How to Sell Used Textbooks

The cost of textbooks is skyrocketing—sometimes over a hundred dollars a pop, and that’s just one book for one class. A college student can look to pay $1000 or more every year. This cost can be offset by selling back your textbooks at the end of the semester. You might not make back all of your money, but it’s a lot better than an expensive textbook gathering dust in the closet.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Textbooks
• Textbook covers
• Bookstore account
• Packing materials

1. 

   Buy new. You might want to save money buying used, but used textbooks often can’t be resold. If you buy new and resell, you can potentially save more money. If you do buy used, make sure the book is close to mint.

2. 

   Keep the textbook in good condition. The worse the quality, the less you’ll make on resale. Buy or make textbook covers to keep the book in good condition. Also, don’t write notes or highlight text in the book.

3. 

   Find a used textbook dealer. There are a multitude of sites online that will sell your book online—normally on consignment. Some sites will buy your book outright, so there’s no need to wait around for a sale. A college bookstore may buy the book back, but possibly for not as much as an online retailer. Another option is to set up an affiliate account in which you ship the book yourself. Be aware that you’ll have to absorb shipping costs.

4. 

   Don’t wait: don’t take too long to sell the book after the semester is over. If a new edition comes out, your book could become obsolete. However, textbook dealers will often sell older editions for a reduced price.

5. 

   Mail the book directly to an online bookseller or wait for orders to come in. Make sure to have packing materials ready for when the book sells.

Tips & Warnings

• A standard shopping bag can make a good—and free—textbook cover.
• Be sure to sign up with a popular online textbook dealer—a site that gets a lot of traffic. Make sure the site is professional and easy to navigate.
• Sell books at different online stores according to the subject. One site might primarily sell science textbooks, for example. You’ll also get a sense of which sites are the most successful at unloading books.
• If you mail your textbooks to buyers be prompt or you could risk getting banned by the online retailer.

[slickdeals]

on 1/19/2009 Going to local store is old theme, long gone. For books go for online shopping used/new books at Amazon or Ebay.

And more better use price comparison website as your tool to buy books. That is smart move....

I love this simple website: http://www.textbookhunting.com
But there are more site like this..

[five4tenn]

on 8/28/2008 DO NOT BUY textbooks online from Textbooksnow.com. They took my money, informed me they did not have the book in stock and would initiate a refund, and never did. They responded to my email telling me that I was wrong and to check my account again (which of course was bull). Despite their own website showing the full charge, and the order "fulfilled", they continued to give me a run around. I check the BBB (something I should have done BEFORE ordering) and they have an unsatisfactory record and several unresolved complaints.

[bookworm]

on 12/8/2007 Great Tips! The only thins I would add to Step 1 is to buy your books via book comparison search engine. What is awesome about those websites is they search Amazon.com, Half.com, Alibris.com, Barnes & Noble, etc. for you and tell you where the lowest price. For instance, SmartBookFinder.com - http://www.smartbookfinder.com is great for finding used textbooks. Lastly, I disagree about buying new because I am not sure all the time if it is worth it. Sometimes used books are so much cheaper it is worth just buying them.

[DavidR]

on 11/6/2007 I got so frustrated with the bookstore. They did not buy back all my books and they gave me really low prices on the others. I liked www.jitterbook.com. They accepted most of my books and the pricing can't be beat! Free shipping too!

[shreveyboy]

on 6/6/2007 Please avoid buying new! If you must have new, do not buy from the college bookstore or some other local vendor. I have found that for buying new or fairly new books, the internet is the best place to look. You may have to wait a week or so for the books to arrive to your house, so remember to order your books as soon as you find out which ones you will need. I have always used half.com to buy and sell books. Sometimes I will purchase a book for a very low price and then sell it back for a great value (thus making money). It doesn't always happen, but it beats paying $100 at the school bookstore just to receive only $15.