May 8, 2008...4:16 pm
Textbooks: extra cash for students
Well, the spring semester is over, and you have a bunch of textbooks that you will never need/want to look at again. Instead of letting them collect dust on your shelves, why not convert them into cash?
Here are a few options for selling your textbooks.
College bookstore textbook buy-back:
Very bad idea!
Don’t do this, unless you’re absolutely desperate.
Bookstore policies are designed to rip off students coming and going! They will give you just a tiny fraction of what you paid for it originally. Collegehumor.com recently had a great article about this– If the Real World Used Textbook Buy-Back Policies.
Selling directly to other students:
Great idea!
Last fall, my College Algebra book cost me $119 new. The bookstore might have given me $20 for it… and then turn around to sell it for $94 used! Instead, I sold it to another student for $60. I got back half my money (and way more than the bookstore would have given me)… and the other student saved a lot of money, too. Win-win!
Check to see if the class is being offered again next semester, and also check with the bookstore to make sure your particular book is being used again.
Make a flyer listing the book(s) you’re selling, and post it on a bulletin board at school. Specify the title, course number and name, the general condition of the book, and the asking price. Be sure to give people a way to contact you– phone number, email, etc.
Selling online:
Another great idea!
If your class isn’t being offered again at your school next semester, try selling the textbook online. Chances are, someone somewhere will need it!
Selling online is pretty easy. Here are a few websites where you can sell your used textbooks.
By the way… For the spring semester, I bought almost all my books through Amazon.com, and saved almost $200. I plan to break even by re-selling for what I paid for them. In turn, this will fund my textbooks for next fall!
2 Comments
May 22, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Exactly. Plus, I’ve had good luck negotiating by making contact with individual sellers. Saved me a TON!
May 22, 2008 at 2:35 pm
(uh, I meant - eBay, etc., are great places to initiate contact with merchants.)
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