Textbook Arbitrage Actor

Find profitable textbook flip opportunities by comparing AbeBooks and ThriftBooks prices with BookScouter buyback offers from 30+ vendors.

⚡ Fast & Efficient

• Process hundreds of ISBNs in minutes
• Sub-second price lookups per source
• Smart filtering saves time by checking buyback value first

Real results: 5 ISBNs → 6 profitable opportunities with up to 628% ROI

🎯 What It Does

1. Checks buyback prices from 30+ vendors (BooksRun, Chegg, TextbookRush, etc.)
2. Finds cheap copies on AbeBooks and ThriftBooks
3. Calculates profit including shipping costs
4. Filters by condition (only "Good" or better)
5. Returns top opportunities sorted by profit

📥 Input

{
    "isbns": ["9780321982384", "9780134093413"],
    "minProfit": 10,
    "minBuyback": 5,
    "maxResultsPerIsbn": 3
}

Field	Type	Default	Description
isbns	array	required	List of ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 codes
minProfit	number	10	Minimum profit in USD to include
minBuyback	number	5	Minimum buyback price to search sources
maxResultsPerIsbn	integer	3	Top N opportunities per ISBN

📤 Output

Each result in the dataset:

{
    "isbn": "9780321982384",
    "bookTitle": "Linear Algebra and Its Applications",
    "rank": 1,
    "source": {
        "site": "ThriftBooks",
        "price": 5.99,
        "shipping": 3.99,
        "totalCost": 9.98,
        "condition": "Good",
        "sellerName": "ThriftBooks",
        "sellerRating": "98%",
        "url": "https://www.thriftbooks.com/..."
    },
    "buyback": {
        "site": "BookScouter",
        "vendor": "Chegg",
        "price": 35.00,
        "url": "https://bookscouter.com/sell/..."
    },
    "profit": 25.02,
    "roiPercentage": "250.7%",
    "timestamp": "2025-12-12T10:00:00Z"
}

📈 Example Results

From a test batch (ISBN 9780134753119 - "A First Course in Probability"):

Source	Buy	Sell To	Profit	ROI
ThriftBooks	$9.48	BooksRun $69.01	$59.53	628%
AbeBooks	$23.31	BooksRun $69.01	$45.70	196%
AbeBooks	$32.88	BooksRun $69.01	$36.13	110%

⚙️ Configuration Tips

Find More Opportunities

{
    "minProfit": 5,
    "minBuyback": 3,
    "maxResultsPerIsbn": 5
}

High-Value Only

{
    "minProfit": 25,
    "minBuyback": 10,
    "maxResultsPerIsbn": 1
}

💡 Tips

• Most books (~95%) have $0 buyback - Focus on textbooks, not novels
• Buyback quotes expire in 7 days - Act fast on opportunities
• Condition matters - Only "Good" or better conditions are accepted by buyback vendors
• US sellers preferred - Ensures delivery within quote window

🐛 Troubleshooting

No Results Found

Most books have no buyback value. Try:

• Lowering minBuyback to 3
• Lowering minProfit to 5
• Using textbook ISBNs (not fiction/general books)

Missing a Source

Some ISBNs may not have listings on all sites. The actor searches all available sources and returns what it finds.