Many college students often wonder what to do with stacks and stacks of their used textbooks once they are done with their courses. With so much money spent on books and related course materials, it makes sense to explore selling the textbooks you no longer need, through textbook buyback channels. When it comes to selling used textbooks for cash, there are several options:
- Individual person-to-person option
- Campus textbook buyback programs
- Online booksellers' buyback programs
Textbook buyback is the process of selling your used textbooks back to the bookstore or another bookseller who has established a used textbook purchase program. This process allows you to turn your used textbook into cash and recoup some of the money spent on your education.
In selling textbooks for cash, the amount of money you will get depends on several factors such as, the condition of the book, the edition, and current demand, especially if a newer edition has not yet been published. For instance, if the book is in good condition and is a newer edition, you could get a decent amount of money, in some cases, as much as half the original price.
It should be noted that while the campus bookstore buyback programs are convenient, they may not offer the best price, especially if a book is out of print or there is a newer edition of the textbook. With that in mind, it is important to be strategic, start early, and do some research. You can check out online used book buyback programs such as the ones described below.
Most colleges offer students the opportunity to trade-in or sell used textbooks they no longer need. Such events are generally well publicized and take place at the campus bookstores each semester.
There are several online booksellers. However, not all of them have textbook buyback programs. Some established ones we found that seem to work well include:
- Booksrun
- Chegg (through third party Gotextbooks)
- Barnes & Noble
- Valore books
Some of the advantages of selling textbooks online using these programs include:
- Ease of use
- Access to a broader market
- Potential for higher payouts
- Ability to sell multiple textbooks
- Ability to compare available offers
The online booksellers’ buyback process can be described in 5 simple steps:
- Enter the ISBN of your textbook
- Receive a quote
- Print the shipping labels from the bookseller’s website
- Pack and ship your textbooks
- Get paid
When the textbooks are received, they are evaluated to make sure they are in good condition and meet the bookseller’s standards. If everything looks good, the payment is then processed.
As mentioned above, getting the most cash when selling your used textbooks requires some strategy and pre-planning. Below are some tips that could help you fetch higher value for your used books:
- Understand the value of your book so that you can set a competitive price or know what to expect.
- Make sure you take care of your textbooks to ensure they remain in top condition for resale.
- Provide a good description of your books. Do not exaggerate since this may impact you adversely if the description does not match the condition.
- If you need to upload pictures of your textbooks, use high-quality photos.
- Prepare your shipping package to avoid any damage during transit.
ISBN represents the International Standard Book Number. This is the unique number used to identify the billions of books in circulation. Without this system, it is difficult to imagine how the industry could organize or manage all the number of publications out there. It is used by both sellers and buyers to uniquely identify each book.
This depends on the program. As shown in the grid above, it could take anywhere from four to twenty-one days, depending on the company, and the type of payment method used.
Unfortunately, not all online booksellers have a used book buyback program. See the above grid for some of the active programs as of the time of this writing.
Most programs allow you to choose between being paid by check or PayPal.
Most programs provide free shipping slips which you can print out from their website.
Not all programs accept international editions. Check their respective websites for any policy exceptions.