I have a couple textbooks that I don’t need any more. However, I don’t know if I should sell them back to school or one of the bookstores near school? I was wondering if someone could tell me a way I could get the most back for my books.
Thanks!
Dont’ sell them back to school or a bookstore! You will get very little back compared to your initial cost. Sell them on Amazon.com
Create a seller account. When you sell Amazon gets a small cut, however they also give you some money for postage.
Also, if you use the Post Office you can ask to send your books to the buyer using the Media rate, which is significantly less.
The only other way to get more bang is to find someone who will need the book next semester at your school and sell it directly to them at a cost cheaper than they could get at the bookstore, but higher than what the bookstore would buy it back from you.
Which textbooks.
half.com, thats what i use to buy and sell. usually much cheaper to buy, and definitely more money when you sell them back. perfect solution for when you drop 160 on a science text and your school upgrades editions and no longer accepts the old one. what a scam.
I just kept all my text books. I use the music texts pretty frequently as a reference.
That said, my roommate had a lot of success getting rid of his old texts on amazon. I’ve purchased textbooks from individual sellers on there. Works great.
Fuck the college book store. Seriously. Don’t even buy textbooks there. I go in to grab the ISBN and then buy online.
[quote]EG wrote:
Which textbooks.[/quote]
couple english,history and math books
1st semester freshman
If you are a freshman get rid of those books!! You will probably never need them again with your general ed classes. Plus you can’t pass up on getting some money back.
Like the 2nd poster said, use amazon.com and ship out through the post office using media mail. It will probably cost a few bucks to ship out. The only problem with this method is that it might take a week to get the money into your account.
Just watch out for when a new edition comes out then the book’s price drops significantly.
[quote]strungoutboy21 wrote:
If you are a freshman get rid of those books!! You will probably never need them again with your general ed classes. Plus you can’t pass up on getting some money back.
Like the 2nd poster said, use amazon.com and ship out through the post office using media mail. It will probably cost a few bucks to ship out. The only problem with this method is that it might take a week to get the money into your account.
Just watch out for when a new edition comes out then the book’s price drops significantly.[/quote]
thanks
sell them to students next year. Seriously, I had a kinesiology book that cost me $150 from the school bookstore, if I sold it back I’d get $30. So what I did instead was I held onto until the following year, and found a kid who needed the book. Sold it for $100. He got a deal, and I got a lot back. Sell it to students!!!
[quote]sicilianspeed42 wrote:
half.com, thats what i use to buy and sell. usually much cheaper to buy, and definitely more money when you sell them back. perfect solution for when you drop 160 on a science text and your school upgrades editions and no longer accepts the old one. what a scam.[/quote]
Scam is correct. These college bookstores are fucked up.
My marketing class had like 200 students. There is no new edition to the book, but the bookstore decided they would only buy back 100 books. The rest of the students next semester (after 100) will have to buy the new books from the bookstore. Then at the end of that semester they will only take back 100 again.
The bookstore could easily not have to buy or sell any ( or very few) new books until the newer edition comes out. But then they wouldn’t make as much money off poor college students, who are borrowing money to make ends meet. They don’t give a fuck about the students. It’s a business.
Not only that, but I can’t sell the book online, because it’s a “Special Edition for Oregon State University.” It is useless for somebody outside of my school.
If I learned one thing in college, it’s that I need to open a college bookstore. Demand for the books will not go down, so I can set high prices and tweak the supply to my advantage.
Sell back all your freshman books, but not to the bookstore, the longer you’re in college the more you’ll hate them.
I end up keeping some of my books but when I do sell them back I do it online, the same place you should be buying them from.
Fuck college bookstores. The only thing worse than a college bookstore is a professor that assigns a book you rarely end up using.
Thanks for the $120 class tax, asshole.
[quote]Travacolypse wrote:
Fuck college bookstores. The only thing worse than a college bookstore is a professor that assigns a book you rarely end up using.
Thanks for the $120 class tax, asshole.[/quote]
Correction, the only thing worse than a college bookstore is a professor that assigns a book HE/SHE authored and you rarely end up using the book because it is useless.
I work in a college bookstore for LSU. You have to do your homework for the books, and there is no blanket answer for the books. If they are using the book again, your best bet will probably be to sell it to another student, just beat the bookstore’s price.
But also check them on Amazon. We at the store know more than our customers because we have to. Some books just get new editions very often,…some just stop being used…some just have a shitty wholesale value for a reason even we can’t figure out.
There are many books that we sell on Amazon as a store, but if you are thinking about this, then you have to do the research. Some books sell on Amazon for as much as we give to buy them back,…but amazon only gives 3.99 for shipping and then takes a 20% cut. The average book we ship via the post office costs 2.50 but they lose alot of shit…and UPS is about 7-8 dollars depending on where its going and also we already have a discount.
Check on the websites for the publishers and you can usually find the wholesale values.
We have books that we buy back for a few dollars and sell online for $1.49 but that is just buying positive feedback.
Bottom line is that there is no blanket answer for your books.
Just keeping y’all informed.
i bought a textbook off amazon for 45 cents. just thought id brag about that.
I avoid Amazon when I can, they’ve taken $10 from a $50 sale I’ve made.
Here’s the secret:
The categories these websites have are VERY subjective, but play a large part in determining price.
Buy a textbook off half.com (or Amazon if half doesn’t have it), from the Good or Fair price range. For some reason, people put books under these categories when they only have some basic wear to them. This way you buy low. Use the book for the semester, taking good care of it, then the day your class ends, post it under the Like New category (as long as it is still is nice shape).
In this category, you can sell it for what you paid + shipping, and still have one of the lowest prices in that category. Your book will sell fast this way.
I typically end up paying only $5 or so for each book.
Try selling 'em on Abebooks.com
[quote]Travacolypse wrote:
Fuck college bookstores. The only thing worse than a college bookstore is a professor that assigns a book you rarely end up using.
Thanks for the $120 class tax, asshole.[/quote]
X2
Im always torn whether to order the book ahead of time on Amazon or just wait it out and see if I actually need it.