College Students: How do you sell your textbooks?
By Pigglies
@Pigglies (9329)
United States
January 11, 2007 3:33pm CST
Do you sell them back to the school, put up flyers near that department, sell them online, etc.?
I sell my textbooks on Ebay. The school doesn't pay enough and I'm too lazy to do the whole flyer thing and get approval for it and all of that. Sometimes I'll sell the books to people I know. But most often, I Ebay them.
2 people like this
5 responses
@Chapman15 (1492)
• United States
11 Jan 07
I used to sell them to friends, I think there's a way to sell them on Amazon... I know I've bought used books off there!
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
11 Jan 07
That's a good idea! I had nearly forgot about Amazon. I guess the good thing about that is, you can do a set price.
You can also do a set price on Ebay, but I'm usually far too lazy to pick a good price. Instead, I just start everything at 99 cents and let it go up if it will.
1 person likes this
@Chapman15 (1492)
• United States
12 Jan 07
Yeah, but sometimes it takes a long time to sell... I actually sold a couple books to a professonr once so he could sell them to students that didn't have them... Maybe you could ask!
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
12 Jan 07
Out here the professors aren't allowed to sell the book. :(
But I have had professors who tried to give books away for free. But they said they'd only do it if the number of people who needed the book equaled the number of books they had. It always exceeded the number of books they had, so everyone had to pay.
I do like that Ebay only takes 1 week, and actually, it could be even shorter if you want to go with a short auction. I love watching the bidding though, so I like to get my full enjoyment out of it for a week.
1 person likes this
@Catkin (480)
• United States
24 Jan 07
This is going to end up sounding very similar to a recent discussion I started, but I primarily use Half.com. :) I also take some to Powell's, a huge used bookstore downtown (the largest in North America!), but that's usually only if I want to get something else there at the same time -- they will give you cash back, but if you get store credit instead, you're paid more. I'm usually too lazy to sell books back to the school because there's only one day it can be done, which makes the lines enormous.
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
25 Jan 07
The thing I'm finding I don't like with half.com since I just started with it, is that the shipping is almost always at least twice what they say it will be. Because they aren't accounting for the weight of the book it seems. Or in the case of textbook bundles, the weight of everything.
I sold books on there for far less than I should have and practically lost money after shipping. :(
But the cool thing is, now I have a good source to sell off my paperbacks.
Good point on the lines! We have 3 days I think, but still!
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
15 Jan 07
We still have to lug them all around campus. :) Unfortunately.
You could have still sold them to other students back then yeah? I see a lot of people doing that. But to me, it's too much trouble to have to give out my cell number and have people meet me and pick up the book.
@jacobdsouza (181)
• India
15 Jan 07
well i am really against the idea of selling old books . what i generally do is give the books free of cost to the poor students in my locality who all cant afford to my new books . it really gives me a sense of satisfaction and it is really something one should follow at least in india to increase the rate of literacy .
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
15 Jan 07
That's great if you can give the books to poorer students.
Out here, if you're poor and managed to be in college, you are probably on scholarship anyway so your books are paid for. There isn't really anyone I could give my books to. If I offered the books, I'd have a hundred and something sad stories.
As far as regular books, not textbooks, I donate mine all the time. But college textbooks are worth a lot more money. Money I don't even really have to buy them at times. What I hate is that in this country, a lot of people claim they are having a hard time affording things, but they only work 10 hours a week or something. That's the problem. Sometimes they just need to work more. Others are genuinely working full time and going to school and still have a hard time. If you're really in the poverty bracket though, you can get financial aid out here, if not a full paid scholarship.
@my3busyboys (207)
• United States
14 Jan 07
I have sold most of them on ebay. Our bookstore pays like 10% of the retail price which is not enough to even consider. I get much better return using ebay. The only drawback is having to ship all of them out. That can be cumbersome when I am selling many at a time.
