Can You Buy or Resell Digital Books Like Kindle?
Secondhand books are common with paperbacks, but what about digital eBooks? This guide explores whether used eBooks exist, the rules around reselling Kindle and other digital books, and if you can sell your purchased titles through online marketplaces or auctions.
Modified at: 2025.9.17Posted at: 2022.8.31
Buying eBooks Means Purchasing a “License,” Not Ownership
With physical books, it is common to trade them in at secondhand bookstores or sell them at auctions and flea markets once you are finished reading. However, this is not possible with eBooks.
The reason is that purchasing an eBook does not mean buying ownership of the eBook data itself. Instead, you are only purchasing a license to use the content on that specific platform. Transferring or reselling that license is not permitted by the platforms.
This is also why you cannot gift most eBooks.
With physical books, you acquire ownership of the object itself, and therefore you are free to resell or give it away. This fundamental difference explains why used eBooks do not exist.
Not Being Able to “Resell eBooks” as Used Books Is a Drawback
There are as many reading styles as there are readers. Some people like to “sell a book as soon as they finish reading it,” while others prefer to “collect them on a bookshelf.” Others might say, “I want to own many books but don’t want to use up my home space.”
It is often said that “you cannot resell eBooks, which is a disadvantage.” For people who like to sell books immediately after reading, this is indeed a drawback. But for those who prefer to collect and keep their books, this limitation is not much of a problem.
In other words, “not being able to sell eBooks as used books” is one of the disadvantages of digital books, but it does not mean that eBooks as a whole should be dismissed.
Choose Based on Your Reading Style
Currently, there is not much price difference between eBooks and physical books. Thanks to logistics advancement, ordering a physical book online usually means it arrives at your home on the release date. Therefore, there is hardly any gap between eBooks and paper books.
So, if you prefer to “sell books as soon as you finish reading,” physical books are the better choice. If, however, you “rarely sell books and simply want a convenient, minimal reading experience,” then eBooks may be the ideal option.