Last week on Frugal Friday, Caitlynn talked about how to save money when buying books, but what happens when you’ve finished the book? Or when the semester ends? Today we’ll be focusing on selling your used books and earning a little money back.
The biggest thing to consider is how much time you want to put into your book selling. Generally, the more time and effort you put in, the more money you will make, but it will all depend on what book you’re selling. I’m going to use Puntos de Partida, 9th Edition as an example throughout the discussion of options. It’s a college-level Spanish textbook that retails for over $145.
1.) Donation
You won’t personally make any money, but donating is super easy and you’ll be helping a good cause. If your used books are in good condition, put them in a grocery bag and swing by your local Goodwill. This is a great option for books that aren’t worth a lot of money (like paperback novels) or older editions of textbooks.
2.) Garage Sale
Hosting your own garage sale can be time consuming, but mooching off a friend is easy! Ask around — if a friend, neighbor, coworker, or family member is planning a garage sale, don’t be afraid to ask if you can add a few items. Box together similar books (like romance paperbacks) and write the price per book on the box. If your friend is selling books too, be sure to use little neon stickers with your initials so you know who the money goes.
Garage sales can be an awesome way to unload a lot of books in a short amount of time. It’s not super lucrative, but if you have a lot of general books, you can sell them all quickly and put a little money in the bank. I wouldn’t recommend selling specialized books (like textbooks) at a garage sale, as it would be difficult to attract the right type of customer.
3. Textbook Buy Back
If you’re looking for an simple way to sell back your textbooks, look no further than your college bookstore! At the end of the semester, you can walk in and they’ll scan your books and hand you cash. You won’t always get top dollar because they want to make money selling them to students next semester, but it’s quick and easy. At the end of each semester at my undergraduate university, there were textbook buy back spots set up all over campus, even on the lawns in front of sorority houses.
I did a quick search and checked out how much money you would make selling back our book, Puntos de Partida, at my college bookstore.
$50? Not too shabby! But let’s keep looking at other options.
4. University Book Exchange or Textbook Swap
If you’re a student looking to sell back your textbooks, check to see if your school has a book exchange. It’s a marketplace set up to connect students and help them sell back their books. Since you’re avoiding the middleman and selling directly to another student, you can earn more money than from a textbook buy back. Just check the price of the used book at your campus bookstore, subtract a couple bucks, and post an ad on the book exchange website. You and the future book owner will meet up at the student union or another neutral location, and trade the book for cash. Lots of schools have these book exchange programs, but whether or not the students use them depends on the school. The book exchange at my undergraduate university was pretty popular, but the one at my graduate school has no postings.
5. Amazon Trade In
If you don’t mind being paid in Amazon gift cards (and who would!), the Amazon Trade In program can be an awesome option for selling unwanted books.
It’s really easy too! Just type the ISBN or book title into the search bar.
And Amazon will tell you how much your book is worth. I used our example book, Puntos de Partida.
They’ll give you a gift card for $71.67 if it’s in good condition. That’s over $20 more than the textbook buy back!
6. eBay
eBay is a great option for selling both textbooks and regular books. The process is a little more involved than the previously mentioned options (you’ll have to pack and ship the book when it sells), but depending on the book, it can be well worth it!
When you’re ready, head over to eBay.com and click on “Advanced.” It’s in the top right, next to the “Search” button.
We want to determine a good price for our listing, so type in the name of the book and click “Completed Listings.” This will show you how much your book has recently sold for.
Double check to make sure you’re looking at the book itself and not a workbook, review guide, CD, or other related item. These are the four most recently completed listings. The green price on the right shows us the selling price. If the prices had been red, it would have meant that no one purchased the books.
Based on the recent selling prices, we could safely charge between $59.99 and $69.99 for the book. That’s still less than the Amazon Trade In, so we’ll stick with Amazon for today.
What do you think? Where do you go to sell your used books?
30 Responses
Paula Parker
I love garage sales a good place to buy and sale! Thank you for the info
Alex
Thanks Paula! I love garage sales too — they’re one of the best parts of summer!
Michelle F.
So much great information. There are some books I could really get rid of.
Alex
Ugh me too! We just keep accumulating books and I’m running out of room for them!
kungphoo
I did not know amazon got into the buy back game.. eBay is always a good outlet to sell books..
Alex
I was surprised too! I didn’t find about it until I was buying books for my summer classes and saw a little banner on Amazon.
Scott
Don’t forget you can just become an Amazon seller, you don’t have to use their trade-in program!
Alex
Definitely! It’s a little bit more work than the Trade In, but the Amazon Marketplace is a good option too.
Marie
We usually donate our old/ used books and me on the other hand have found amazing books on garage sale or book store that sell’s second hand books.
Alex
Agreed! Sometimes thrift shops have awesome books. My mom does quite well reselling thrift store books on eBay.
RUSS
I could do away with the university books, but the stuff I leisurely read …. I’ll have a separation anxiety. It’s a collection and my heart will be broken if I donate or give them away
Alex
I completely understand! There are some books we won’t be getting rid of, but we’ve accumulated a lot of extras that don’t really matter.
Franc Ramon
Selling old books is a great way to declutter the room and raise funds.
Alex
I totally agree, Franc! It’s nice to get paid for doing spring cleaning!
Liz Mays
We’ve purchased textbooks from Amazon but I’ve never thought to sell them back. How silly of me.
Alex
There’s always next time, Liz!
Rena McDaniel
These are great ideas. I just recently went with my daughter for her semester buy back. One they didn’t want so she used Amazon and sold it there.
Rebecca Swenor
Great information thanks. When I went to college I did the exchange thing with the school book store.
Michelle Knopp
I homeschooled my kiddos the last few years and have way too many books lying around here. It would be great to get some of that money back.
Alex
Absolutely, Michelle! You can make money for more books!
Leira Pagaspas
I just donate our books to people who need it,,
Alex
That’s awesome, Leira!
Saad Ansari
Nice tips. Donation is always the best option. All have right to knowledge themselves. Anyways nice article. Cheers
Joanna Sormunen
It’s great how there are programs to help students with their books nowadays! During the college, books eat a huge part of the budget. And you don’t usually need them later on.
Alex
I totally agree, Joanna! Thankfully the internet has made it super easy to comparison shop, buy books from other sources, and sell back your used textbooks.
Dawn
When I was in college, I kept most of my textbooks. I wish now that I had sold them as they are outdated anyway.
Alex
We keep the textbooks that are relevant to our fields, but sell the rest while we can. Plus we moved almost every year in college and it’s hard to move a growing stack of textbooks.
Sandy Sandler
Thanks for this collection! I love buying and selling books so this is a handy resource!
lloyd
This would be a program to help kids read from books not on just internet
katherine
I used to sell a lot of used books online