People often ask me how I’m able to find the books I read and scan without going broke. The internet offers some great sites for book bargains, and I
thought I’d share some of them with you today. Of course, your public library should be the first place you check if you’re able to get there. Assuming they don’t have the book you want, here are seven of my favorite book bargain sites. I hope some of these will be new for you. I trust you already know about places like Amazon Marketplace, so I won’t cover that here.
I get most of my books from Paperback Swap. My friends and sisterchic Laura Ann Grymes got me started using this sight. It’s free to use, and the only costs involved are for postage. This site is great for people who already have a lot of books that they’re willing to trade. You post your books into the system, and other people request them. When you give a book to another member, you get a credit. You can use this credit to request a book from someone else. You only pay the postage on the books you mail out. When you request a book, the sender pays the postage. The average cost for mailing a paperback is $2.13 while the cost for mailing a hardcover book is usually $2.37. This site is especially good for finding mysteries, romances, children’s books, self-help, religious books, and homeschooling resources. Check out my bookshelf on Paperback Swap.
Half.com has a wide selection of used books, textbooks, movies, and music. I buy a lot of my computer books, business titles, mystery series, and cookbooks there. I’ve been happy with their selection and the quality of the books I’ve bought. The average price for a paperback is around $4 while the average hardcover book seemes to cost around $10. Shipping is usually around $3 per order, and that still costs less than buying the books as new.
My friend Louise Gourdoux got me hooked on a wonderfully powerful search engine for new and used books called AddALL. This gem will let you search several dozen bookstores and will sort the results by price. It’s great for finding the best deal on a book, and it makes finding out of print books much easier. You can narrow your search to certain sites, can search the world or just your country, and can search for certain bindings if you want. The search takes around 30 seconds, and it’s worth the wait. I found an out of print cookbook I’ve wanted for years right away. Thanks to Louise, buying books and getting the best price has become a lot easier. 
Though its name is slightly misleading, Booksfree is a true bargain. I heard about this site from my friend Robert Tweedy. It’s a book and audiobook rental site that works sort of like NetFlicks. You rent the books, get them in the mail, read them, and mail them back, all for one low price. If you scan books for Bookshare, this is especially nice because it can take the place of your public library if you can’t get to it by yourself. They have various plans depending on how many books you want to get at one time.
BookCrossing is an unique site where people release their used books for others to “catch” or find. My friend Jamie Yates invited me to this site, and I’m glad she did. In general, this site works best for people with some sight because you need to be able to put stickers in books and copy down numbers from stickers on books you receive. One aspect that I’m able to use independently is the box exchanges where a group of people exchange a box of books. The first person mails out a box of several books. When the box arrives at your door, you take out a book you like and put one of your books in. Then you mail it to the next person. At the end, the person who originally sent out a box of books gets the box back with new books to enjoy. The box exchanges are usually done around a theme like mysteries or cookbooks. It can be a lot of fun.
My friend Mayrie ReNae got me hooked on buying book lots on Ebay. What’s a book lot? Good question. Basically, it means that a person will sell a box of books from a genre, and you buy that whole box. I love to buy boxes of mysteries. Sometimes people will sell an entire series as a lot, and you can get them all at a discounted price. You also pay less postage than if you buy the books individually on another site. Of course, the down side is that there may be a few books in that box that you don’t really want or may have already read. When that happens to me, I just post them on my Paperback Swap bookshelf. The savings from buying the box cancels out having a couple of books I don’t want, and those books earn me credit on Paperback Swap to get books I really do want. So it’s a win/win situation for me over all.
My last book bargain site is for those of us who like books that are hard to find. My friend Shelley Rhodes told me about this one. Alibris carries older books, including books from the 60s, 70s, and 80s that many stores no longer carry. They’re a great resource for out of print books of all kinds. They also sell used textbooks for those of you who are in college. They have friendly customer service, and the site is easy to use.
Do you have some favorite book bargain sites that should be added to this list? Are you about to try one of these sites for the first time? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. Your ideas are what makes this blog better.
Happy reading.
