Internet fueling growth of used book sales

Used book sales topped $2.2 billion and over 111 million books in 2004, thanks largely to booksellers operating on the Internet, a new study says.

"The real story is the dramatic growth of used trade books sold through online channels," said Jeff Hayes, Group Director at InfoTrends, which conducted the study for the Book Industry Study Group. "Used books are becoming mainstream as the Internet provides transparency into the industry inventory and consumers become more comfortable buying them."

Online sales of secondhand books totalled $609 million in 2004, a one-third increase over the previous year. The biggest online book dealers saw double-digit growth in all genres. Meanwhile, sales through traditional used bookstores were up approximately 4.5 percent in 2003, thanks mostly to increased sales of college textbooks at college stores, and sales in secondary markets such as thrift stores, book fairs, library sales, and yard sales were up only 1.5 percent.

The big growth shows how easy is has become to sell used books and create inventory in the business, said Jeff Abraham, the executive director of the study group.

More details are available at Selling Books, http://weberbooks.com/selling/2005/09/internet-fueling-growth-of-used-book.html