Textbook selling?

[Grinner]

I've got a few textbooks I've no desire to keep and which are worth a fair bit of money; the worst-damaged one just has some frayed corners. I've looked at a few sites, but I'd like to get some input from the playground on personal experiences in selling textbooks. Which middlemen have you used, and would you recommend them?

[Gray Mage]

I usually post in my college's comunity on facebook. There are also websites for the purpose of selling books, but I've never tried them as a seller only as a buyer.
Either way, good luck.

[Knaight]

I generally haven't sold textbooks (most promise to still be useful, and the few that aren't have a tendency to be cheap paperbacks that held up poorly), but I can say that avoiding the middleman should be pretty easy, and that you will probably make more money selling them directly, particularly if they are for students.

[Jay R]

If you're still on campus, then show up at the class on the first day, and talk to students directly.

[TheThan]

If you're still on campus, then show up at the class on the first day, and talk to students directly.

set up a kiosk maybe?

[Knaight]

set up a kiosk maybe?

I suspect most universities would frown on that. With that said, I have seen people leave things like fliers in rooms strategically, so if you know which rooms and times will have the classes that use the textbooks in question (which you can probably find out pretty quickly if they're only a semester or two old), that might be worth investigating.

[KillianHawkeye]

I took all my old texts to the local Half-Price Books. I didn't get much compared to the original cost, but they were all pretty old. I've had better luck selling DVDs, video games, manga, and old D&D books.

I dunno if you have HPB or the local equivalent wherever you are, but it's an easy option if you do.

[Orc]

Definitely don't use sites- they're incredibly undependable and tend to rip you off even when they do pay you. Do it directly with other students, probably using social media.

[Jay R]

Definitely don't use sites- they're incredibly undependable and tend to rip you off even when they do pay you. Do it directly with other students, probably using social media.

If you can do it, you'll have better luck in person. Go to the first day of class, with your books. Before class starts, stand up and say, "I have the textbook here for half price. Does anybody want it?"

[Grinner]

Okay. Thank you for your replies, everyone.

The problem with selling to other students is that they tend to be adverse to paying for textbooks. Whatever the arguments for or against that, it makes selling directly much more difficult.

I did stop in a used bookstore the other day, and they said they might accept some, depending on what they are. I probably won't be out that way for a while, but it's an option.

I guess I'll just have to try my luck online with the rest.

[Knaight]

The problem with selling to other students is that they tend to be adverse to paying for textbooks. Whatever the arguments for or against that, it makes selling directly much more difficult.

We're not averse to paying for textbooks. We're averse to paying university bookstore prices for textbooks, and tend to look elsewhere. I've run calculations on savings before, and there have been semesters where I spent about $300 on textbooks (which is a lot), and would have spent another $500 had I used the bookstore. Similarly, I don't sell textbooks to the bookstore. Part of that is that I like to keep them around for later use, part of that is that they pay $10 on a good day.

So, for this to work well for you you need to make more money than you would selling it back (which is going to be easy, as the bookstore is inevitably a ripoff of some osrt), and you can't charge close to bookstore values, as people will find cheaper ways to get textbooks.

[5a Violista]

I've spent just as much as Knaight on textbooks some semesters, and the only reason I managed to bring it down to that ~$300 is by looking for alternative editions or sellers of the textbooks. (I also have the problem of not selling them back because I frequently end up using my textbooks to remember/look up things in later classes or while doing research or whatever.)

If you are good at (or enjoy) talking around with people, selling directly to students is probably the best option you can do. First, though, you'll have to do your background research: (1) what classes will be using this textbook, and what edition? (2) How much can they buy it from the university bookstore or some other bookstore? (3) How much can you sell it back to the university bookstore? (4) How much is it being sold for online, such as on Amazon or Ebay?

Essentially, you want to know these values so you can convincingly tell the other people why they should buy yours instead of just going online and getting one in two weeks, or just buying from some bookstore. In my opinion, you should sell them for slightly more than the online price, but you should also make sure that price is between your possible sellback price and their bookstore price. The real big thing, though, is asking around for who needs the textbook. Asking in person is better than leaving a flier or a phone number, and it's even better if you find that one of your friends (or a friend-of-a-friend) will be taking the same class soon.

[Tvtyrant]

Look up an existing or make a textbook swap/sell page on facebook.