Make the most from Selling your Text books

You can quickly turn a pile of used textbooks into a pile of cash.

One of the sometimes forgotten joys of the semester ending is getting some money back by selling textbooks. However, many people don't go about this the right way. Here are some simple do's and don'ts to maximize your return from selling your textbooks.

Never sell to the campus bookstore!
The bookstore is a business looking to turn a profit from the books you sell them, they will low ball you. While it is convenient to sell to the campus bookstore, avoid it and sell directly to other students. By cutting out the middle man, you can get more of your money back on your books.

Sell offline when you can
Find out who you know is going to need your text books and try to sell directly to them. You avoid paying commissions or listing fees to any website, and the buyer avoids paying shipping.

Sell early
Timing is everything. The longer you wait after school ends to list your books online, the more other people have already listed theirs. The higher the supply of books listed means the lower your price will have to be. Listing early can also mean that summer school students will have the opportunity to buy your books. This gives you a whole group of potential buyers that you would miss if you listed your books too late. Also, you can always re-list your books for lower prices later in the summer if they don't sell immediately and other sellers make prices go down.

Sell your friends' books
Whether they are too lazy, or just don't know how, many students choose not to sell their books online and instead sell them to the school book store, and this is an opportunity for you to make some extra cash. Find out what books they have to sell, do some quick research on how much they go for online, and offer to buy each book at a price that you feel confident you will be able to make a profit. Then, when they are selling their books to the bookstore, they will hold on to any that you made a better offer on, and sell them to you instead. While this method requires some capital and taking a few risks, it requires very little of your time.


Hopefully this helps you earn a greater return on your textbooks. If you don't know how and would like to learn how to sell your textbooks online, comment on this post and I will personally walk you through it.