Every college student looks forward to the end of the quarter or semester. Obviously, the best part about post-finals time is that there’s no school. Many students also look forward to being able to sell back their textbooks to earn some extra cash. By now, every student should know that selling the books back to the college’s bookstore is a stupid idea because the returns may be less than 20% of what a person paid for the book originally. A student will have much better luck selling their books back to an online textbook service or even more general sites. Take a look at the top 5 websites that you should be selling your textbooks back to!
eCampus (ecampus.com)
eCampus is a well-known site for college students to rent their textbooks, and you can buy or sell them too. Unfortunately, eCampus will offer you some of the lowest prices out there when it comes to your textbooks. The prices will more than likely best your college’s bookstore though. Free shipping means that you’ll only be paying for a box or envelope if you don’t have one sitting around. Anyways, the process is fairly simple and you can either take eCampus credit (bad idea), a check, or a direct deposit. It’s nice that you have a few options at least.
Rating: 2/5
Chegg (chegg.com)
Likewise, Chegg allows students to buy, sell, and rent textbooks throughout the year for whatever classes they’re taking. Chegg’s offers on most textbooks are only slightly better than eCampus, but they are much better than many other similar sites. Of course, you’ll get a free shipping label to send those textbooks off. Your payment options are similar to eCampus: Chegg credit (bad idea), check, or PayPal. You’ll receive your payment within a week or two, which isn’t too quick, but it’s not horrible either.
Many people are aware that you can buy textbooks from Barnes & Noble, but few are aware that you can also rent or even sell them also. Strangely, Barnes & Noble actually offers the best buyback prices for textbooks. You can regularly receive a better offer from B&N; than you can with Chegg or eCampus. The difference can be as little as a dollar to more than five dollars more. Either way, you’ll want to choose the best offer that you can get to receive the most money. Like other sites, B&N; pays for your shipping, but they will only take books that are in good condition. Your payment options are by PayPal or by check, which will usually take two to three weeks for either method.
Rating: 3.5/5
Amazon (amazon.com)
You can buy just about everything from Amazon, and textbooks are no different. However, you can sell your textbooks on the site too. The process is a little different from textbook sites because you are actually selling directly to other people rather than selling to the company. Basically, you list your item, set the price, and wait for someone to purchase your textbook. After that, you send it to them and you are paid when the item ships. Disbursements from your Amazon account take 3 to 5 business days, which is pretty quick and convenient. The biggest difference between Amazon and other sites is that you’re competing with other people who also set their prices on textbooks based upon the prices of others. However, you are very likely to sell your books for more on Amazon than any of the previously mentioned sites. You pay for shipping but get reimbursed right away; Amazon takes a small commission. Either way, you’ll end up with more money than through the previous sources.
Obviously, Craigslist isn’t necessarily a textbook service or anything like that, but you can still sell textbooks here. You’ll obviously have to interact with the people who are interested in buying your textbooks, so this might not be your thing. Anyways, you chat with someone and agree upon a price at which time you’ll meet up with them to trade your books for cash. It’s as simple as that. Luckily, you’ll get the most cash from Craigslist in comparison to every other source on this list. Your only real cost is the gas you expend to meet up with the buyer. However, you don’t have to wait to receive payment or worry about your books not making it to the company.
Rating: 4/5
As you can see, you have plenty of options when it comes to selling your textbooks online. Craigslist involves a little bit of human interaction, but the other sites are pretty much a non-personal effort. You won’t deal directly with any people using the textbook buyback sites or Amazon. Of course, negotiating on Craigslist allows you to get the most money for your textbooks, but not everyone wants to deal with others. Anyways, take this list and get to selling your textbooks!
