How to sell or give away your kindle
By Matthew Martinez
If you want to sell your Kindle Fire or give it to someone else. Take these steps to make sure your data is wiped and it’s not tied to your Amazon account.
If you bought a new Kindle Fire HD,want you might want to sell your old one or give it to someone else. Take these steps to make sure your data is wiped and it’s not tied to your Amazon account.
Backup Kindle Fire Data
Of course the first thing you’ll need to do is back up any data that’s on your Fire. Anything you have stored on Amazon servers – books, movies, music – will be automatically served up to your new device when you activate it. But if you’ve put your own videos, music or other files on it, make sure to back them up to your computer or Amazon Cloud Drive first.
Connect your Kindle Fire to your computer and open the device folder and transfer your files from it to a your hard drive.
Reset Kindle Fire to Factory Settings
After you have the data you need backed up, go into device settings and follow the onscreen instructions to reset Kindle Fire to factory settings. This process will erase your data from the Kindle and deregister it from your Amazon account.
After it’s set back to factory settings, Log into your Amazon account, click the Your Account dropdown menu and select Manage Your Kindle.
Then click Manage Your Devices under Your Kindle Account on the left of the screen.
Under you list of devices, make sure it’s no longer listed – which it shouldn’t be after doing the factory reset.
Clean it up so it looks nice, package it and send it off to its new home.
December 28, 2012 by Nathan
It’s been well documented the limitations of ebooks. You can’t sell them used or give them away to someone else after reading them like you can with paper books.
You can pass along ebooks if they are DRM free, but if you are buying them from a retailer like Amazon, the odds of getting a DRM free ebook are slim to nil.
However, this week I encountered a mysterious loophole with the Kindle that does indeed make it possible to give away your Kindle ebooks to someone else. You could give away your entire library of ebooks, in fact, and still have access to all of them yourself.
The catch is you have to give away your Kindle. Sounds obvious, right? Well, not exactly.
This week I gave my mom my basic Kindle from last year since I’ve now got this year’s model and no longer need the older one. Instead of factory resetting the device, I just went into settings and unregistered it from my account and then re-registered it to my mom’s account.
The odd thing about doing it that way is that all the ebooks downloaded to the device remain there after switching accounts. Even after restarting they don’t go away. All open and all work perfectly fine despite the fact they are in no way associated with the new user’s account.
Since the ebooks have DRM, I wasn’t expecting them to work from an account they were not purchased from, but that is not the case. They all work just fine. You could give away your entire Kindle library to someone else simply by downloading everything to the device before switching accounts.
It’s surprising the Kindle has this loophole; I wonder what Amazon’s reasoning is for doing it that way. I can see how unregistering would be useful for Kindles available in public places like a library or hotel, but now that Kindles have parental controls that allow users to restrict access to the Kindle store it seems rather pointless.
Kindles have an incredible lifespan. My six year old Paperwhite is still going strong. You’re pretty likely to still have a working Kindle if you upgrade to a newer model, so here’s what you need to do before selling or giving away your old one.
Deregister It From Your Account
Your Kindle is connected seamlessly to your Amazon account. You almost never need to enter your password or confirm your credit card details to buy a book. This is great when you’re the only person using your Kindle, but if you’re planning to give it to someone else, you don’t want them to have free reign on your bank account.
On the Kindle, go to Menu > Settings.
Next, head to My Account > Deregister Device.
In the confirmation window that pops up, tap “Deregister” again and the Kindle will be disconnected from your Amazon account.
Now it’s ready for someone else to set up.
Reset the Kindle (Optional)
This step is technically optional, but it’s a good idea to reset your Kindle to its factory settings before selling it or giving it away. The new owner will be able to start from a totally blank slate.
Go to Menu > Settings.
On the Settings page, tap the Menu button again, and then select the “Reset” option.
In the confirmation window, tap “Yes” and the Kindle will take a few minutes to restart and reset. Once it’s finished, the Kindle will be like it was on the day you got it.
Clean the Kindle
Let’s be honest, people are filthy, filthy creatures. Any personal device you’ve had for more than a few weeks is smothered in bacteria. Something like a Kindle that you’ve had for years and used everywhere in your house is practically a petri dish. Before giving away or selling your Kindle, do the decent thing and give it a good cleaning.
Since Kindles are almost all screen, grab some screen cleaning wipes and give your Kindle a good wipe down. Don’t use household cleaning products or rubbing alcohol, as they could damage the device. It’s much the same process as cleaning your phone (which you should also be doing).
Selling or Giving Away Your Kindle
With your Kindle clean on the inside and out, it’s time to get it in the hands of another loving owner. There are lots of options for where you can sell your Kindle, but one of the old reliables like Craigslist, Amazon, eBay, or Swappa is going to give you the best results.
Unfortunately, since Kindles are pretty cheap to begin with, you probably aren’t going to get a lot of money for an older, used model. A brand new Kindle Paperwhite retails for $119.99 on Amazon. Someone is listing one for $105 on Swappa but the most recent sale was for $85. Used, older, or cheaper Kindles are going to sell for less.
Personally, I prefer to hand my old Kindles on to someone I know who loves to read, but doesn’t have one yet. Books have always been my favorite gifts and a Kindle is the closest digital equivalent.
If you’re passing your Kindle on to a family member, you should set up Amazon Household. This way you both keep your own Amazon accounts but you’re able to share any Kindle purchases either of you make. There are also children’s profiles available, so you can control what your kids are able to read; you don’t want them left with unfettered access to Amazon’s copious amount of bad literotica.
Kindles, since they’re so simple, can easily last for years. Most people I know end upgrading their Kindle before it breaks just to get the latest features. This makes them perfect for giving away or selling.
You’ve decided to sell your Kindle Fire for some reason – maybe you are getting an upgrade or maybe you just don’t have any further use for it. Before you put your device up for selling though, there are some important steps for you to take for your sake and make it look like new, at least software-wise, for the future buyer. You have to remove your personal files, get the device’s software to its original condition. and some other things. Here are the crucial steps to take before selling your Kindle Fire.
Deregister Your Device
This is the most important thing to do when preparing your kindle for selling. Since your Kindle Fire is connected to your Amazon account, you don’t ever have to re-enter passwords or other information before buying a book. This is very convenient while you are using your Kindle because it will make every action smoother and faster, but now that you are selling it, you don’t want the buyer to have access to your Amazon account, or more importantly, your payment methods. To do this:
- Tap on the three dots to open the dropdown menu.
- Tap on Settings.
- Open My Account.
- Tap on Deregister Device.
- A pop-up window will appear for you to confirm this. Tap Deregister again and your Kindle will disconnect from your accounts.
Back Up Your Files
You might want to have the files in the Kindle backed up so you can transfer them to another device.
Backing Up Files from the Device
- Connect your Kindle Fire to your computer using a USB cable.
- Go to This PC on your computer and open the Kindle Fire drive.
- Copy the folder called “documents” to your computer.
- You can then transfer this folder to your replacement Kindle.
Backing Up Files from the Cloud
- Download the Kindle app for your computer.
- Open the Kindle app
- Enter your Amazon account information to sign in.
- The app will list all of your Ebooks.
- Download books to your computer by right-clicking on it and then pressing Download.
Reset to Factory Settings
This is to ensure that apps and other content that may be personal to you don’t stay in the Kindle Fire. This will allow the buyer to start from scratch and get all of your stuff out of the way.
- Open the dropdown menu by clicking the three dots.
- Press Settings.
- Press the menu again.
- Press Reset.
- Press Yes when asked to confirm.
- The Kindle will then restart. It will take a couple of minutes before it is completely reset. This will bring the Kindle to its factory settings and all of the apps and other files that you have previously downloaded will be removed.
Clean the Device
Before you put it up for sale, you should try and clean the device as thoroughly as you can. If you haven’t cleaned your Kindle Fire that often before, this should not be an optional step. Ideally, you should get some screen cleaning wipes but if those aren’t readily available, you can put some rubbing alcohol on a rag and wipe the device down. By cleaning it, you can also take some decent pictures of your Kindle so that it would have a higher chance of selling.
How to Sell Your Kindle
Now that you have your Kindle Fire reset and cleaned, all you have to do is actually sell it. There are many ways to sell your device online and offline, but you should do whatever you can to sell it for the amount that it is worth. Let’s see how you should do it:
Take Good Pictures of Your Kindle
If you want to sell your device online then one of the crucial things you should do is take high-quality photos of it so you can show potential buyers the condition it is in. Get a high-resolution camera or phone camera and put your Kindle down somewhere where there’s a neutral background, preferably with some natural light, and take a few shots. Try to get the pictures from as many angles as possible and choose the ones you like the most.
Don’t forget to include things like the charger or even the retail packaging the Kindle came in, if you still have it. This will definitely increase the resale value, and who doesn’t want more money, right?
Where to Sell Your Kindle
You can, of course, sell it at a pawn shop, a garage sale, or to a friend or acquaintance. But if you are looking to sell it online, here are several websites that should sell faster and with less hassle than putting it on Craigslist:
1. Amazon
You can sell your Kindle Fire back to Amazon (Kindle Trade-In) in exchange for an Amazon gift card whose value will depend on the model of your device. This is probably the best option if you want to spend money on Amazon anyway.
2. eBay
Electronic devices sell pretty well on the popular auction site, so selling your Kindle there shouldn’t be that difficult and it’s guaranteed to sell if you put it up at a low starting bid with no reserve. Present it well and you will probably get a good price for it.
3. Radio Shack
This electronic chain store is always interested in buying Kindle devices, no matter the model. You can trade it in at the physical store or online, whatever most convenient for you.
Clear and Ready to Sell
If you followed all of the steps, you should be able to present your device in the best light on whichever website you plan to list it. Good luck and we hope you get a good price for it!
Are there any steps that we missed? Know of any other sites to resell a Kindle Fire? Tell us in the comments below!
You’ve decided to sell your Kindle Fire for some reason – maybe you are getting an upgrade or maybe you just don’t have any further use for it. Before you put your device up for selling though, there are some important steps for you to take for your sake and make it look like new, at least software-wise, for the future buyer. You have to remove your personal files, get the device’s software to its original condition. and some other things. Here are the crucial steps to take before selling your Kindle Fire.
Deregister Your Device
This is the most important thing to do when preparing your kindle for selling. Since your Kindle Fire is connected to your Amazon account, you don’t ever have to re-enter passwords or other information before buying a book. This is very convenient while you are using your Kindle because it will make every action smoother and faster, but now that you are selling it, you don’t want the buyer to have access to your Amazon account, or more importantly, your payment methods. To do this:
- Tap on the three dots to open the dropdown menu.
- Tap on Settings.
- Open My Account.
- Tap on Deregister Device.
- A pop-up window will appear for you to confirm this. Tap Deregister again and your Kindle will disconnect from your accounts.
Back Up Your Files
You might want to have the files in the Kindle backed up so you can transfer them to another device.
Backing Up Files from the Device
- Connect your Kindle Fire to your computer using a USB cable.
- Go to This PC on your computer and open the Kindle Fire drive.
- Copy the folder called “documents” to your computer.
- You can then transfer this folder to your replacement Kindle.
Backing Up Files from the Cloud
- Download the Kindle app for your computer.
- Open the Kindle app
- Enter your Amazon account information to sign in.
- The app will list all of your Ebooks.
- Download books to your computer by right-clicking on it and then pressing Download.
Reset to Factory Settings
This is to ensure that apps and other content that may be personal to you don’t stay in the Kindle Fire. This will allow the buyer to start from scratch and get all of your stuff out of the way.
- Open the dropdown menu by clicking the three dots.
- Press Settings.
- Press the menu again.
- Press Reset.
- Press Yes when asked to confirm.
- The Kindle will then restart. It will take a couple of minutes before it is completely reset. This will bring the Kindle to its factory settings and all of the apps and other files that you have previously downloaded will be removed.
Clean the Device
Before you put it up for sale, you should try and clean the device as thoroughly as you can. If you haven’t cleaned your Kindle Fire that often before, this should not be an optional step. Ideally, you should get some screen cleaning wipes but if those aren’t readily available, you can put some rubbing alcohol on a rag and wipe the device down. By cleaning it, you can also take some decent pictures of your Kindle so that it would have a higher chance of selling.
How to Sell Your Kindle
Now that you have your Kindle Fire reset and cleaned, all you have to do is actually sell it. There are many ways to sell your device online and offline, but you should do whatever you can to sell it for the amount that it is worth. Let’s see how you should do it:
Take Good Pictures of Your Kindle
If you want to sell your device online then one of the crucial things you should do is take high-quality photos of it so you can show potential buyers the condition it is in. Get a high-resolution camera or phone camera and put your Kindle down somewhere where there’s a neutral background, preferably with some natural light, and take a few shots. Try to get the pictures from as many angles as possible and choose the ones you like the most.
Don’t forget to include things like the charger or even the retail packaging the Kindle came in, if you still have it. This will definitely increase the resale value, and who doesn’t want more money, right?
Where to Sell Your Kindle
You can, of course, sell it at a pawn shop, a garage sale, or to a friend or acquaintance. But if you are looking to sell it online, here are several websites that should sell faster and with less hassle than putting it on Craigslist:
1. Amazon
You can sell your Kindle Fire back to Amazon (Kindle Trade-In) in exchange for an Amazon gift card whose value will depend on the model of your device. This is probably the best option if you want to spend money on Amazon anyway.
2. eBay
Electronic devices sell pretty well on the popular auction site, so selling your Kindle there shouldn’t be that difficult and it’s guaranteed to sell if you put it up at a low starting bid with no reserve. Present it well and you will probably get a good price for it.
3. Radio Shack
This electronic chain store is always interested in buying Kindle devices, no matter the model. You can trade it in at the physical store or online, whatever most convenient for you.
Clear and Ready to Sell
If you followed all of the steps, you should be able to present your device in the best light on whichever website you plan to list it. Good luck and we hope you get a good price for it!
Are there any steps that we missed? Know of any other sites to resell a Kindle Fire? Tell us in the comments below!
I plan to sell my old Kindle Keyboard and I want to erase all the Kindle’s data ( my books, my personal info, wi-fi passwords. ) before. Is it enough to deregister the Kindle and execute a factory reset? Would it completely erase everything?
4 Answers 4
Every Kindle has a menu option “Reset to Factory Defaults”, which does exactly what you want: It removes all user specific data from the device.
For the paranoid: Most devices will not actually erase your data, but just mark it as “erased”. For the user both are the same thing – if you sell your device, the new owner will not see your stuff. For anybody with sufficient knowledge and interest in that piece of information – such as crime scene investigators etc. – it usually is possible to restore data. I have not checked if a Kindle will actually overwrite your data or leave traces behind.
After deregistering the device and executing factory reset the Kindle looks empty. It shows none of my earlier books.
I’ve connected the Kindle to a Linux computer and copied all the information to a huge (3.2GB) file:
dd if=/dev/sdc1 of=afterfactoryreset.dat bs=1M
One of the books I’ve read on this device is Zendegi ( by Greg Egan ) so I’ve searched for the string zendegi which appears quite a few times:
It was very easy to create a script which lists most of the books previously installed on the device:
It’s not a perfect list but clearly shows that factory reset does not erase all the information.
There are several ways to wipe the empty space of the filesystem. A very simple (not that secure) way is to create a huge files filled with zeroes and delete it:
After that the script does not list the previously installed books.
December 28, 2012 by Nathan
It’s been well documented the limitations of ebooks. You can’t sell them used or give them away to someone else after reading them like you can with paper books.
You can pass along ebooks if they are DRM free, but if you are buying them from a retailer like Amazon, the odds of getting a DRM free ebook are slim to nil.
However, this week I encountered a mysterious loophole with the Kindle that does indeed make it possible to give away your Kindle ebooks to someone else. You could give away your entire library of ebooks, in fact, and still have access to all of them yourself.
The catch is you have to give away your Kindle. Sounds obvious, right? Well, not exactly.
This week I gave my mom my basic Kindle from last year since I’ve now got this year’s model and no longer need the older one. Instead of factory resetting the device, I just went into settings and unregistered it from my account and then re-registered it to my mom’s account.
The odd thing about doing it that way is that all the ebooks downloaded to the device remain there after switching accounts. Even after restarting they don’t go away. All open and all work perfectly fine despite the fact they are in no way associated with the new user’s account.
Since the ebooks have DRM, I wasn’t expecting them to work from an account they were not purchased from, but that is not the case. They all work just fine. You could give away your entire Kindle library to someone else simply by downloading everything to the device before switching accounts.
It’s surprising the Kindle has this loophole; I wonder what Amazon’s reasoning is for doing it that way. I can see how unregistering would be useful for Kindles available in public places like a library or hotel, but now that Kindles have parental controls that allow users to restrict access to the Kindle store it seems rather pointless.
I plan to sell my old Kindle Keyboard and I want to erase all the Kindle’s data ( my books, my personal info, wi-fi passwords. ) before. Is it enough to deregister the Kindle and execute a factory reset? Would it completely erase everything?
4 Answers 4
Every Kindle has a menu option “Reset to Factory Defaults”, which does exactly what you want: It removes all user specific data from the device.
For the paranoid: Most devices will not actually erase your data, but just mark it as “erased”. For the user both are the same thing – if you sell your device, the new owner will not see your stuff. For anybody with sufficient knowledge and interest in that piece of information – such as crime scene investigators etc. – it usually is possible to restore data. I have not checked if a Kindle will actually overwrite your data or leave traces behind.
After deregistering the device and executing factory reset the Kindle looks empty. It shows none of my earlier books.
I’ve connected the Kindle to a Linux computer and copied all the information to a huge (3.2GB) file:
dd if=/dev/sdc1 of=afterfactoryreset.dat bs=1M
One of the books I’ve read on this device is Zendegi ( by Greg Egan ) so I’ve searched for the string zendegi which appears quite a few times:
It was very easy to create a script which lists most of the books previously installed on the device:
It’s not a perfect list but clearly shows that factory reset does not erase all the information.
There are several ways to wipe the empty space of the filesystem. A very simple (not that secure) way is to create a huge files filled with zeroes and delete it:
After that the script does not list the previously installed books.
Although older versions of Windows didn’t make it easy to wipe your computer clean of personal information, that’s pretty simple to do with Windows 10. You can do this if you’re preparing to sell or give away your computer, or you might do this to troubleshoot a problematic PC. Wiping it and starting fresh can help you reclaim all your hard drive space and return your PC to full, factory-fresh performance.
Why you should wipe your computer
How you wipe your PC depends on what you plan to do with it afterward. If you are keeping the computer, you can proceed directly to resetting the hard drive back to a fresh version of Windows. But if you plan to sell or give the computer away, you’ll want to take extra precaution to make sure the data stored on your PC is inaccessible to the computer’s next owner.
If you have a hard disk drive (HDD), it will be thoroughly erased when you refresh Windows. But if your computer has a solid-state drive (SSD) — and virtually all computers sold in the last few years do — you’ll have to take an extra step to ensure your old data can’t be recovered even after it’s erased — you should encrypt it.
How to encrypt your SSD
The easiest way to encrypt your PC is to use the built-in encryption option in Windows, but not all SSDs support this feature. To find out, do this:
1. Click the Start button and then click “Settings.”
2. Click “System” and then click “About.”
- If you see an option for “Device Encryption,” click it and follow the instructions to encrypt your hard drive.
- If Device Encryption isn’t an option for your PC, you might be able to turn on BitLocker, depending on which version of Windows 10 you have. Click “BitLocker settings” and follow the directions to enable it. If the link takes you to the Microsoft Store to purchase Windows 10 Pro, BitLocker won’t be an option without paying for the upgrade.
- One other option: If you can’t use either of Windows’ built-in encryption options, you can install a third-party encryption tool. There are several free ones to choose from, including TrueCrypt and VeraCrypt.
How to wipe your Windows computer
After your hard drive is encrypted — or if you don’t need to encrypt it — you can use Windows to wipe your PC, setting it back to its factory defaults.
1. Click the Start button and click “Settings.”
2. Click “Update & Security.”
3. Click “Recovery.”
4. On the Recovery page in the “Reset this PC” section, click “Get started.”
5. On the “Choose an option” page, click “Remove everything.” Then follow the instructions to complete the process, and Windows will reset the computer back to its original configuration with a fresh install of Windows.
How to wipe your Mac computer
The steps for wiping a Mac computer are quite different from wiping a PC. Whether you’re trying to sell your Mac or just start fresh, read our article to learn how to wipe a Mac computer.
