I’m giving away my #1 secret source for used books. I have more lucrative sources, but this one is by far my favorite for a couple reasons. One, the books are free. Two, its just the most fun.
It’s a source I could even give away the address of and not worry about anyone going there, because when I tell you what it is, you’re probably recoil.
It’s a dumpster.
Earlier in the month I mentioned an upcoming blog post from a friend who is making $40,000 a year through dumpster diving. My dumpster yields don’t even bring me close to that, but I’m very familiar with this sourcing tactic. (Tell-all guest post from my friend coming when he gets it to me).
As for my dumpster source, it’s a library dumpster. I go there at night, back my truck up, and load it with books. At two trips a week, I pull hundreds of books from this dumpster every month.
Why would the library throw away literally a thousand or more books a month?
First, there are the library discards. This is about 15% of the books. These aren’t just books too old to be relevant. Often when a book gets a little worn, they will just toss it, even if its in high demand (I found a copy of The Hunger Games there a few weeks ago).
But the vast majority of the books are titles deemed unsellable at their bi-annual book sale. The library is in a wealthy neighborhood, and their sale room is not big enough for all the books that get donated. What’s better, one way they make room is to throw away every textbook that gets donated. No kidding. The donors aren’t aware that their often expensive and current textbooks are going right into the trash. To know that you’d have to be the guy going back there at night and looking. That’s me.
Case in point: Two months ago I pulled a box of textbooks that were so current, they had a copyright date of 2013. This was in 2012 – the books were so new, they hadn’t even been released yet (they must have been promo copies).
What’s the lesson in this? I have no idea if your local library throws books away, so the message here is not necessarily “source books from the library dumpster.” Chances are, your library is nothing like mine.
The lesson probably is: Get creative with your sourcing. Even if it means putting on a headlamp and sneaking down an alley at midnight.
Also, claim your free book:
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Did I miss the guest post from JJ, the Amazon seller who makes $40k a year from Dumpster-diving?
Just click on the link to download the PDF and read the whole interview.
Not knowing if my Library has a dumpster or not, I went to google maps, street view and I see it. Lookout tonight, I fell a trip to the mini library. Thanks for the tip.
Al
Awesome! Let us know your results.
Wow! Excellent insight. I never would have thought of that. I’ll have to check potential dumpsters around town. Quick question…once you have them, how do you list public library books when they’re all stamped with the library name and coding stickers all over them? Buyers don’t care?
Generally I will list them as “Acceptable” and note the ex-library status. Never received negative feedback for this to my memory.
I’m wondering , if you just asked the library if they would give you the books they intend to throw away, if they actually would?
Has anyone tried that?
Really? I read of this guy who made a fortune dumpster diving in Silicon Valley, but does not anybody get questioned by police or company security?
i find it hard to believe you would not get questioned at some point, and what is your response?
Now, I can understand if it is a dumpster set out on a public street, but often these are located on a company’s premises.
I’ve been stopped by police several times. Its not a big deal.
I just go to the book sales the libraries have i do pretty well even if i pay a little i pay 1$ and sell for avg of 20
It’s so cool to see how true this is. Since I came home a few months ago, I’ve been most creative in my sourcing. Not only have I scoured library dumpsters, but also flea market parking lots and dumpsters, as I get to them so early. Just this morning, I found 22 Textbooks left there from the previous day in massive trash pile. On my way home, I hit the library dumpster and found like 12 great books out of scanning like 40+ and that was just a quick thing. Bro, thanks so much for these great insights, I’m out here going hard and I appreciate all your shared experiences.