Online, there are so many companies that are willing to buy your textbooks/books off of you.  Plus, there are a ton of places where you can buy books as well.

Some are great, while some offer you the lowest offer possible.   It can be very hard to know who can offer you the best rate as well as figure out who has the cheapest book to buy.

This is where BookScouter.com come into the picture.

It’s an aggregator that will take your book’s ISBN, comb the web and show you all of the companies that are willing to buy your book off of you as well as what they are willing to pay you.  Not only that, but it’s a great resource that you can use to buy a particular book for the cheapest price as well.

In today’s post, I wanted to talk about BookScouter and how you can use it to make money, find cheap books and get the best possible price for a book you may be looking to sell.

BookScouter Review

What is BookScouter?

BookScouter helps you sell your textbooks and used books for the most money by comparing offers with more than 35+ reputable online book vendors, including some of the biggest names in the industry like Amazon.

All you need to do is enter the ISBN number, which is the number found on the back of your book, and enter it into the search engine to see what these vendors are willing to pay you.

This free tool is a great way to see who’s willing to offer you the most money instead of having to get a quote from each website individually.

Using BookScouter to Sell, Buy or Rent Books

Using BookScouter to sell, buy or rent any type of book, whether it’s your textbooks or just a plain-old book, it’s extremely easy.

Right on the front page of its website/app, no matter how you access it (the BookScouter app or desktop), you will be presented with a search engine box, in which you will enter the ISBN as seen below…

Enter a valid ISBN and you will then be presented with a list that looks something like this…

As you can see, the website will tell you which vendor offers the best price as well as list every vendor that’s willing to buy your book.  Next to each vendor, you can look at the website reviews from other members to see what they had to say about them.  What you’re going to find out is that a lot of these companies aren’t that big, so there’s a good chance you may have never heard about them before.

In this scenario, I just wanted to see who would buy my book, but if you wanted to buy a book, the page would look identical, only that you would see the “buy” button instead of the “sell.”

The prices will always vary.  In this case, it ranged anywhere from $6 to as much as $36!  That’s quite the difference.

And, while the highest-paying company didn’t have the best reviews, I took a quick glance and most of the negative reviews had to do with the condition of the book.  As long as you’re honest about your book’s condition, there’s no reason you won’t have a problem selling to any vendor online.

How Does BookScouter Work?

If you want to buy a book, it’s pretty straight-forward.

You can just click on the “buy” button next to the best price and checkout as you normally would, but before you click on that buy button, you may want to check out Rakuten to see if you can get cashback on your purchase before doing so as many of these retailers are on that platform, helping you save up to 10% on your purchase, no matter what you’re buying.  It’s a great way to save even more.

If you want to sell your books, most of these retailers work the same way, but you will want to read the fine print before you shipping in your books.  Most of the time they ask that the ISBN matches yours and that your book is in good shape, simply meaning no highlighting, no torn pages, etc.   As long as it’s great shape, you shouldn’t have an issue.

For example, Amazon asks you a few questions about the book’s condition, and as long as your book meets its guidelines, then they will let you print a free shipping label at home that you will need to mail out to them.  Once they receive your book and confirm its condition, then you will get paid.   This can take up to 14 days, depending on the company you use.

I wrote about how you can sell books on Amazon in the past if you want to check it out.  This is how many of these companies will work.  It’s easy, I promise!

Can I Make Money with BookScouter?

You can make money with BookScouter, but you’re going to have to find the books to flip in order to turn a profit.  This can be quite the feat, especially if you don’t have a lot of book options in your town.  With some practice, however, you could turn it into a lucrative side gig, but it could take some time.

For one, you could check out a local thrift store, but you will have to scan each book inside with the app to see if you can make a profit.  While it is possible, most book flippers often use Amazon and sell on their own as the profit margins will be much higher.  You will find that these vendors only offer a fraction of what you could make.  Remember, when you sell to these companies, they will have to turn and make a profit as well, so there’s still more money to be made if selling on your own.

Honestly, if you want to get into book flipping, BookScouter usually isn’t the tool flippers use.   There are many other tools that make the book flipping process a lot easier.

Since book flipping can be its own topic, I will point you to these highly-rated eCourses (only a few bucks) that teach you how it’s done.

BookScouter Tips

Always Use Cashback Websites

I mentioned it prior, but if you plan on using BookScouter to buy books, don’t just click on the buy button and purchase the book as there will be cashback websites that can help you get even more cashback.

For example, Barnes and Noble will offer you an additional 2% off your book purchase when you use the Rakuten cashback portal.  Not all retailers will be on these portals, but it doesn’t hurt to at least check.

Ignore the BookScouter Reviews

I mentioned this above, but it may be discouraging to sell to a retailer within the results that has a one-star rating.

Well, if you read the reviews, it’s mainly people complaining about their book getting rejected.  Most of the time, these people lie to the companies in hopes they will get paid for a book that’s in a bad shape.

As long as you’re honest about the book’s condition, you won’t have a problem with all of the retailers BookScouter works with.

Selling on Your Own Is Always the Best Option!!!

You’re almost always better off listing your book on Amazon and selling on your own.

Taking that example earlier, ISBN 0393639576, the lowest price on Amazon was $70.35 used if I were to sell on my own.  Even if I sold it for $65, I would make far more than the $35 that vendor was willing to give me, even after Amazon fees.

Now, of course, the book needs to be in demand, but if vendors are willing to buy it, there’s a good chance someone on Amazon will buy it as well.

Selling on Amazon is extremely easy, I promise, and you do not need to be a business to do it.  Like eBay, you can start selling in minutes!  Refer to my Amazon bookselling guide for a step-by-step process.

What Others Are Saying

BookScouter has a pretty popular app with more than 100,000+ downloads and a solid 4.0/5-star rating on the Google Play store. According to the positive app reviews here, people love the comparison process, allowing them to compare multiple vendors in one place.  As for the negative app reviews, most people complained about tech issues such as the scanner not working, etc.

As for other websites online, here’s what other people were saying, both good and bad.

The Good

• a fantastic way to compare quotes from multiple vendors
• fine print attached with some offers (for example, some require that you sell $x before they accept)
• simple, fast and very easy to use

The Bad

• app/tech issues
• slow barcode scanner

Is BookScouter Legit?

Yes, it is 100% legit, even though you may read some poor reviews online.   Remember that BookScouter isn’t a company that will actually buy or sell your books; rather, they help you find the companies that are willing to do so.

And, while it is a legitimate company, it doesn’t always mean it’s the best option online.

Final Thoughts

If you’re selling books, you’re always much better selling on Amazon, period.

But, if you don’t have the time to sell, that’s fine, I get it.  In this case, the tool is a great way to find the best vendors that are willing to offer you the best rate.  Remember, they just find the vendors for you and don’t actually buy the books from you.  It does save you a ton of time, though.

As for buying, you can’t really beat the tool.

No matter what you want to buy, I would definitely bookmark the tool so that you’re always getting the best rate.  Just remember to check out cashback portals, such as Rakuten, to ensure that you can’t save even more.

In the end, BookScouter is an awesome way to get quotes if you want to sell without doing any work as well as buy for the cheapest rate possible.  While there are other competitors, I found BookScouter to be very easy to use, fast and straight-forward, making it an A+ tool in my book.