Second Hand Books through Amazon
Objective and hypothesis
The goal of this test was to see whether you can source second-hand books from charity shops and online listings, then resell them on Amazon for a sustainable profit under normal constraints. That means a five-hour-per-week time limit and a £100 starting budget.
The hypothesis was simple: if we spend up to £100 sourcing second-hand books, we can generate a net return within one month.
Starting position and baseline constraints
We started with zero audience, a new Amazon Seller Central account, and basic scanning tools.
We stuck to the baseline limits throughout:
Time cap: 5 hours per week.
Budget cap: £100 per month.
The first problem was setup. Seller Central took longer than expected, and the verification process added friction before we even touched sourcing.
Actions taken
Across 10 hours total, here is what we did, in order.
First, we set up the Amazon Seller account and tested scanning apps so we could check prices and fees quickly.
Second, we sourced inventory by visiting charity shops and checking online listings. We scanned and checked over 300 books across 7 stores. Out of all of those, we found only one book that looked like it would be profitable.
In practice, sourcing was slower than expected. A lot of books had price stickers placed over barcodes, so we had to type ISBNs into the app by hand. That added time to every single check.
Third, we tried to list products. All but one book was blocked by Amazon category gating, which meant we could not list our stock.
Thankfully we made a deliberate call not to buy bulk, uninspected wholesale lots. With a £100 cap, the downside of ending up with unusable stock felt too high.
Test results
Metric Figure
Time spent 10 hours
Total budget allocated £100.00
Direct cash spent (stock and software) £34.78 Amazon fees incurred £30.00 Shipping fees £3.95 Units sourced 2 Units listed 1 Units sold 1 Gross revenue £25.00 Net profit or loss -£43.73
The main reason revenue fell short is simple. The only sale came from our personal library. The one book we bought from a charity shop was gated, so it never had a chance to sell. Fees did the rest.
What worked, what did not
What worked:
We proved we can complete a sale on Amazon, end to end.
The platform itself works for one-off sales, at least at a basic level.
What did not:
The sourcing maths was rough. Scanning 300 plus books across 7 stores to find one potentially profitable item is a low hit rate under a five-hour-per-week cap.
Category gating killed the core sourcing method. If you cannot list what you buy, the whole loop breaks.
The fee structure and software costs were too heavy for low-volume, low-budget testing.
Risks and downsides
This approach has a real risk of stranded inventory. If you buy stock before checking listing permissions, you can end up holding items you cannot sell on Amazon at all.
There is also a margin problem. When fees are fixed or high relative to item price, it does not take much for the numbers to go negative.
Worst-case scenario: you spend the full £100 and 10 hours, then end up with gated stock that generates zero sales.
Unknowns: we did not test the ungating process, and we did not run enough volume to know whether this improves with scale. Under a five-hour-per-week constraint, it is not clear how quickly a beginner could reach the volume needed to spread fixed costs.
Current decision: Stop
We are stopping this test. Category gating plus account and software fees make this a poor fit for a beginner test under our baseline limits.
What you can copy (within £100 and 5 hours)
If you still want to try this, do one thing before you spend any money:
Scan every book in the Amazon Seller app before you buy it.
Check whether you are allowed to list that exact item, on the spot.
If it is gated, leave it behind, even if the resale price looks good.
If you want a simple rule of thumb from our numbers, it is this. Expect to scan hundreds of books to find a single viable candidate, even before you deal with gating.
What I would tell a friend
Selling books on Amazon sounds straightforward. In practice, gating, fees, and the low hit rate on profitable stock make it hard to do on a micro-budget, especially when you are trying to move fast. If you are starting from scratch, the setup friction and the risk of unusable stock are bigger than most people expect.
Beyond the baseline limits
With more time or budget, we would test:
Applying for ungating approvals in restricted categories.
Buying stock using proper wholesale invoices from approved suppliers.
Using a prep centre to reduce handling time.
Ungating, in plain English
Amazon can block you from selling in certain categories, or selling specific brands. This is usually called gating. Ungating is the process of asking Amazon for permission to sell anyway.
In practice, Amazon often wants proof you are buying from a traceable supply chain. That usually means invoices from recognised wholesalers or distributors, not charity shop receipts. Sometimes they also expect a minimum purchase quantity on the invoice, plus clear supplier details. New accounts can face tighter restrictions until they build a selling history.
Under our baseline limits, this is a poor fit. It adds admin time, it can force you to buy stock you do not actually want, and there is no guarantee Amazon will approve you. Worst case, you spend the full £100 and your weekly time cap chasing approval, then still cannot list the items.
Over to you
Have you run into category gating on Amazon, and how did you get around it?
