4 Tips to Get Your Money Back on College Textbooks

By Alicia Geigel on September 18, 2017

Every semester, students are confronted with many necessary evils, one of them being the outrageous price for textbooks. Unfortunately, getting textbooks is unavoidable unless you happen to get lucky and find a PDF online (which I have done a couple times). If this is not an option for you, then you are forced to consider some alternatives: renting used, buying used, eBooks, or if you must, buying new. Just those words give me chills!

Buying new is not always terrible, but it definitely has the potential to be. Sophomore year, I had to get a special edition of a textbook that was not available online at all, online at my university’s bookstore, and I ended up spending a whopping $119 on one textbook, for one semester. Do you know where that textbook ended up after my final for that course? Sitting on a shelf, slowly accumulating dust for months. I was stumped on what to do with this burdensome block of pages and ultimately ended up donating it.

Even though we as students cannot avoid getting textbooks, we do not have to suffer along the way. After your semester is completed, you do not have to eat all the money you dropped on those textbooks; there are options for you to get your money back! Have you been staring at a pile of textbooks, not knowing what to do with them after your semester ended? Do you want to make at the very least, some of your money back? Worry not, I got your back.

Check out my four tips below on how to get rid of your textbooks and put a little cash back in your pocket! 

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1. Maintain good condition: One of the first things to do when you get a textbook is observing its condition. Some textbooks are practically falling apart with notes, highlighter lines, and crinkles out the wazoo — in this case, you most likely did not spend a whole lot on books like these.

Some textbooks, on the other hand, are in almost perfect condition with very little wear, and this is the textbook you need to guard with your life. Avoid taking notes, highlighting, etc. in these books because it will decrease their value when it comes time for you to resell them. If you find yourself wanting to take notes, use post-it notes; they peel off easily and will keep your notes in the book without ruining the pages!

The bottom line here is the better condition your book is in, the more money you are likely to get out of it.

2. Research, research, research: Before you just go and set the price of your textbooks online, be sure to take the time to carefully research what each textbook is selling for. Some book that you may think has little to no value may actually be worth more than you could have imagined! Let the internet be your number one tool for determining the price of your book(s).

Jane McGrath of Money.HowStuffWorks.com notes, “a quick search on Amazon.com, for instance, will give you an idea of what a particular used book is selling for. Chambal.com is another good resource. It lets you plug in the author and title or ISBN and will present you the lowest going prices across many different Web sites.”

While you use these tools, note that prices vary on a few things such as condition (used/new) and edition, so be sure to be aware of this when considering your book!

Image via Pexels

3. Selling books online: Perhaps the most common way to get money for your textbooks is to sell online. Amazon and eBay typically are the top two places to sell used books, but they are not the only ones. When selling your books to sites like these, the condition of your book is going to be the most important detail.

McGrath comments on this stating, “[book] conditions range from ‘new’ to ‘poor,’ with other descriptions such as ‘like new’ and ‘acceptable’ somewhere in between. Of course, you don’t want to hurt your chances of selling a book by describing it in worse condition than it is. But you also don’t want to hurt your credibility as a seller by describing it in better condition than it is.”

If you decide to sell your books online, just remember that you are responsible for shipping the item, and in that case, you should consider making the buyer pay for shipping.

4. Selling books elsewhere: Another alternative for making fast cash on your used textbooks is at a yard sale. While you most likely will not make as much money from selling at a yard sale, it is a way that you can get money in your pocket quickly!

Image via Pexels

I know that this process is a little lengthy and takes some time, but it is definitely worth it to get some of your money back in the end. After you’re done with selling your books, hopefully you can treat yourself to a drink with your friends this weekend — cheers to that!

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