best way to sell textbooks?

HalberdBlue

Last year was my first year of college and I never bothered selling any of my textbooks. I want to keep most of them, but of the handful that are wastes of the paper they are printed on (liberal arts classes), what method of selling them will get me the most dollar signs? Internets? Bookstore? Illegal underground black market?

Raneados

if you're looking for the most money, an online site like amazon or something (whatever % - 100ish% original value) will usually net you a LOT more dolla dolla bills than selling to the bookstore (0%-50% original value)

Wezoin

As I work in a university bookstore I can speak to this. Often our buybacks give you next to nothing (we're talking $10 - $15 for an originally $100 - $150 book.) There is a used bookstore on campus for this (your college may have one of these as well) which is consignment based, you set the price, they put it on the shelf, and if it sells you get that amount - whatever their fee is. This is probably the way to get the most money out of your books as generally colleges and universities dont tend to use the same books (alot of them are the same, but alot of them have different books they choose to use) so finding a buyer at your college would probably be best.

Omnicron9999

I've always sold mine through half.com.

You just type in the ISBN or UPC from the back of the book and it automatically finds the exact book that you have, type in the condition, and it will give you approximate prices based on sales of the same book.

I usually get about 50% of what I paid, sometimes more, sometime they won't sell at all.

EggyToast

I check the price on Amazon, and if the used price is fair, I chop 1-2% off that and post it up. I think every book I've done this with sells in about 3 days or less, which always surprises me since I sell at the *end* of regular class time.

Classmate sells everything on eBay, usually posting them the 2nd to last day (so they end on the last day, 7 days later). I like Amazon because people search for their regular textbooks that way, and seeing all the competition is fair.

I've only had 2 books where the bottom dropped out of the price by the time the class was over. I usually just chalk that up to diminishing returns, rather than try to shop around.

HalberdBlue

Alright, I'll probably put them up on Amazon then. That's where I buy all of my textbooks from anyways (from the used section). I just didn't realize that the market moved that quickly. I was worried that if I put them up on Amazon that I'd be waiting months to sell my books. Thanks!

mooshoepork

This probably won't help, but maybe give you a starting point.

Here in Australia we have a website called textbook exchange. It's a free service.

You basically type the name of the book, condition, price etc...and sell it. Someone searches for it, clicks buy, and they then send an automatic SMS. You then arrange to meet at the university. Works well. There might be something similar where you live.

ihmmy

personally I go and consign them at a local used bookstore (across from the university, conveniently)... but the guy who runs it is pretty cool and I like supporting local business (plus I'm patient, the big textbook rush is in September here so sometimes stuff will sit all summer and not sell).

At our university it is veryveryvery common to put up simple paper ads along the hallways saying what books you have for sale, the cost, and your number. You technically have to get the poster approved by the student union (they glance at it and stamp it) though many don't even bother (they do get torn down faster that way though). I think the majority if students at my old U sell and buy their text's that way.

Improvolone

A few times, I've written small notes that say, "I have a used copy of this :phone number:" and I left it under the top copy of the book in the bookstore.

urahonky

www.half.com is your friend.