For many college students, selling old textbooks can be a big hassle. In the short span of time between the beginning and end of a semester, the college bookstore that sold them their textbooks may buy back their books for only a fraction of their original price – or refuse to buy the book back entirely
Fortunately, students have other options – including selling textbooks online. By selling textbooks online, students can offer their books to many Internet textbook buyback companies, giving them the opportunity to get more money back for their textbooks.
But before students try selling textbooks online, they should be aware of the pros and cons of selling old textbooks via the Internet. The following article illustrates the advantages and disadvantages of this practice.
What are Online Textbook Buyback Companies?
Online textbook buyback companies are businesses that buy (and often sell) textbooks via the Internet. While these businesses may have brick-and-mortar stores where students buy textbooks in person, many of their sales also come from online shoppers who purchase books via their websites and have the books shipped to them.
When students want to sell old textbooks books to an online textbook buyback company, they visit the company’s website, enter the textbook’s International Standard Book Number (ISBN) into the book buyback search bar, and receive a price quote for the book. If the price looks good, the student can place a textbook buyback order for the book(s), mail them to the company, and get paid – usually through a mailed check or PayPal.
Advantages of Selling Textbooks Online
Because online textbook buyback companies can reach a larger clientele than a brick-and-mortar bookstore, they often offer competitive prices for textbooks that are in demand at many colleges and universities. Often they will buy books that a student’s college book store refuses to re-purchase.
Moreover, most (but not all) textbook buyback companies pick up the U.S. shipping costs by letting students print free UPS, USPS, or Fed Ex shipping labels. Students tape these labels to their book packages and mail them at their post office or UPS store. For Fed Ex packages, students can often schedule a mail pick up and get the packages picked up at his or her home, saving them the hassle of selling the books at a bookstore.
For students who buy textbooks online, some online textbook buyback companies like Powell’s Books give students the option of being paid with store credit. Students can use this store credit to buy books for next semester.
Disadvantages of Selling Textbooks Online
Since students are selling textbooks “sight unseen,” a textbook buyback company may reduce its price or refuse to pay if it finds the book’s condition unacceptable. This doesn’t mean the company is trying to cheat the student – after all, if a student sends a torn-up book, the company can’t resell it. Other times, books in good condition are damaged in transit (especially if the student doesn’t package the books properly).
On rare occasions, however, a student sells to a bad online textbook buyback company that will only pay a fraction of the promised price – if it pays at all. Moreover, even most reputable textbook buyback companies will not return books sent to them, while the few that do require students to pay for return postage.
In addition, some textbook buyback companies have a minimum buyback amount that students must meet before they can sell their books. Thus, if a textbook buyback company’s minimum buyback amount is $15.00, even if it offers $10.00 for a textbook, the student must sell an additional $5.00 worth of books to complete the transaction. Sometimes this minimum buyback amount is measured in books (i.e. students must sell 3 or more books before completing a transaction).
Students should also know that the price quotes a textbook buyback company offers can change frequently. This isn’t always bad – sometimes the price for a popular book can go up. Usually, however, students should “lock in” a good price quote by completing the transaction and send the books to the company as soon as possible before the price quotes expire – resulting in a potentially lower payment.
Finally, students must wait an average of two weeks to be paid for their books – sometimes longer if they’re being paid by a mailed check. For students who need or want cash fast, this can be a problem.
Is Selling Textbooks Online a Good Option?
Selling textbooks online can be lucrative – but also carries some risks. Learn how to minimize these risks by reading Top Mistakes Made When Selling Textbooks Online.
Michael Jung - Michael Jung is a professional writer, children’s literature specialist, and online book dealer whose articles, reviews, interviews, ...
Join the Conversation