The economy has hit all segments of the population and college students, whether undergraduate or graduate are no exceptions. While in previous times, book buyers would circulate through faculty offices at the end of the semester and we could make a pretty penny, they ignored students who were relegated to the bookstore to resell their texts at a pittance.
Then came the internet boom and the ability to buy and sell just about anything online – if you just knew how. Last semester, a group of my students were getting ready to go resell their texts to the bookstore after the exam and I asked them what they got for the book. A book that had cost them $178.25, they were selling back for $14.75. Unfortunately, right after the beginning of the semester the author had issued a new edition which rendered the former edition obsolete. The only good news was that some professors had ordered their books before this had happened and since the author had pushed the release of the new edition back twice they were hedging their bets by sticking with the former version. Otherwise, the books wouldn't have been bought back at the book store at all.
Books Sell
Good news. You can sell your books – thanks to all the sites comparing book prices now available from a multitude of stores selling used textbooks – by doing nothing more than entering an ISBN number (found on the first copyright page or the back cover) and clicking. I've listed my two favorites below.
DEALOZ
"We search over 200 online bookstores to find millions of books and prices. We find the best deals on any new & used books and textbooks. Save money by comparing prices before you buy."
There's another perk of DealOz. Sometimes stores will provide coupon codes that will add, for example, 5% or $2 to every book you sell to them. DealOz frequently lists these deals with the store on their buyback comparison site. (If you don't see any for the store you want to sell to, it's worth it to do a quick search. Format it as "[Store Name] buyback coupon codes]."
This site also provides a great deal of information that will help you decide the best places to sell your books. This includes the price offered, the store making the offer with a direct link to them should you decide to sell your book there, whether the price is for used or new books, how they pay, whether shipping is free and if so what are the requirements to qualify (for example, at least 5 books sold back or a minimum of $5 worth of books sold, while some have no requirements) and shipping labels are provided for you to print right off your printer.
A particular useful feature is that the site provides the overall rating the store received (usually from reviewers, amount quoted vs. amount paid, speed of payment etc. but also from simple "thumbs up, thumbs down" type of ratings) and the number of reviews that have been written about them. (Be sure to read these by clicking on "reviews," especially if the ratings are below 3 stars. You may find a site rated as 2 stars but it is based on only 2 really disgruntled people!) You won't find other sites that provide this amount of information about not only the prices you can sell your books for but other factors that might influence your decision regarding where to sell. I've provided an example of how the information is listed for a book I used last semester.
Examples of Buyback Prices at DealOz and Additional Information Offered
Book For Sale: Program Evaluation in Practice (listings use the following format:)
- [Price], [Buyer], [Used/New], [Shipping], [Payment], [Ratings], [# Reviews]
- $17.88, Amazon, Used, Free, Credit, 5/5, 4
- $5.68 Sellbackyourbooks, Used, Free/Min $5 Sale, PP/Check, 4/5, 0,
- $20.61 FirstClassBooks,Used/New, Free, PP/Check,4/5, 0
- $15.59 Abebooks, Used/New, Free/Min. $15.00 Sale, PP/Check, 4.5/5, 28
- $15.54 Bookstores.com, Used/New, Free, PP/Check, 3.5/5, 0
- $15.54 Textbooksrus, Used/New, Free/Min. $15 Sale, PP/Check, 2.5/5, 12
“BIGWORDS compares the best textbook stores at once finding the sweetest, cheapest textbooks on the planet. Multi-Item Price Optimization saves about $225 on average multi-item textbook orders, including coupons, promotions, and shipping depending on store requirements. 35-45% cheaper textbooks than other online stores, 50% cheaper than bookstores. New and used textbooks, international and digital textbooks, Multi-Item Price Optimization, quality and edition enforcement.”
It pays to look at this comparison engine even though I’ve found it doesn’t check as many sites as DealOz, and the prices for the same sites reviewed by DealOz usually also quote the same prices. However, a number of times I have found a different variety of sites reviewed by each, resulting in different price ranges available, as well as different options offered such as coupons, free shipping, same price for used and new books, length of time the price quote is good for etc.
Also, sometimes sites make mistakes and you will find the price on one site that was miss-listed or they just didn’t have up to date information. If you’re looking for the highest price available it’s better to check more sites rather than less. For example, below are the top 4 prices listed at DealOz, followed by the top 4 prices listed at Bigwords for a book I used in a graduate class last semester.
Book For Sale: Handbook of Program Evaluation for Social Work and Health Professionals
- [Price], [Store], [Payment], [Shipping]
- $25.64, Amazon, Credit, Free
- $18.50, Chegg, Checks, Free
- $7.00, Bookbyte, PP/Checks, Free
- $6.34, Fairbooks, PP/Checks, Free
- [Price], [Store], [Payment], [Shipping]
- $25.64, Amazon, Credit, Free
- $16.12, Textbooksrus, PP/Check, Free
- $6.00 + $2.00 coupon= $8.00, eCampus, Check, Free
- $7.00, Bookbyte, PP/Check, Free
Let’s take a look at how the prices come out for the undergraduate book I mentioned at the beginning, that was priced at $178.25 and being bought back by the bookstore at the end of the semester for $14.75. So we’re trying to see if we can beat $14.75 and if so by how much. Is it enough money that it’s really worth it to find a box, pack it, seal it, print the shipping label and attach it and then deliver it to wherever it says to ship it from? (The label might be Fedex Ground, USPS or UPS). Finding a good all-purpose shipping store that takes everything will save you a lot of time later if you end up selling a lot of books). So consider the following:
Book for Sale: Behavior Modification: Principles and Procedures, 4th Edition
- [Price], [Buyer], [Used/New], [Shipping], [Payment], [Ratings], [# Reviews]
- $39.29,, CashbooksNow, Used New, Free, PP/Check, 5/5, 1
- $33.06, Abebooks, Used/ New, Free/Min. $15 Sale, PP/ Check, 4/5, 28
- $31.01, Textbooksrus, Used/ New, Free/min. $15 Sale, PP/ Check, 2/5, 12
- $29.47, Fairbooks, Used/New, Free, PP/Check 3/5 1
- $29.00 Chegg Used/ New Free Check 3/5 5
- [Price], [Buyer], [Good/New], [Shipping]
- $33.01, Textbooksrus, Good/New, Free
- $26.75, Bookbyte, Good/New, Free
- $26.41, Sellbackyourbook, Good/New, Free
- $24.71, Betterworld, Good/New, Free
- $20.00, Cashforbooks, Good/New, Free
While the two comparison engines I mentioned above (DealOz and Bigwords) are my two favorites, I do check some of the other comparison sites every so often to see if there are any offers I may be missing. This is especially true if I have a book I feel should sell for some amount but am being quoted nothing from the other two sites. Each site may have a few stores that are unique from each other and it’s worth it to check them, especially if you’ve received the message “not selling this book” or are being offered a very small amount. You may find a store for example that will take older books even though newer editions are out or that will take student study guides or workbooks. It’s always worth a look.
Additional Reliable Comparison Sites to Find the Best Prices for Your Books
The other sites I would recommend that compare buyback prices for textbooks that I have used to find a store that would buy an older edition or case book for example are listed below:
The Upshot
If you do your research, though it can be time consuming and tedious, you may find you end up with a lot more money than you ever expected to at the end of the day.
