It’s that time of the year – back to college. Need some extra cash? Sell those old textbooks! What are you planning to do with those old books anyway? Unless you need them for future classes (such as a sequence), there is no reason to keep those old textbooks lying around. They are just taking up space!
My Advice For Selling Textbooks
Now, if you want to maximize your return on your textbooks, DO NOT sell them back to the bookstore UNLESS you check out Amazon.com first!
Selling your old textbooks on Amazon.com is fast, easy, and secure. Furthermore, you open up yourself to the entire world market instead of your local campus.
Why Sell on Amazon?
How many times have your books been refused to be bought back from the library because they are last year’s edition? Or that class won’t be offered again? That’s never the case with Amazon.
To sell your books on Amazon, all you have to do is create a sellers account, which takes about 5 minutes. To list your book for sale, simply enter the ISBN number, choose the price you want to sell it for (Amazon also shows you the current lowest prices for New and Used Books, so you can easily undercut the competition), and specify how you are willing to ship.
The Costs
Amazon does charge a commission on each sale, which averages out to about 20%. Also, they do pass through the shipping the buyer pays, which is $3.99 for books. For most books, you should ship it Media Mail from the US Postal Service. This is the least expensive way to ship, and it will usually allow you to pocket some of the shipping cost (but don’t forget the price of an envelope or box!). For a book that is one pound or less, Media Mail usually runs about $2.60.
Also, on the flip side, Amazon is a great place to get slightly used books at a great price! The shipping is very reasonable, and some books sell for as little as a penny!
Next time you need some spare cash and you see a textbook lying around – sell it!
Readers, have you ever sold your old textbooks on Amazon.com or on another site?
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This post was written by...
Robert – who has written 317 posts on The College Investor.
Robert is the founder and editor of The College Investor, a personal finance site dedicated to young adult and college student finances. You can learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter or Facebook.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Great advice – I was going to sell back at the bookstore. Thanks!
very simple and practical tip. I never thought used textbooks could be put to such good easily and that too with just about 10 minutes of work! Will try it for used textbooks or other books next time before i decide to throw them away.
I have already sold on amazon and it’s a great site but the charges are too much and some other sites may be suggested.
It seems very interesting. When I had finished my studies ‘selling old books’ idea was not practical in such a manner. I am ready to sell my old books .
One great way to get CHEAP textbooks is by renting. Chegg.com is what i use for all my books and its way cheaper than the bookstore and amazon. You don’t get to sell back but it works out pretty even in the end. Believe me I’ve been in school for 6 years and tried it all …
(no affiliation)
Great idea. I will be checking this place out!
Its really usefull information for me. So i decided to sell my old textbooks through amazon.com. I already hear about selling books via amazon, But now, for the first time i’m gonna try this. I’m really thankfull to your post.
Selling old books through Amazon is a great idea because it has two positive reasons to do so. First is that you can earn some money and secondly someone buys your book and reuse it, thus by reusing it other person is helping to protect our trees. To sell your books online, Amazon is the best place to do so. Logon to Amazon, create a seller account. List all your books on sale, with complete details of the book. If you do not want to enter complete details then enter ISBN number. Amazon charges some commission on every sale, but you will end up using good money.
This is a wonderful method of making money from your old books. Normally we do not use these old books in our life and have to abandon these books after sometime. Hence selling these books to others is a good option. You can Amazon’s services to sell these books and it is very simple. Tips given in this article is practically very useful.
This is really a very useful tip. I would certainly consider this option the next time i have got old books to be sold.
I had many old books which I used when I was in school -> Graduation -> postgraduation and now I am an IT professional and these books were of no use to me. One of my friend gave me the idea to sell them on amazon.com where I got right value of my books and saved them for going to junkyard.
My personal experience of selling and buying products on amazon.com is great. I feel its a most secure and reliable website and its a great idea to sell old books on it instead of abondaning them, any other person can use them.
Amazon helped in selling my old books for a greater value. I’m no longer going to use those old books.Its really a sensational article.