Sell Textbooks To Bookstores
Most college bookstores will buy back used books, mainly if instructors will use the same textbook next semester.
Pros:
Bookstores usually make payments to you within minutes. Some students prefer convenience to money, and that is why they choose this option.
Cons:
If you want to make a profit selling used textbooks, selling books to college bookstores is not the best option. They usually set up a quota where they pay a fair amount. But since they want to make money out of it, it encourages them to pay a small amount.
Places To Sell Your Used Textbooks
If youve ever attended college in person, you probably know that you can sell your books back to the university bookstore at the end of the semester. But did you know that you can sell your books online as well? You can, and often for a better return on investment than you can get at the physical bookstore. Ive rounded up 10 of the top companies you may wish to check with before selling your used textbooks offline.
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Bonus Idea: Rent Your Textbooks During The Semester
You can rent your books instead of buying and then having to resell them.
Pros: Students are willing to spend more money on textbooks when they really need them. By renting your textbooks during the semester, you can get money from students who didn’t plan ahead. You also have the opportunity to make more cash by renting your books several times.
Cons: There’s no guarantee that you will get your books back. Even honest people might simply forget to return them when they’re done. That means you’ll have to waste time finding them.
With a little planning, it’s possible to make a profit reselling your textbooks. Which method works best for you?
Sell Textbooks Online: How To Sell Used Textbooks On Amazon Or Use Amazon Buyback
There are two types of people who may want to sell used textbooks on Amazon. The first group of people is likely going to be students who have a pile of old used textbooks that they dont need anymore. The other group will be those who want to buy used textbooks locally and resell them online for a profit.
Students: Those that have old textbooks on the shelves not being used and want to recoup some of their money from buying textbooks for school
As A Business or Side Hustle : Since many students dont bother selling their used textbooks after finishing their classes, you can often find donated textbooks at thrift stores for a couple dollars that can resell for $30-150+ on Amazon. This can be a great, easy side income business, especially if you live next to a college campus.
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Best Places To Sell Your Textbooks For The Most Money
You’re a broke college student, and you want to get rid of the mound of books in the corner of your dorm. If you take them to the school bookstore, you know you’re going to end up earning back a quarter of what you paid, if you’re lucky. So, what other options do you have?
If you’re willing to put in the time and effort, various online sites will help you sell your used books. You can choose to go with a book-focused online platform, a big retailer, or even your social networking apps to help you get rid of your books and build your bank account.
If you’re interested in learning about the best way to sell used books online, you’ve come to the right place. Take the high road and sell textbooks online! Avoid the disappointment of waiting in line at the school bookstore for your pennies in return. We’ve found some of the best options to generate the highest return on your academic books for the least amount of effort.
S By Step: How To Sell Textbooks On Amazon
Things you will need:
- Amazon account
- Amazon seller account: You can use your regular personal Amazon account to sign up, or a new one that is associated with your business. When you sign up, you will have the choice between a professional or individual seller account.
- A printer
- Shipping Labels: You can also use plain old computer paper and tape. Sticky backed shipping labels are preferred because they are much easier to work with.
- Packing Supplies: Such as tape and padded envelopes
You definitely can sell with a free individual account. However, if you start to sell a lot of books on Amazon , you will want to get a professional seller account.
This requires a monthly fee of $39.99 a month. Eventually, if you sell enough books, that $39 a month actually saves you money. As a pro merchant seller, you pay fewer fees compared to an individual seller account, when your items sell.
Choose a selling plan
With two selling plans, Amazon offers you the flexibility to sell one, or one thousand. The Professional plan gives you the opportunity to sell an unlimited number of products and pay a $39.99 monthly subscription fee. Individuals pay no monthly fees, but instead pay $0.99 per item sold. Both Professionals and Individuals pay other selling fees when an item sells. Learn more about plans and pricing
Also, note that if you have an individual seller account you wont be allowed to sell more than 40 books per month.
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Keep Them In Good Shape
Many vendors wont accept books they dont deem to be in acceptable condition, so if you want to make extra cash off of your used textbooks, its important that you take good care of them. Dust them off and try not to tear or bend the cover and pages. You may also want to avoid highlighting or writing in your textbooks if you plan to sell them.
Best Places To Resell Your Textbooks
Now that you have some different ideas of ways to resell your textbooks, where can you actually do it? Here are our favorite places to do it!
1. AbeBooks
AbeBooks is a great place to resell your textbooks, but it does require a bit more work than some of the other places on this list. You setup your own shop, ship your own products, and basically run your own store. However, they do have great prices as a result.
2. Amazon
Amazon is the market leader in textbooks and one of the largest online marketplaces in the world. When it comes to reselling textbooks, Amazon makes it incredibly easy. All you have to do it enter the ISBN number, and you can quickly list your textbook. You do have to ship out your own book when it sells.
3. Barnes and Noble
I think a lot of people forget about Barnes and Noble being online, not just a store, but they have a huge website and a great textbook resell program. They also make the process of reselling your textbooks easy, by simply having you enter your book’s ISBN number, accepting their offer, and sending in your books.
The only drawback is your books have to be worth at least $10.
4. BookByte
BookByte focuses a lot of its effort on textbook buyback, and they make the process easy. You simply enter your book information, accept the offer, and send back your books. They offer free shipping back on any textbook valued at $10 or more.
5. BookScouter
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How Do You Get Paid
Most sites offer a few different payment options, mainly PayPal and Check.
Other sites may offer store credit. While it may not be as popular as getting cash, you actually can sell your books for a little more.
And you can always use this credit for next semester when it is time to buy new textbooks.
Where To Sell Textbooks For Extra Money
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Choose The Right Reseller
If youre not selling your books directly, finding the right reseller for your textbooks can take a bit of trial and error. One company can give you a really low quote or refuse to buy a book at all, while another company offers more.
It pays to shop your books around. You can use a tool like BookScouter to see which sites offer the best price for each book and which sites are currently accepting the titles you have.
Just type each books ISBN into the site. The website searches through 30 vendors who buy back books and lets you know which one offers the best price. From there, you can visit each vendors website to finalize the sale and arrange for shipping and payment.
Since many vendors have minimum buy-back amounts, it sometimes makes sense to go with a vendor thats willing to buy back several books rather than find a vendor offering the highest price on a single volume. Depending on how many books you have and the offers you get, you can sell your books to more than one reseller to get the most cash.
Also, the book titles resellers accept change over time. If they refuse a particular title one month, it can be worth it to check back later to see if theyll buy it.
How To Sell Textbooks Online
When it’s time to sell back textbooks, our three-step process makes it simple:
That’s all there is to it! Once we receive and inspect your books, we’ll pay you via your choice of cash, PayPal, or store credit. It’s never been easier to sell college textbooks.
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Is It Better To Buy Or Rent Textbooks
Whether you choose to buy or rent textbooks depends on your needs. If youre strictly looking to save some extra cash, renting is the way to go, since its much cheaper than buying outright. However, renting does come with some stipulations. For one, you usually cant write in your textbooks , so its not the best option if you prefer to take notes in your book.
Renting versus buying college textbooks also depends on your specific course. If theres a textbook that you know youll be referencing or using again, its probably better to buy the book most rentals expire at the end of the semester. This is especially true for STEM majors, where technical textbooks may also be useful during your career or graduate school. If youre required to take a class that has a virtual textbook, youll also most likely need to buy instead of rent, since these textbooks often have a one-time access code.
If you do have to buy a textbook, consider buying a used book. While it wont save you as much money as renting would, used books are considerably cheaper than new ones. Ask your professor if you can buy an older edition, since those are often much cheaper than newer editions.
Sell To Other Students
Selling textbooks to other students is usually the best way to recoup some cash you spent on books.
Selling your textbooks back to the bookstore or through an online marketplace can get you a fraction of what you paid for them, but if you sell it to another student, you can get some cash close to the retail price just as long as your textbook is in mint condition.
Thats why you should always take good care of your books!
This means not highlighting passages excessively or writing in them, as this will significantly reduce your books resale value. It also means not selling a textbook with broken bindings or pages.
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Why Sell Your Used Textbooks With Valorebooks
Purge your bookshelf of old textbooks you’re not reading and score more cash. Selling your textbooks online is a fast, easy, and smart way to make money, but selling your textbooks online with ValoreBooks is even smarter. With us you get:
Highest textbook sellback prices.Our marketplace model connects you to hundreds of buyers who are looking to acquire your textbooks, meaning you get top dollar for your old textbooks.
Free shipping and easy order tracking.Sell your old textbooks with ValoreBooks and we’ll give you a prepaid shipping label. That means you get to ship your used textbooks for free! Plus we’ll keep you updated on the status of your sellback order, so you always know where your shipment is and when you’ll receive payment.
Biggest variety of textbook titles.Selling your used books with ValoreBooks is awesome because you can sell almost anything: student textbooks, novels, biographies, non-fiction, and more. If it’s on your bookshelf, chances are you can sell it with us.
Fast and flexible payment.ValoreBooks offers two payment options when you sell your used textbooks online. Choose to receive a check in the mail or payment via PayPal.
Which edition is my book?
IMPORTANT: When entering your textbook ISBN, make sure to remove any stickers that are over the ISBN barcode.
The valid ISBN will be printed directly on the back-right corner of the book.
US edition textbooks These are the most typical textbooks you find. They may be hardcover or softcover.
How it works…
Advantages Of Selling College Books Online
The online bookselling market can be highly competitive. But selling used books online has quickly become the preferred choice for most college students. That is because when you sell college books online, you offer the textbooks to numerous potential buyers.
You can search online to find similar books so that you can compare the price. The best way to proceed is to get your textbooks ISBN, search it on various bookselling sites, and compare the prices. If you do not know much about ISBNs, our guide, how to sell books by ISBN for profit, can give you the fundamentals needed.
Some students use this method to find an average price or their books value before selling online or to a colleague. It helps you to determine your price and target prospective students living close to you.
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Choose The Right Shipping Method
While resellers cover the books shipping for you, if youre going to sell directly to buyers, you must pack and ship each book one by one or per order. To cut down on shipping costs, especially if you plan to offer free shipping to buyers, send your books media mail.
Media mail is one of the most cost-effective shipping methods. Its available from the U.S. Postal Service, and you can only use it to ship media materials such as books, DVDs, and CDs. The shipping method takes a bit longer than other options, usually between two and eight days.
Tips For Selling Used Books
If youre thinking about selling your books, here are a few ways to maximize your profit:
- Promote yourself. If youre selling textbooks directly to students or online, get the word out about your inventory. Ask around to see if anyone is taking the classes you just took and the condition of your booksespecially if they are in great shape for others to use after you.
- Price accordingly. To sell quickly, you can price a competitive offer without selling yourself too short. Make sure youre setting your price at a rate youre comfortable with. If its too high, you could hold onto your book for much longer compared to someone who prices a book at a competitive rate.
- Take lots of pictures. Pictures are critical to selling online. Potential buyers need to see every possible angle of a product to make sure theyre buying something worth the cost. Take more than enough shots, including any potential wear. If someone orders your book and it comes in worse than expected, you could face having to return the cash, then getting a negative rating online.
- Have detailed descriptions. Its important to be as specific as possible in your descriptions of the product. Include size and dimensions, accurate conditions and anything else necessary. For instance, if you bought the book new and didnt mark up the pages, this might look more enticing for potential buyers compared to older used books.
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