Friday, 15 April 2011

Time to sell those old textbooks

Hey guys, thanks for all the tips! It never occurred to me to just rent the carpet cleaning machine... That's exactly what I'll do!

Now that 3 of my exams are done, I'm already looking to get rid of my old textbooks... I know it's quick, but seriously I threw away my notes as soon as the exam was over :D. Basically every school term, I hit up Saveonbook.com and Craigslist to grab all my textbooks used, sometimes old editions, for a fraction of MSRP. Then at the end of the year, I dump the books back on SaveonBook and Craigslist and get some or all of my money back.

For those of you who are buying books full price, please, please stop! Every year I save several hundred dollars, guaranteed, by visiting a few "selling used textbooks online" sites. Here's a few sites that I recommend:

Books 4 Exchange
Save On Book
Craigslist
Textbook Exchange

Also, check out your university bookstore, as they usually have a day where they let you sell your old textbooks to them for cash. Even though they buy the textbooks back at like 50% of what you buy it used for... Still better than nothing.

And one more tip, even if you buy textbooks from the bookstore, buy the used ones that other people sold back! They're usually placed right next to the new textbooks, and selling at like 10-30 bucks cheaper.

Goodluck!

53 comments:

  1. Textbooks are the biggest scam.

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  2. Awwwww I still have all my textbooks in college... Nursing books are expensive and I couldn't just give it to someone. :|

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  3. I hate textbooks, because I always lose them when I need 'em

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  4. thanks for the info. if only we had that kind of service back a few years ago...

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  5. my school always offered a book by back date, but it got to the point where I stopped buying the books.

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  6. I'll remember these sites, who says I cannot read my courses in english while the rest reads it in swedish? Thanks :D

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  7. I dont sell my textbooks, I just save them for my library later, when I am rich and have huge villa with a room for my books only.

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  8. i always get mine used, you save so much money!

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  9. Wow, thats good advice :D
    Please check out my blog too!

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  10. Craigslist is where i get my books from

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  11. I definitely went with used textbooks whenever I could in college. And sold em back when I finished. Save for a few books I wanted to keep.

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  12. Bigwords.com saves me a whole lotta money

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  13. I bought a bunch of my textbooks on Abebooks, thats in the UK though so not sure if its international, haven't thought of selling them yet though!

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  14. You should sell them quick. Good luck on sales.

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  15. All textbooks should be digital, read through an iPad, kindle, or laptop. You could make notes on them, keep them, and the cost should go significantly down. Not to mention, the amount of storage space that would be saved both in warehouses, university bookstores, and in backpacks and messenger bags.

    Seriously, I don't know why we let the textbook people get away with this antiquated system.

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  16. Yep, sound advice. Especially considering that you'll never use those books again, why keep them?

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  17. I'm off to college in September so thanks for the tips. I'm sure they will come in handy when i get there :)

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  18. Always tear random pages out of the book before you sell them.

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  19. I only buy the textbooks with themes I'm really intrested in. If you would buy all the textbooks the professor srecommends, you'd spend between 1000€ and 1500€ per semester.

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  20. Don't forget Half.com too!

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  21. My wife rented most of her textbooks, which brought the price down. The books have to be returned to the bookstore at the end of the semester. This may not be available where you are, as I'd never heard of it.

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  22. Thanks for the tips.

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  23. diddnt know they were so valuable! thx for the tip

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  24. What AllenTesch said.

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  25. i always just stood in line and sold my textbooks back to the college bookstore.

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  26. The best time of the year!

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  27. You can save alot of money doing this. I am returning to college soon. So this advice is appreciated.

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  28. This is a great idea. Sometimes it is worth it to get the book though. For example I had to take Statics and then Dynamics. I used the same textbook both semesters and it is a really good one. Also for calculus 1,2,3& differential equations I used the same textbook. It was worth the investment

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  29. i use amazon, its the best

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  30. I never buy textbooks unless I really see myself using them. Amazon is a good place to start if you're looking for a decent deal, if you have any friends that just took the class, you could offer to buy it from them, chances are they will be selling that book back for next to nothing.

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  31. i only use ebooks nowadays

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  32. Best part of the semester ending is selling book back! I'll use craigslist this time, thanks!

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  33. Thanks for the tips, I'll definitely use these when I go to college. Textbooks are so expensive.

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  34. books are expensive all right. At my community college, one of the classes REQUIRED a book that cost as much as taking the class.
    Nice blog. also, we have the same last name! our genius minds must run in the family.

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  35. I always just went to the bookstore and cried as they gave me like a dollar for a 200 dollar book.

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  36. I used to do this all the time, every semester in fact. Anything to recoup a little of the cost and also in turn add to the party fund.

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  37. Thanks for the tips, that's a good idea.

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  38. Buy used, save a tree.

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  39. I love to throw away my books after xamz. It gives me a feeling of concurrence. :)

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  40. I have so many books lying around that I should sell but I never have the time to do that :D

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  41. I've been renting my books for a while, and it save a bunch. Thanks for the links, i'll check them out for next semester.

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  42. Buying stuff used or in bulk is very smart but you need to get sure that the quality is ok

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  43. When buying text books don't pay any heed to thinking you need the latest edition.
    Just photocopy any differences from a classmate - it may only be a couple of pages actually.

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  44. Good tip with the text books! Gotta save $$$

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  45. I tried to sell an expensive math text book back to the bookstore yesterday and they offered me three dollars... I took my textbook and left

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  46. hehe, In germany the state buys our books!

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  47. Thanks for the tips. I always just used ebay.

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  48. the buying and selling of textbooks. always a scam for college students. YOu hate buying them at price, but feel good when you can get some money out of it

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