Yay! I just sold my English textbook on eBay’s half not too long ago. We had a good stint together, but it was time to say goodbye. I sold it for the same price I bought it at: around $35. Half took $5.10 in commission, but I really can’t complain. When I sold an item for a similar price on Amazon, I lost over $7 to commission. And with Amazon there’s always the worry that someone won’t like the product. (They can decide this up to years later.) Then Amazon takes the money back out of your bank account without even informing you. I like to buy from them, but will probably never sell there again.
They pay twice a month by depositing your money directly into your bank account. The first pay period is for sales made between the first and the fifteenth of the month, and the second is between the sixteenth and the last day of the month. Money is in your account about seven days after the pay period ends.
When you ship your book, don’t forget to send it Media Mail at the post office! It will save you a TON of money!
To my dear English book: I hope you serve your next owner as well as you served me! Thanks for not going down in value!
Blogging note: Got under 200k in my Alexa rating yesterday! Thanks so much to all the readers out there!
Selling textbooks is always nice! I still have a couple left to sell from last semester. Congrats on your Alexa!
Absolutely! Because of experiences like yours I don’t think I’ll ever sell on Amazon. Thanks so much!
I’ve always sold textbooks on craigslist as soon as my semester is over. It’s worked for me.
That’s a great suggestion. Especially since you don’t lose ANY money to commission. I also see flyers all over campus for used books…good to check out before you go spend a fortune at the campus book store!
I kinda wish I had been smarter about reselling my textbooks from college. I just brought them back to the college bookstore since it was the most convenient option. I’m sure I could’ve got more money if I had tried other tactics. Also I ended up just keeping a bunch that I thought I might possibly use, but I never opened them up again.
By the way, congrats on getting under 200K with your alexa ranking!
I have some that I keep, too. Especially if I used them for major electives. Maybe I’ll never use them again, but maybe I’ll impress someone with my professional library someday. 🙂
Thanks so much for being so instrumental and encouraging in getting my ranking down!
Congrats on your Alexa. I looked into flipping textbooks online but it is very competitive and low margin. Luckily my college allowed us to rent them. I always keep my eye out for new books when at yard sales and thrift stores, though.
Renting’s a great option, too. Flipping textbooks can be a risky business since you’d really have to know which ones are in demand and if a new edition has come out since the publishing date.
Thanks so much for the congrats!
Great job on the Alexa–you totally deserve it with all your hard work and consistently great content! Text books are so expensive. It’s great that you were able to get back most of the money!
Aw, thanks so much! I was glad to break near even on my investment. 🙂
Thanks for telling me about amazon!
Np!
Congratulations! Selling anything online is a challenge, and selling an English textbook is certainly no different. I have issues with selling on Amazon; one being the low commission earnings. In any case, great job!
Me, too! Half is the way I’ll go from now on.
I just sell my old text books back to Amazon for credit, instead of attempting to sell them myself. I have checked out other places but Amazon always seems to offer the most money.
That’s definitely another viable option. I checked both programs out before I decided to sell; I made about $5 by selling in this case than by trading in.
First of all, nice job on the Alexa ranking! I hope the advertiser gods shower you well!
And thanks for the tip on eBay. I have always used Amazon, but I get annoyed with the high commission. Good move selling those text books. I saved a few and do absolutely nothing with them, so get what you can for them while you can!
Thank you! For selling books I think I’m going to use eBay’s half from here on out.
Beautiful job on the Alexa ranking! Pretty soon you’ll be at the point that it doesn’t really matter anymore (I couldn’t wait for that moment). The bad news? Once the Alexa obsession ends, then it’s a whole new gamut of stats to worry about….
Thanks! I know…I’m looking at and researching GooglePage Rank now…have no idea what I’m doing. The good news is it’s at a two! For someone who wasn’t trying, I’m surprised it’s anything above a one.
Yeah, girl! Money and alexa — kudos!
Thanks! 🙂
Any time 🙂
It’s funny, but I sold one book for $4.99 and paid 3.99 for shipping. Later on, I found out that Amazon charged me $2 for the sale. Overall, I worked for nothing for Amazon LOL
It’s amazing how that works, isn’t it?!
I have thought about selling my textbooks but it seems that programs now require students to buy new. It is such a waste.
For subjects like math that require computer-disc/internet add-ons to textbooks that’s absolutely true. I hate math classes.
Wow, I totally had no idea that Amazon had that policy for sellers. Note to self always to sell my stuff on eBay, lol. Congrats on the Alexa score btw!! –Nell
Thanks! Yeah, it’s a pretty lousy policy.
I don’t have any to sell – but my husband does! he wont mind right?
Xo Megan
What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him! :p
great tips! I don’t need to sell my text books anymore as I’m out of college but I certainly could have used this! I feel like 80 percent of the time when I went to sell back my textbook the university told me they were getting rid of that edition… I was like- thank you!
I must share with you a system we have in India in some bookstores. We buy the book from them with the understanding that once we’re done with it, they’ll buy it back at a discounted price. It’s a great system and works well.
I am going to try the campus bookstore first when selling my textbooks because I kept them in great shape, once that most likely doesn’t net my as much as I want I am going to advertise the book on Facebook (maybe Twitter too) and then Kijiji. I just want to get rid of the things though so I might go with whatever is most hassle free.
It may be a little late for this semester, but I want my kids to get started on this anyway. Thanks for the summary.
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