Reselling college textbooks

[disneysteve]

As many of you know, I have a daughter who started college this year. She finished her first semester today. One of those "extra" expenses that comes with college is textbooks. I posted earlier this year about the search for the best prices on the books she needed and I think we did pretty well with a combination of new, used, and rented texts.

Now we are at the other end of the process. I packed up the rented book and will ship it tomorrow. Then I started searching for the best resale value on the books we bought and she no longer needs (there are a few that she still needs next semester). I was pleasantly surprised to see the resale prices.

We are selling 4 books for which we paid a total of $135.22.
I could sell them right now for $77.50.
That would mean the 4 books would have cost us a total of $57.72. That's really not so bad at all.

I opted not to sell any of them immediately and instead listed them on Half.com and Amazon as the going prices are higher than the buy back prices (naturally). But I'm only going to keep them listed for a short time, probably no more than 2 weeks. If they haven't sold, I'll do the buy back route. I figure it's worth taking a shot at getting better prices but ultimately I just want to sell them and get something back. I'll post again once they're all sold.

[creditcardfree]

Yes, let us know how the reselling works out. I have a daughter going to college next fall. I wonder if the buyback price could drop in two weeks as they buy back more books and then lower the price before they get over run with too many books.

On the most recent tour, our guide said he thought renting was the best since they always take those back and that the books could be preordered to avoid standing in long lines prior to the start of school.

What made you decide to go with purchasing over renting in some cases?

[amarowsky]

I have had pretty good luck selling on Amazon. Don't get discouraged if they don't sell immediately if you list them now. From what I Have noticed most people who buy their text books on Amazon tend to wait until the last minute before or slightly after their semester begins. Usually because they want to confirm what the teacher or class requires. I never do buy back at the school unless I have no other option, Amazon is just market price, the book store @ school has yet to come anywhere close for me.

[disneysteve]

I wonder if the buyback price could drop in two weeks as they buy back more books and then lower the price before they get over run with too many books.

That's definitely a risk, but as amarowsky says below, most students don't buy books until the start of the semester so by selling now, I could be missing out on much better prices. It's a gamble either way.

What made you decide to go with purchasing over renting in some cases?

We compared prices at multiple sites. In fact, there is one shopper site that does the comparison for you. In some cases, renting wasn't really any cheaper than buying. Sometimes you can find a used copy for the same price as a rental. Plus you can resell it when you're done and get back some of your money.

I have had pretty good luck selling on Amazon. Don't get discouraged if they don't sell immediately if you list them now. From what I Have noticed most people who buy their text books on Amazon tend to wait until the last minute before or slightly after their semester begins.

True. We bought DD's books the week or so before school started.

[syracusa]

If they still have decent market value they will eventually sell. As long as you're not in a hurry - which you shouldn't. I always have a few college textbooks listed on Amazon for sale.

As you may have noticed, however, the price of college textbooks is coming down pretty fast.
Various forces in higher ed are pushing for more affordable materials for students and they incentivize instructors to use online free resources instead of the pricey textbooks from publishers.

[disneysteve]

As you may have noticed, however, the price of college textbooks is coming down pretty fast.
Various forces in higher ed are pushing for more affordable materials for students

That's because the prices had gotten insane. Who can pay $200 for a book they only need for 3 months? And buy 5 of those books? That's why book rentals have gotten so popular. You can rent that $200 book for $40 which is a lot more reasonable. Who cares that you have to return it. Once you finish the course, you have no use for it anyway.

[moneybags]

That's definitely a risk, but as amarowsky says below, most students don't buy books until the start of the semester so by selling now, I could be missing out on much better prices. It's a gamble either way
.

DD (a junior) sells all her unwanted books on campus via a Facebook page or word of mouth. This has worked out great.

[disneysteve]

24 hours into my experience and I've already sold one of four books. It happened to be the most expensive one at that!

We paid $94.00.
It sold for $63.42 on Half.com.
After commission and postage, we'll net $54.73.

Not bad at all. So that textbook that seemed pretty pricey at $94 really only ended up costing just under $40.

[creditcardfree]

24 hours into my experience and I've already sold one of four books. It happened to be the most expensive one at that!

We paid $94.00.
It sold for $63.42 on Half.com.
After commission and postage, we'll net $54.73.

Not bad at all. So that textbook that seemed pretty pricey at $94 really only ended up costing just under $40.

That's great!

[txex86]

In my daughter's experience (a college junior), selling textbooks on Amazon or Half.com always gets her better prices than trying to sell them to classmates.

[joshuaking]

If they still have decent market value they will eventually sell. As long as you're not in a hurry - which you shouldn't. I always have a few college textbooks listed on Amazon for sale.

As you may have noticed, however, the price of college textbooks is coming down pretty fast.
Various forces in higher ed are pushing for more affordable materials for students and they incentivize instructors to use online free resources instead of the pricey textbooks from publishers.

I would say just don't wait too long to sell them. Maybe college texts now are updated every other year, so you could end up with an obsolete version that is hard to sell for anything.

[bjl584]

Half.com was my best friend in Grad School.

I bought books on there for pennies on the dollar. And sold a few for about what I paid for them. In the end, books weren't that big of an expense for me.

[creditcardfree]

I saw a college student mention Access Codes (in regards to textbooks) on Facebook? Anyone know about these? Do they keep the student from buying used or renting?

[disneysteve]

I saw a college student mention Access Codes (in regards to textbooks) on Facebook? Anyone know about these? Do they keep the student from buying used or renting?

Access codes don't keep you from buying used but if you buy the book used, you'll still need to buy the access code. So you have to see if it is cheaper to buy new which includes the code or used and buy the code separately.

[creditcardfree]

Access codes don't keep you from buying used but if you buy the book used, you'll still need to buy the access code. So you have to see if it is cheaper to buy new which includes the code or used and buy the code separately.

Are codes available separately at bookstores, or is this something you would need to acquire off eBay or other third party sites?