Authored by Cathy L. Chambers in Shopping 
Published on 12-07-2009

Buying books wholesale is a process that can take entail several different steps, depending on your reasons for wishing to purchase wholesale. If you are a teacher, counselor or other professional who wishes to purchase books for use by students or clients you may have options not available to someone who wishes to resell the books.

Purchasing books at wholesale prices from publishing houses or book distributors for resell as a retailer requires a tax ID number and a business license. A vendor wishing to purchase books wholesale for sale at a store, kiosk other venue should first ensure that they have the applicable business license and tax information. Retailers have the option of obtaining books from on contract from either a publishing house or a book distributor. Retailers can return unsold stock for credit to their suppliers. Even though most publishers will gladly sell large amounts of books wholesale prices to anyone, they won’t buy back unsold stock unless you are in the business of book selling.

If you have your license and tax information, go online and look up the website of a book distributor. Ingramand Baker and Taylor are two major distributors in the United States. Either website contains information on opening an account to order books at cost for resale. If you are interested in a certain genre, the online catalogs are broken into genres.

Some publishers will sell directly to vendors. Research the websites of publishing houses to make yourself familiar with the opportunities offered by publishers. Most of the major publishing houses have a page on their websites devoted to retailers. Retailers have the option of returning unsold books to the publisher.

If you are a teacher or other professional who wants to purchase large quantities of a certain title to use for a class or other group, you may want to contact a retailer in your area. Some book stores will gladly sell books in bulk at a discounted price. Going directly to a publisher or distributor is another option. Unless you are a retailer though you won’t be able to return unsold books.

There are also on-line distributors who will allow you to purchase as few as twenty five copies of a single title. BookPal.com offers bulk rates to individuals. They offer a wide variety of titles at wholesale prices. eCampus.com is another venue that offers not only textbooks but best sellers at wholesale prices. eCampus sells books in bulk at very discounted prices. Neither of these sellers require a tax id number from purchasers.

Options for purchasing wholesale depend on the needs of the purchaser. All options should be investigated before making a final decision. The major publishing houses have websites with contact information for individuals wishing to make purchase in bulk. For other venues, check the contact information on their websites. Make certain you have all of the information needed before deciding on a source.

Lastly, if you are only interested in purchasing books at wholesale prices for your personal use, consider using eCampus or BookPal.