The Green Frugal

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Recently, I spoke with a friend of mine that works for a state & local funded organization.  This organization (to remain unnamed) is quite large in the Portland Metro area.  He described that there were a number of times they had technical & professional books that were just “thrown away” because they didn’t know where to donate books. Their organization has a layer of red tape that does not allow books to be sold for profit.  I told him that he should have sold the books to my company, Cash4Books.net, and then donated the money to charity.  I am sure that the Management team would have at least listened to a better solution such as giving the money to a charity.  This story brings me to this Green Frugal post about turning used books into donation dollars for your favorite charity.

Whether you are an individual with a bookshelf full of books, or if you can relate to the story above, please consider selling used books and donating the money collected to charity!

Turn used books into donation dollars for charity

Follow these easy steps to turn new or used books into donation dollars to help your favorite charity:

1. Sell used books at Cash4Books. Optionally use our iPhone app or Android app to price the books quickly and easily.
2. Ship the books for FREE, using our prepaid FedEx or USPS label.
3. Get paid via check or PayPal.
4. Write a check in the same amount to your favorite charity, or use Charity Navigator to find a top-notch charity.
5. Give the leftover books, that Cash4Books didn’t accept, to Goodwill or another local brick-n-mortar donation spot.

Charity Navigator provides addresses to mail donations to. Simply click into the charity, and then look in the left column.

For example,  MAP International‘s donation address shown as the following:

Mail MAP International donations to:
P.O. Box 7020
Albert Lea, MN 56007

Doing it this way ensures that you or your business/organization gets the tax write-off for the charity donation.  After receiving the check or PayPal payment from Cash4Books, you simply pass on the money to your charity.

Resources for finding books to sell

• Example books we buy
• Recent 500 list of books we buy
• Android app
• iPhone app
• How-to video

Please leave a comment below to let us know if you will be selling some books to donate to charity. Thanks!

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At Cash4Books.net, we have always offered free shipping, but we’re always looking for ways to make it even easier for you to sell your books to us.  Unlike many of our competitors, we have a very low minimum order requirement.  You can send us just one book or you can ship larger orders in as many boxes as you need.  Let’s explore the options we have available with the Pros and Cons of each:

1. U.S.Postal Service Media Mail

This method is available for shipments of any size, and is recommended for shipments of order values under $35.00.

• Pro: Print the labels from your own printer.
• Pro: Accepted at post offices everywhere or conveniently picked up by your regular mail carrier.
• Con: Estimated delivery time is 4 – 14 business days depending upon how far you are from us.    (Longer shipping time means a longer wait for your payment)
• Con: No automatic tracking and not insured against loss or damage

2. FedEx Ground Shipping

Earlier this month, we  upgraded our FedEx system to print ship ready labels.  Instead of having a bar code page that you have to take to an authorized FedEx Returns processing center, you can print the new ship ready label from your own computer.  Just tape it right to the box you’re sending and find the nearest location that accepts FedEx Ground.  Based on your order zip code, we’ll provide you with the four locations closest to you and you can find even more on the FedEx website. There’s no longer any need to go to a special in line for someone to scan your shipping instructions page.

This option is automatically enabled for shipments of order values over $35.00.

• Pro: Print the label from your own printer.
• Pro: Estimated delivery time is 2-6 business days.
• Pro: Tracking number included and automatically insured against loss or damage
• Con:  FedEx drop off sites may be farther than your front door.

3. Walk-in & Drop off

This option is displayed for customers with zip codes within driving distance of our warehouse: 15370 SW Millikan Way, in Beaverton, Oregon

• Pro: Can be used for any size order.
• Pro: Free parking outside our door, or just a short walk from the Beaverton Creek MAX station.
• Pro: Get to meet our great Customer Care Team in person and browse our bargain section while you wait.
• Pro: Receive a walk-in credit and immediate payment.
• Con:  We have only one location and drop off times are limited to 8am-6pm, Monday –Friday.

So, the choice is yours.  We’re willing to help in any way that we can.  If you don’t have a printer (or if, like mine, it is inevitably out of ink when you need to print something important,) you can contact our Customer Care Team by email using the Contact Us form  and select “Labels Request” as the subject . They’ll print some labels here and mail them to you as fast as they can!

For more tips on how to package your books for shipping, see the Cash4Books FAQ or this earlier entry on the Green Frugal.

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FREE Cash4Books Book Barcode Scanner App for the iPhone

Sell your books and textbooks with the FREE Cash4Books.net iPhone app, now available for download. The app comes with a book barcode scanner, which allows you to quickly and accurately sell your books. It is 100% free and compatible with iPhone 3G/3GS/4/4S, iPad, and iPod Touch! Now you can get instant price quotes anywhere, anytime.

Click here to get it:

Or, download for FREE right now by searching the App Store for keyword: cash4books

Scan ISBN book barcodes to sell your books

This is an app for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Use the app for textbook buyback, as well as to sell your hardcover/paperback fiction and non-fiction. Scan book barcodes and get instant Cash4Books.net price quotes. Have your books and textbooks shipped to us for free and get fast cash back!

Our Book Barcode Scanner iPhone app makes selling used books easy:

• SCAN barcodes into the app or enter ISBNs with the built-in keypad.
• GET INSTANT PRICE QUOTES for items Cash4Books is purchasing.
• STORE your list of accepted books’ ISBNs and price quotes.
• CHECKOUT within the app by signing in or creating a new account.
• PRINT your emailed packing slip and pre-paid shipping label at a computer.
• NO PRINTER? Easily contact us to have labels mailed to you.
• SHIP your books for free.
• GET PAID! Choose PayPal or mailed check.

Great reasons to sell books & textbooks using our iPhone book barcode scanner

1. It is FREE to download the app, and FREE to ship your books!
2. Scan barcodes with your iPhone’s camera (no special barcode scanner hardware required).
3. It has a high quality barcode scanner. We did not cut costs on the barcode scanner! It’s a great one!
4. Get book prices from anywhere you have mobile service.
5. Compatible with iPhone 3G/3GS/4/4S, iPad 2, and iPod Touch.
6. It has Auto-Accept mode that allows you to scan books continuously. In our testing, 15 books can be scanned in under 60 seconds.
7. The number pad has a “978″ button for ISBN-13′s and an “X” button for the ISBN-10′s that have the letter X.
8. The My List screen keeps track of whether your price quotes have expired or not, and then automatically get fresh quotes as needed.
9. The app has “browser view”, which lets you complete the transaction and sell the books on the Cash4Books.net website when ready.
10. College students: use the app for your end-of-the-term textbook buyback. We offer competitive prices for college textbooks with our online buyback. Recent college grads: dig those college textbooks out of your closet.  You’re not going to read them again!
11. Save yourself time and energy by taking your iPhone to your bookshelf instead of lugging your books to your computer to hand key the ISBNs.
12. If you are a book scout (or textbook buyer), use it for iPhone app book scouting.

The Cash4Books mobile apps are powered by Vision Smarts barcode readers! Visit www.visionsmarts.com for more information and tell them Cash4Books sent you.

Have an Android? Check out our Android App!

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We have a fundraising idea that your kids can do at home and in your neighborhood.  Collect used books from friends, family, and neighbors.  Then sell the books to Cash4Books using our iPhone app, Android app, or by entering the numbers on our homepage.  A reliable and trusted buyer of quality used books since 2004, our company (Cash4Books) has purchased 1.5 million books from over 230,000 customers. Visit our About Us page to learn more about who we are.

The Fundraising Idea – An Experiment

Theresa, a Cash4Books employee, decided to try an experiment last summer (2010).  She went with her daughter around their neighborhood to try and collect books. They went door-to-door, and in “pop can” style fashion, they asked if people had any used books they could donate to raise  some “summer money”.

Theresa says, “Our only pitch was we were raising some summer money.  My daughter is too young to baby sit, so we had to be creative on ways to earn money.  There are many ways to improve on our first attempt.  Having a cause better than ‘summer money’ would help.  The people that did donate books were very thankful to give them to us.  If this is done right, it could go well.  I accepted any and all books that were in good condition, at least.  I knew I could donate anything Cash4Books wasn’t accepting to different charities.”

The Opportunity To Later Collect Books

What Theresa also discovered was that many people were not ready to part with their books on the spot.  BUT, she felt this could be overcome by letting your neighbors know a week in advance when you will be by to collect books.  If it was a sunny location, you could even say “you can leave the books on your doorstep in a box” or something (canned food drive style).  We have even put together a suggested template Word document for handing out fundraising flyers:

cash4books-fundraising-flyer.doc

Fundraising For Kids – Step By Step

1. Download the fundraising flyer by clicking above.
2. Customize it to fit your kid’s needs, and use some of your own ideas. Putting a logo or some other picture on the flyer might also be a nice touch (or whichever cause you are raising money for).
3. Print out x copies and have your kid sign each one.
4. Go door to door, and have your kid introduce themselves and why they are raising money. Leave the flyer if they sound interested and if they have books.
5. Circle back in a week and collect the books.
6. Make it EASY: enter them into Cash4Books.net using our iPhone app, or Android app.  If you don’t have an iPhone or Android, you can still have your kid enter each book manually (it will just take longer). You must be 13 years of age or older to use the Cash4Books.net Site, which is in our Terms of Use.  So parents, your kids could need your assistance.
7. Follow the instructions on our website to sell the books and print your FREE pre-paid shipping labels.
8. Haul the leftover books to Goodwill.

Why this could work beautifully

• With the rise of eBooks, more and more people are ready to declutter and clear out their bookshelves.
• No one is doing this fundraising idea.  Going door to door to collect used books is not done very often.  Imagine their surprise when your kid is not selling cookie dough or collecting pop cans.

Reasons why it may not work

• Not a lot of readers in your area?
• The books you collect are too old and have lost their value (we generally purchase books published within the past 5 years).  You may find that we do not buy 75-95% of the books you collect (depending on their age and value).  However, on a positive note, the Cash4Books buy list does comprise of more than 330,000 titles at any given time.

Tips

• If you end up getting a LOT of books that Cash4Books is buying, go through checkout every time you have a fill a box of books to ship.  In other words, it is best not to create one LARGE order–go with several smaller orders instead.
• Start small and test the waters.  If you get some good books, expand to more neighborhoods.

Conclusion

If you have kids at home, we truly believe that this fundraising idea has potential for them. Please leave us a comment below and tell us about your experience with it!

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