Selling your course books

With school starting in August, it's time to make room for next semester's books (if you haven't done so already)!

The week that school ends, I typically sell back some of my textbooks. I only keep the one's that I can use for future reference or the one's that professors say to keep for future use.

Because textbooks are so expensive, I always search for the best deals. There are a few places that I typically use to sell my books. I compare the prices and sell to the competitor that gives me the most for my money. This takes work. This takes time. This usually means that I am selling books to all different places. I never pay for the shipping. I always get at least half of my money back. :)

1. Amazon.com: This is an easy way to sell your books. You just type your ISBN number into the search bar and when your book pops up, you usually have two choices. There is a 'trade-in' button and often times a 'sell this book' option. With the trade-in, Amazon will put a gift card on your account once they have received the book. You can use that gift card to buy your future books. When you sell your book, you set up a seller account and can create a price for your textbook. It's a little bit more work, but you often make more money doing it this way.
   
2. Chegg.com: This is another easy way to sell your books. You create an account and then type your ISBN number into the search bar. You can sell your book to Chegg and then you have a few choices to pick from. You can 1) have the money put onto your Chegg account for later use or 2) have them send you a visa card with the money on it or 3) have them send you a check with the money on it.
   
3. Your campus' Barnes & Noble: This rarely works for me. I usually find that the bookstore doesn't want to give me as much as I could sell it for on other sites. It might work for you, so check it out!
   
4. Textbook Solutions: We have a Textbook Solutions store in College Station, but I always go onto their website and enter the ISBN numbers into their search bars to get a quote for the books I am wanting to sell. It's so easy to sell to them. You just take your book to their store and they'll give you the money for it.
   
5. ebay.com: I don't use ebay to sell textbooks that much; however, I used it a lot more when I was taking college courses in high school. You can definitely make some money off of this site as well!
   
6. Sell to your friends: I've done this before as well. I like to sell my textbooks to my friends because I like knowing who it's going to. (I know that's weird.) When I sell to my friends, I can give them my thoughts on the course, the professor, and they have someone they can talk to when they have a question about the course or a specific assignment. I love helping other people out, so when I sell a book to a friend, I usually always include all of my course notes and other materials that may be beneficial to them. 

If I'm honest here, I'll admit that buying textbooks is exciting for me. I love purchasing products for school. Now I really sound crazy. Last summer, I purchased over 10,000 post-it notes. (don't ask me why, I got them for a really good deal.) I only paid $35 for them! If I had room, I would have a closet full of school supplies. I get this from my mom. She always has a dresser drawer full of school supplies, and we buy the stuff for cheap! 

Anyways, I'm done making myself sound crazy. But, if you see me in the office stores in July/August, I'll be shopping for the penny, nickel, and dime school supplies items. ;) Last year, I purchased a $60 backpack (brand new) for only one cent. 

Please tell me I'm not the only school supply crazy person out there. Maybe this is why I'm going to school to be a teacher. :) 

xoxo,

Jade