Selling books...

KellyBrian2013 · May 2011

I have to buy yet another book tonight that I'll likely only use for one class, and I'm curious what people recommend for selling books.

I typically try to buy all of my books through Amazon, since they are generally about 1/2 the price of the university's book store, but I then don't have the sell-back option that I would through the school. I know Amazon has a buy-back program, but the reviews I've read are awful and I'm a little gunshy to try it.

I have been thinking about selling them on ebay or as a seller on Amazon (as opposed to Amazon buy-back), but I'm curious if anyone has other suggestions? I have books spanning a variety of subjects from the past 3-4 years that are just wasting space & collecting dust.

FI and I are looking to buy a house (have an inspection tomorrow... if it passes, we close June 30th!!), so they pretty much NEED to go because we won't have the space to take them and I know my parents don't want them. Suggestions?

faith415 · May 2011

I always sell mine on amazon or half.com (ebay's book site).

em01092 · May 2011

Try the off campus bookstores. They don't care where the books came from, at least the ones at my school.

Another thing to try: At the end of each semester, a bunch of random people come with Uhauls and buy back books that the university won't take. They set up in parking lots or corners. It's legit; they have like scanners and books to tell them how much the books are selling for and they base the price the offer to you on what they think they can get for it. I just sold a book 2 weeks ago to one of these guys. The university store said they were not buying that book back, but this guy gave me $20 bucks for it.

They sometimes give more than the school, they don't care if you are a student (my school bookstore makes us show our IDs before they will buy from us), and they don't care where the book came from. I don't know if anything like that goes on at your campus, but if not, try a near by one, if there is another school close?

ericab1020 · May 2011

I always use bigwords.com. The show you what all the sites will give you for your books and you can find the best deals. I hate listing books, so I send them to other companies.

Beazilla · May 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_students_selling-books?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:684Discussion:6c4879eb-825d-4cf5-afb4-73f26a07236aPost:9b0eca7e-4fa4-46b1-83e6-600d6e0cba9d">Re: Selling books...</a>:
[QUOTE]I always sell mine on amazon or half.com (ebay's book site).
Posted by faith415[/QUOTE]
Same. I also sell non-textbooks on Amazon to keep my bookshelf a little lighter.

aleighk1 · May 2011

I found that barnes and noble gave me the most money for my books this semester.

mrandmrsbrist · May 2011

I've used Amazon, my university's buy back and Craigslist. I think I got the most for my money through Craigslist.

LauraT25 · May 2011

My husband sells books on Amazon all the time, but if the book isn't in demand it's less likely that someone will take it off of your hands in the near future. If you're really trying to unload them quickly, I'd take them to a local bookstore that sells used books (do you have a Half-Priced Books near you?) and keep in mind that you probably won't get much for them, but at least you won't have to worry about shipping.