Is it worth it to sell textbooks to college

[KAYLI'S DAD]

I took some classes at a local college about a year ago. Is it worth it to sell the textbooks back to the college or maybe online? 1 of the books I bought was new and came with 9 dvds. The other 2 were used when I bought them.

tia

 

[decaff38]

sell them on Amazon or Half.com and ship them media mail. You will get almost nothing from the bookstore.

 

[mommy2twingles]

I agree you will get almost nothing selling them back to the school. Last semester I used Amazon for the first time and sold everything I had listed for a really good price.

 

[megsters]

sell them on Amazon or Half.com and ship them media mail. You will get almost nothing from the bookstore.

well said!

 

[pezheadmeg]

NO!

You'll do much better selling online or to an independent bookstore near campus. You get at most 25% of what you paid at the bookstore.

It kills you especially when you buy the book new. The last one I sold on Amazon, I ended up getting back almost 75% of what I paid. Just be honest about the book's current condition.

 

[Katie's Butterflies]

College book stores rip off students. Just to give an example, I had to buy a $100 history book from my college a few years ago. At the end of the semester, I went to sell it back. They offered me less than $8. That’s less than 10%! Of course, then they were going to sell the book for $75…

As other posters said, sell online.

 

[JCMHutch]

I worked in a college bookstore for several years and there are many factors that go into what the store is paying the students for a sell back book. Factors include how long the edition has been in print, condition of the book, was it a consumable book (workbook, lab manual, etc).

The best time for selling is during finals because that is when the bookstore has a need for books. It is very important that professors notifiy a bookstore for the next sememster - if a professor orders the book for the next semester the bookstore will pay 50% back (i.e. $100 book has a resale of $50).

If you sell off of the finals schedule, the price is based on demand for the book nationwide and is usually 15-33% of the original cost. If the publisher has a new edition in the wings the old edition has 0 value. These books don't stay in the store and they are shipped out to a warehouse for distribution to a school that has orders for them.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

The rate of return isn't great--but it is more than what I'll get now for my DH's now dated college textbooks which are now pretty much worthless in my loft storage area.

With on-line options, you may fare better. But that didn't exist back in teh stone ages when I went to college (last century ).

 

[sbakersub]

Buying and selling at the bookstore is our last resort -- we always check Craigslist, Amazon, and bookbyte.com first. But we've had good luck both buying and selling used on the local Craigslist. We got DD's math text last term used for $40, and sold it after the term for $50!

 

[debsays]

NO! Sell them on half.com and you'll do MUCH, MUCH better than at college book store. That's what we did.

 

[Leajess99]

sell them on Amazon or Half.com and ship them media mail. You will get almost nothing from the bookstore.

That is not necessarily true. I got more back from the college bookstore than I would have from everywhere on line. I always research before buying and selling my books. You can always look around online and check at the bookstore before making your final decision.

 

[doomio]

When I graduated from University in December I had almost two huge duffel bags full of books that I took to the bookstore because I didn't want to deal with that many books on Half.com, but because you only have a few hands down do it via the internet and Media Mail like others have said.

In doing so you are also helping others who look on the internet for used books that are cheaper than in the bookstore, like I did throughout college.