerning the smaller companies, are already out-of-date. If you stick with the larger companies, however, you probably won't have too much trouble.

In the end, this book provides valuable insight into running a bookstore. It doesn't matter whether you are someone who already owns a store and wants to get your inventory online or someone starting from scratch, there is valuable advice here.

I read Home-Based Bookstore because I have hundreds of perfect condition used books I just cleared out from my personal library at home and wanted to see if I could sell them on Amazon and didn't know how to get started. Just like Steve Weber's other books, you get much more than you pay for. Weber fills this book with details covering every aspect of setting up your home based used bookstore for NO MONEY upfront. How cool is that? Where as other books on the topic have been reviewed saying they just recycle what you can find on Amazon help pages, Weber includes tons of insider information far beyond what is found on Amazon's help links, such as what and where to find books to sell, how to price them correctly, how to package and ship, get feedback from customer, handling negative feedback, handling taxes, etc. etc. etc. No question you can think up appears to be lacking an answer on these pages...and here's another exciting upside...within 2 days of reading this book and setting up my store, I've already sold and shipped THREE of my books. Thanks Steve...and keep sharing your insider information.

I highly recommend these two extraordinary books. They are very helpful for deep seekers of life and psychology. 1) RUMI & SELF PSYCHOLOGY (PSYCHOLOGY OF TRANQUILTIY) 2) SARA'S THERAPY: THE WAY TO PURITY

This is a top DIY book for finding and selling books on line. This was one of the many books that I purchased before I opened up my own store, and it has helped me ever since. Good advice, with excellent tips on what to do. A bit lite when it comes to dealing with angry customers, excellent for finding out where things are, wholesalers, and other places to purchase inventory. That is probably one of the most closely guarded secrets for any on line seller of anything, where do you get your stuff.

Overall a 5 of 5 star book, excellent in sources and things to do, filled with good advice, and interesting to read. This book is worth buying if you are wanting to start your own amazon or ebay store.

I'm a newbie at selling books online with Amazon. I ordered 3 books (from Amazon - of course!) on how to sell on Amazon. By far, this book was the best one. It's a soup to nuts on "how to". I refer to this book
often as a guide. It is rich with resources that you can look up online.
I just found out that this author has written a similar book but specific to Amazon. I'm reading that one right now. I also appreciate the author's humble roots - starting out in a 1 bedroom apartment; 3 months later made enough to quit his job and do this full time and moved into a house. yet, the author quickly cautions people that this endeavor won't make you rich but can give you a chance to either make more money on the side or work from home if that is what you want.

This is a great book, I found it easy to read and extremely informative, and even though this book is a bit dated (2003) everything still applies, just with today's prices, economy etc...The author left no information out and gave lots of research options for the people who want to go further in their quest. Really good reading!

Mr. Weber offers practical and valuable advice for the self-starting wanna-be bookseller. Everything is disclosed from how to set up the business, what books to choose, how to organize your inventory and how to deal with taxes. Before I read the book, I bought some books thinking that I could turn an easy profit; come to find out I had purchased quite a few lemons. After reading his chapter on what books to buy, I went out to one of the places he recommended and bought a book for .40c that valued at close to $2900. It is a true gem with a blueprint that can be used even with today's changing market, and I highly recommend it. It's not a get rich quick scheme, but with hard work and perseverance anyone can benefit from applying it's principles. Thank you, Mr. Weber, for sharing your information and for giving a work-from-home mom some excellent tips!
Jax, author of Heart of The Jaguarand
A Shadow to Call Her Own

When I decided to go into the business of selling used books on the Internet I purchased every book on the subject I could find. While there are some good books written on selling used books, this book is by far the best of the lot. I really felt like Steve was telling me his business secrets and when I took his advice I found that I had the kind of successes he talks about in the book. I would read anything he has to say about this business.

This book is a great resource for everybody who is interested in their own home-based bookstore. I very much liked the no-nonsense approach (the author concentrates on profound information) and the many valuable resources listed in this book. I do publish my own books already for several years and I still learned a lot by reading "The Home-Based Bookstore".

Book needs more nitty gritty details. Too much generality. I was especially distressed with the fact that the author doesn't delve nearly enough into specific titles, etc. Find a mentor and save your $19.00.

This is the BEST book you will find if you are interested in a home-based bookstore. He covers EVERYTHING! Steve has done all the research; all you need to know. Don't do a thing until you read this book! Joan F.

I highly recommend this book, the information and advice was so specific, useful and easy to implement. This book outlined exactly how to begin and build a home based business selling books online. Everything you could possibly need to get started is written in an easy to follow format. One month after reading this book and I have launched my ebay store and made my first thousand in sales. This book is sure to be a resource that I will turn to as my business grows.

I've been selling books on the Amazon Marketplace as a hobby for about two months now. After reading "The Home-Based Bookstore," I could definitely make more money by employing Steve Weber's advice.

His advice includes:
-where to find books
-how to price them
-how to handle inventory
-how to handle shipping
-how to deal with problem customers
-and how to deal with legal details (taxes, etc.)

I made about $400 in two weeks after selling the most sought-after books. The most sought-after books are usually college textbooks.

In one part of the book, he says how college students are sometimes careless when purchasing a book. They occasionally buy the older edition, thinking it's the edition they need. When they receive it, they get angry. But it's usually their fault for not searching with the ISBN or paying attention to the details. There are, however, some sellers who list the wrong edition on Amazon's Marketplace. It may not be intentional, but listing the wrong edition is a violation of the Amazon Marketplace guidelines. I once purchased a textbook from a third-party seller who sent me the older edition. I didn't do anything about it. I was still able to use it.

After a few weeks of selling, I started getting some feedback. The first five were all positive, but I got one neutral feedback. The neutral feedback I got was fair. I sent her the wrong book. It was my fault. I entered the title instead of the ISBN when I searched for it. ALWAYS use the ISBN. To prevent negative feedback from this buyer, I issued a refund immediately and allowed her to keep the book I had sent her. I lost money when I did this, but I couldn't afford negative feedback at the time.

I may never become a full-time bookseller online, but I will continue to do this as a hobby. I also think that college students should get a copy of this book. It will help them tremendously when purchasing their textbooks...and reselling them when they're done with them.

Brandon Simpson

Steve Weber's book is exemplary: It avoids hype and fluff, cuts to the chase, and explains the ins and outs of the business very clearly. The book is well organized, and has numerous practical resources listed, including websites and other books. The first-hand experience of the Author is evident throughout the text: In addition to practical advice, his pearls of wisdom help the reader to develop realistic ideas about, and create the necessary mindset for, home-based book selling. He makes it clear that this is not a get-rich-quick scheme, points out the risks and pitfalls, and does not promise unrealistic cash flow.

I liked the book's down to earth, conversational style. It is a quick and easy read.

Whether you are a college student or a stay at home mom, and considering to add to your income, this is a pretty good resource to start with.

This book has a lot of good ideas in it. Helpful information. It gives a good overview of how to start your business.

This book helped me get some good ideas. If you are interested in selling books online, I highly recommend this book.

The Home-Based Bookstore doesn't claim to be complete and comprehensive, so it's probably not fair to give it only four stars because it skimps on some useful information.

For example, Mr. Weber recommends giving the customer a tracking number but doesn't make it clear how to get one. I'm sure this is idiotically simple to anyone familiar with postal transactions. That's probably why Mr. Weber didn't give a hand-holding description of the process.

I was clueless. I took my first shipment to the post office and asked for a tracking number. The clerk started pulling out forms for costly and complicated types of service and began to spout arcane postal jargon. I couldn't cope with the information overload so I shipped my books without the all-important tracking number.

My next trip I learned that you have to get DELIVERY CONFIRMATION. Look for the small lime-green form. It has a bar code label (with tracking number) that you attach to your parcel.

I could have used some help with book terminology, i.e., the verbiage to put into the "comments" field of your Amazon listing. If you browse the listings, you see myriad descriptive terms. Is there a right or wrong way to list your book? The book does not address the topic.

The book is rife with listings for pricing and inventory software, online postage services, and the hand-held scanners you can use for automated scouting at book sales. It's puzzling that the author would present these listings without commentary regarding which ones he found useful, or if he used them at all.

The author could have summarized how he was able to quit his job in three months and sell books full time. As others have noted, he generously shares precious inside knowledge, so this might not be a valid gripe. Without this book or one like it, the fledgling bookman would have a harder time getting started.

This manual outlines enough of the basics to get you started. I was able to sell a few books before I even finished reading The Home-Based Bookstore, the book that introduced me to selling books online. It popped up on my Amazon recommendations and I thought "Why not give it a shot?"

Within days of buying the book, the local Friends of the Library (FOL) had a "parking lot" sale. I headed for the sale with high anticipation of launching my bookselling empire.

The "sale" turned out to be a disturbing mob scene. The books are piled into several plastic shopping carts. Scanner-wielding book vendors paw through them frantically, pushing and shoving to gain the advantage. They are like vultures attacking a carcass. A few books spill out of the carts and are left on the ground. Within minutes, the vendors skulk off to their corners to guard their booty.

The Friends of the Library are selling books on Amazon. They have rightly already culled any books of real value. The books causing the frenzy apparently are the dregs the Friends don't want to bother with. They are offered at the parking lot sale for 10 cents to 25 cents, however. If you're not shy about mixing it up with other booksellers, you can make money at a sale like this. That's what one of the vendors told me. All of the vendors were women at this sale, so the risk of a brawl breaking out might actually be low.

I can't imagine myself joining a mob scene, so I all but gave up on getting inventory this way. I had plenty of extra books from my own collection, so I decided to use Amazon to clear some space on my bookshelf. Opening an account and setting up your listings is easy as pie. Within a few minutes you are in business.

I listed books from $3.29 up to $65.00 depending on the lowest price showing. The next day my prices were undercut by other vendors. I retaliated with price cuts of my own. They responded with further cuts, and so on. I eventually stopped cutting my price. The other vendors have (Cyberdyne) robotic software that cuts their prices automatically. The book I listed for $3.29 was later listed for a penny, the result of a regressive bidding war between the robots.

I figured $3.29 was my bookshelf-clearing price. If I can't unload a book for $3.29, I'll donate it to the library. Let someone buy it for a dime at the parking lot sale.

I typed the ISBN into the Amazon search screen to gauge the market for each book. When you come up with 1,356 copies starting at a penny, it's safe to say the market is saturated. I ended up with three crates of these marginal books, destined to land on the pavement at the parking lot sale.

Why not sell my leftovers to a used bookstore? The first one I called said no thanks, "we are overwhelmed with inventory right now." The second place I called didn't really want to hear from me but said they might consider taking some books off my hands if they met their stringent requirements, etc. Who needs it? I took my crates to the library and got a nice thank you.

I sold seven books! Amazon's shipping guidelines actually have pictures showing just how you should address your parcels. You can't go wrong. By my second trip to the post office, I was a savvy shipper, even mastering the DELIVERY CONFIRMATION process.

I didn't receive feedback. I gave same day or next day service. My books were in good condition and reasonably priced. What more could they want? I'm going to go on Amazon and find an outfit for a hockey goalie, complete with face mask. I'll use it as battle gear for the next FOL sale.

Steve Weber points out in his book that selling books online is "hard work." In that spirit he writes this book. The book does not contain get-rich-quick promises. Instead it offers useful, realistic information about selling online. I for one am very glad I bought this book - a book that, actually, I read in one sitting.

The Home-Based Bookstore, written by Steve Weber, is an absolute must have book. If you are someone who wants some fantastic advice on how to get started selling books on the internet, or even a more experienced seller, he provides the inside information on where to find books, which books to buy, how to fulfill orders professionally, and he refers the reader to dozens of websites that have turned out to be great resources for pricing, on-line postage, tracking customers and advanced automation.

Steve Webber is the authority on how-to sell used books on-line. He has sold over $1,000,000 in used books on-line and has become one of the most highly rated online booksellers. He admits several people tried to discourage him from writing this book, warning him that he would be, "helping the competition." I am glad he didn't see it that way! His advice paid off for me TODAY. I was at a book sale and found some great books because I knew what to look for. I highly recommend this book. Buy it with confidence!

I received my book and it was in mint condition just as it was advertisied. I would buy from this seller again.

Just getting into the book selling biz. I have been going through cancer and now need a job where I can tailor my hours around all of my doctor's appointments. I like both this book and the Stephen Windwalker books. Very good information without alot of extraneous stuff.

This a great book to help those interested in selling books online. It is very bold of Mr. Weber to enpower the competition. But it is a very smart book that will help those motivated to help themselves. I recommend it to all interested in getting online selling books.

Very good book for the person who is contemplating entering this type of business. Seemed to cover most of the bases. If he didn't and I do actually go into business, I guess I'll find out pretty quickly. But, overall, since I've read a few other books dealing with this topic, I feel the author covered the subject matter well and I would recommend the book to others.

This is a fantastic book chock full of information. I've already started using some of his suggestions and am looking forward to having my own online used book store.

This is one of the first books I read on selling books online, so it helped me start the business I have today. I started with $100.00, no overhead, a couple of how-to-books (including Steve Weber's), the need to make money, and a desperate desire to stay-at-home with my family. Before reading this book, I thought I was doomed to hosting Mary Kay parties, climbing to the top of pyramids, or selling hand-painted t-shirts at local flea markets. And all the while the biggest book bazaar in the world was at my finger tips, bringing in customers from across the globe, 24-hours a day, seven days a week. Of course I was skeptical, you would be too if you ever tried selling vitamins to friends, that will keep them young for a mere $120.00 a month. But, lucky for them, they could get the vitamins for only half the price if they sign up as distributors, like me. So, I wasn't willing to take any risks (thank God none were needed) and I ended up making $20,000 the first year, working part-time out of my den. Because, I was able to turn my desperation into cash, with a fraction of the perspiration that usually comes with it, I decided to become an inspiration (okay, that was a bit over the top, but it's true). So I've now taken what I've learned and written a book especially for women raising families, who don't have time, money, or energy to waste learning to navigate websites, contacting customers, or learning how to find and recognize top-dollar books. With this in mind, I did all the work for them, so they can start off running and avoid making the mistake I made, early on. I remain thankful to Steve Weber, for giving me my start, and hope I can return the service to women wanting the advantage of a step-by-step, all inclusive guide that takes their needs into account. This opportuity really works, and is well worth the money to buy a few books on the subject to decrease your learning curve and increase your profits!


Best of luck on your journey

christine miller author of How to Sell Used Books on Amazon: The Stay-at-Home Mom's Secret Step-by-Step Guide (from setting up your account, to navigating the website, contacting customers, finding, recognizing, and selling top-dollar books, and much more)

We are established home-based booksellers. When my husband bought this book I thought it would be to basic for us but I was pleasantly surprised. It was full of great and useful information. It would be a tremendous book to have BEFORE you set up your business. I think this would be helpful for anyone at any level that is selling books on the internet.

Many writers who've accumulated too many books contemplate the idea of starting a used book business. It seems the perfect bread and butter business for a writer. Larry McMurty, Erskine Caldwell, John Dunning and others have done it. Why not you?

It's an attractive thought. Sitting all day in a room surrounded by books, perhaps listening to good music, sipping coffee or tea and chatting with intellectual customers who come in to browse your stock. Between customers and other worthwhile interruptions one can continue pecking away at the great American novel.

But that's a dream and not reality. The fact is selling books is a business. A hard business that takes time and energy. There's lots more to it than having a room full of books and waiting for customers to take them off your hands.

Steve Weber offers an alternative approach that makes the dream of a book business sound. The information he provides in this slim volume shows how it can be done successfully; i.e., profitably. It still takes work and some business acumen, but following his directions one could build a part-time or full-time business. Rather than the storefront business which requires a substantial investment, Weber utilizes the Internet where a business can be launched for less than $100.

Having done it himself--going from a part-time to a full-time business in which he's sold more than $1 million of stock--he now offers his expertise to help the rest of us become his competition. This book answers all the obvious questions--from where to find books to sell, down to the nasty issues of taxes and legalities--plus some not so obvious but just as pertinent. He doesn't pull any punches on the negative issues either.

So, if you've ever entertained the idea of going into the used book business, this is one of the best sources of information you'll find to get you started and keep you going.

What an amazing book! I am a seasoned book seller and still found a great deal of resources to look into. I highly recommend this book for the new bookseller or established bookseller.

This book offers an honest assessment of the chances of surviving in the online bookstore biz. Very informative and complete.

As a fledgling bookseller I bought almost every book available on the subject and studied them all. The Home-Based Bookstore is the only book that I refer to again and again. It covered everything I wanted to know when I started selling and a few crucial things I wasn't even aware of.

Steve Weber gives step by step instructions in building your business. I was astounded to find lists of remainder dealers, innovative ideas to find decent books, the contact information for the best place to get shipping supplies.

While obviously preferring Amazon, Steve gives information and advice about the requirements of eBay, Abebooks and many other venues for booksellers.

This is a must have for anyone even considering trying to sell books online. In the first few months it will be your bible.

I purchased this book and found it extremely helpful in getting started selling books on Amazon. The book is to the point (no fluff) and contains helpful information to get a new seller up and running. After I began to sell, I referred back to the portions of the book I had highlighted to refresh my memory and to make sure I was covering all the bases. I highly recommend it!

I just finished your book and found many morsels of wisdom. Thank you for passing on your experience to other booksellers. I especially liked the sample letters to remove negative feedback from my account. I used a variant of it and the disgrunted customer removed his vitriol within a few hours. That alone was worth the price of the book!

However, after reading the chapter on "Advanced Automation", I was a bit disappointed that you didn't profile BookTrakker. It is, in my humble opinion, the very best available, with many more features than most others. At its very reasonable one-pricing cost, it seems to be the best investment one can make in their book selling business. It handles many more tasks that just selling on Amazon. Bookselling, as you know, is almost as old as mankind. I'm surprised you didn't mention it.

Should you revise, or issue a new edition, it would be an invaluable addition to that chapter.

I have lost track of how many times I have referrred back to Weber's book on specific topics as I grow a two year hobby+ into a full fledged internet/Amazon book selling business. It is heavily paperclipped and underlined, all testimony to a great "how to" book. It probably deserves an update, esp. after the increased USPS rates coming in May and the impact Google may have via making digital copies of every known book in the world and perhaps diminishing the financial appeal of being a used bood vendor on the internet.

My husband and I read The Home-Based Bookstore and immediately started following the advice laid out by Mr. Weber to start our own business selling books on Amazon. In just a few short weeks we have seen much success! We love this book and continue to refer to it over and over again! We highly recommend this book to anyone wanting good advice on starting a book selling business!

This book was very readable and had some good info in it, but Selling Books Online (Selling Used Books Online: The Complete Guide to Bookselling at Amazon's Marketplace and Other Online Sites) was more helpful in terms of a concise and complete quickie book-grading system. This book was most definitely worth the money though, because it had more complete info on the electronic helpers on on-line selling. I am very happy and well-informed having both books.

This is a helpful book, nicely organized, concise and well-written. It will be very useful for anyone interested in selling books online.

This is a helpful book, nicely organized, concise and well-written. It will be very useful for anyone interested in selling books online.

if you would like to start your own online bookstore-this is the book for you. well written and easy to understand-this book will give you a wealth of information and tools to make your dream a reality. i own it and have found it to be very helpful in understanding the entire process of starting up an online bookstore business.

if you would like to start your own online bookstore-this is the book for you. well written and easy to understand-this book will give you a wealth of information and tools to make your dream a reality. i own it and have found it to be very helpful in understanding the entire process of starting up an online bookstore business.

If you have been selling on Amazon and think that this book will help you sell more, it won't. You probably already know what this man has to say. On the other hand if you are new to the "biz", you will love it and it will help you.

If you have been selling on Amazon and think that this book will help you sell more, it won't. You probably already know what this man has to say. On the other hand if you are new to the "biz", you will love it and it will help you.

Don't even think about an on-line book business until you read this book! The guy gives away the family jewels of the business. It saved me considerable time and frustration.

Don't even think about an on-line book business until you read this book! The guy gives away the family jewels of the business. It saved me considerable time and frustration.

This book is worth every dime. A great information source, it can save you a lot of research time.

I use this book daily in my new Web bases book store. Thank You, Mr Weber, for writing an easy to understand book for the new book seller.

Concise, informative, lots of detailed information about bookselling for new sellers as well as experienced. Recommend highly.
R. Mitchell

I read this book in one day it was so enthralling. Mr. Weber obviously knows what he's doing. I consider this the Bible of the Online Bookstore Business.
If you sell books online and you haven't purchased this book, do so.

This is a good book for the reader who wants to get started. The biggest downfall is it oversimplies finding good books that are saleable. If you'e read this book or are thinking about starting in this business I would recommend this book as well as "Selling Used Books Online", By Stephen Windwalker. Both Authors share similar ideas but both books present a different approach to getting quality inventory that is required to be succesful.

I had begun my own research into selling used books, but decided to buy this book to save time and boy did it save time! It has more than enough to get anyone started in this business, all written in a clear, concise manner. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in doing their own home-based bookstore.

From mid-2003 to the end of 2005, I tried online bookselling as a full time job before I quit. I used repricing tools, I used scanners, I used a lot of the techniques described on Weber's website. The full year I sold I made $210,000 in sales, which on paper and to the uninformed, looks pretty good. But even with all these tools I was still working 80 hours a week, 7 days a week for the whole year only taking 3 days off. I was single, I couldn't imagine trying to do this when you had family responsibilities which would cut your revenue down considerably.

One statistic I have to comment on because I find it to be misleading, especially for a newbie to online selling. The back cover of the book, which was published in late 2005 states that since 2001 Weber has sold more than $1 million of used books. Now to a newbie, this sounds like a dream come true, but it really isn't anything remarkable, especially for the amount of work put in, so read on. As a one man shop, let's assume he made $1.5 million in sales in five years (sales are NOT profits).

1,500,000 for 5 yrs = $300,000 in SALES per year

This is probably a HIGH estimate since it would mean selling 1666 books per month at $15 per book or 833 books per month at $30 per book It takes tons of time to source, pack, and manage that many books. When I was working 80 hours a week, working at full capacity, I was selling about 500-700 per month TOPS.

Say the average profit margin per sale is a reasonable 20% or 30%. In reality the average profit can somewhat more or less, but this is a reasonable amount:
.20 x 300,000 = 60,000 in profit before expenses & taxes


When starting out a business, expect to work TONS of hours. Working 60 hours a week for 52 weeks a year is highly optimistic and comes out to 3120 hours per year. When I started selling online, it was more like 80 hours per week or 4160 hours per year. 60,000 divided by a comfortable 3120 hours is $19.23 per hour. 60,000 divided by a more realistic 80 hours per week is $14.42 per hour. Note that both of these are BEFORE any taxes and BEFORE any expenses. These are unremarkable salaries for anyone with a bachelor's degree. Now, taxes and expenses can reduce these unremarkable amounts by another 30-50%! And this is assuming that Steve Weber made $300,000 per year. I only made $210,000 working 80 hours per week, so my hourly rate was even LESS. What I am trying to show is that all that glitters is not gold. There is no easy money in this business or any other business otherwise everybody would be doing it. If it is so profitable a business, Weber would still be doing it fulltime rather than promoting his book and his website. The reality is that when you break the numbers down, online bookselling is not as great as it appears. In fact I would advise most people considering this business to stick to your day job. It pays the same, you won't have to worry about bookkeeping, and you have MUCH more free time.