If you have found that you don’t really want to keep your textbooks from last semester, and you would like to earn some cash, then it is time to try to sell textbooks. By the way, you can try to sell other kinds of books as well, but you will likely be shocked to discover that you will often be hard pressed to find places that will give you even as much as a dollar for them. That is sad but true!
What follows is a list of the top 10 places to consider unloading your school books for cash. It is not numbered because these are some of the best options but one may not be better than another. It is all based upon the texts you have to sell and how you would prefer to receive payment. The list includes online and in-person book selling options.
The School Bookstore –
With school books, one likely source of immediate cash may be your school book store. They will possibly buy your books back, if they foresee the instructor will assign the same edition and same text for the next term. If you attend an online college, though, you will likely be out of luck. The good thing about going to school and selling the book back there is that you will earn money in hand right away. You may not get the best price, though, for the book.
BookScouter.com –
BookScouter will help you determine what 40 different popular school book buying web sites will pay for your book, so it is a good starting point. You might find out that few places will even buy the book in the first place or that you will not make enough money for the book’s sale to be worth your time. This is the place to save time and find out where you can sell the book.
With the information in hand of the web site that will pay you the most for your book, you can type in a small amount of information, like an ISBN number and the book’s condition, and print out the shipping label. Most of the vendors that work with Bookscouter will send you your payment in one to three days from receiving and inspecting the books if you want Paypal. Otherwise, it takes a few more days to receive a check in the mail.
This is a really great choice for selling school books because you can rent or buy your textbooks there as well. Also, they will buy international books as well. Many other sites do not want to deal with international books.
They want you to enter the ISBN, see if the price is acceptable to you, and give you a shipping label to print out. You will not have to pay to ship the book, only to buy a mailer. Once the book is received, it takes 2 to 5 business days to process the book and 4 more business days to issue the payment. You can choose to receive a check or Paypal.
Decluttr
This is a good web site for making a clean sweep of selling more than just your books. You can sell other items, like smartphones, CDs, video games and consoles, and DVDs. If you want to make your work of selling the items to Decluttr even easier, you can download their app and scan the barcode from the item you would like to sell them.
Like Booksrun.com, they will give you a price offer. If you want to accept the price, you print the shipping label, securely mail the book, and just wait for them to receive and inspect it. Once approved, you will have your cash on the way the next day via your choice of direct deposit, Paypal, or check in the mail.
BookFinder –
BookFinder is basically a clearinghouse that puts buyers and sellers of books in contact with one another. They work with over 100,000 booksellers around the world. They will also buy rare books and books that are out of print. You will be able to choose the best price offer from a number of sellers.
TextbookRush –
TextbookRush will also allow you to rent or buy used school books. They pay via cash, Paypal, or credit in their store. They have an app to speed up the process of selling your books. They also have an incredible array of ebooks that one can buy or rent. You can sell them your video games and DVDs while you are busy selling things for cash.
ValoreBooks –
This web site for buying books connects the buyers and the sellers. They have a best price guarantee. They are also unique in taking other books, like nonfiction titles, novels, and biographies. You can choose between check or Paypal. They also sell and rent out textbooks from their group of over 18,000 seller and rental vendors that they have vetted. The idea here is that you will get the best price for your book due to volume.
Student 2 Student –
This web site provides options to sell your book online or locally. You have several online buyers to choose from or opt to make a local sale. Local sales can be at your campus or some other safe location. Student 2 Student does not charge to help broker local sales.
TextbookBuyer –
This site is solely devoted to buying school books, nothing else. They pledge to process the book and your payment quickly and provide you the best price for the book. The one drawback if you are looking for a speedy payment is that they only pay via check.
Half Price Books –
If you live in one of the 17 states that has one of the 120 Half Price Books stores, you can get that cold, hard, book cash in your hand today. They also buy other types of books, CDs and DVDs. They let you shop while the staff figures out a price offer. They will give you an offer for any book, CD or DVD that you bring to the book buyback area of the store.
These days, there are a lot of options that allow you to sell textbooks. If you are selling books online, you will usually need to enter an ISBN number and accurately describe the book’s condition. If you like the offer from the buyer, you will need to find a book mailer to fit the book and print out the supplied shipping label. With a little bit of patience, you will have some money in hand for your books.