fabulous

When a semester is over at school the second best part (other than classes being over!) is being able to sell those books back for cold hard cash!

To help make sure my books are in good condition I take a little extra effort to make sure they are clean, and presentable. I never highlight, mark or “dog-ear” pages. Instead,  a post-it note can help you save a page just as easy. If the book is hardcover I put a cover on it to protect it from scratches and spills. Now you can’t help simply wear and tear like bent corners and the few scrapes books get from being used and carried around but this is to be expected.

Campus bookstores have a book buyback towards the end of the semester but typically do not offer the best deals in my experiences. While selling the books yourself is a bit more work, it can truly pay off in the end.

Find a friend who is about to take the class and sell it to them, you may not necessarily get the most money, but helping a friend is always nice. If you are on a social networking site try posting your used book on there to see if any other classmates are in need of cheap textbooks.

I am a huge fan of selling my used textbooks on www.amazon.com. If you already have an account with amazon you’re all set. If not simply create one, it’s quick and easy. You simply put the ISBN in, put a little description of the books condition and set your price. I typically stick to the lowest price so it sells quickly.

There are other sites you can sell your books all you have to do is a little research. Find which site has the easiest process, most offererd for your textbook and easiest shipping procedure and charges.

To make the most from your textbook all you need to do is a little research and take the time for the payoff!

For the first year of my college life I lived at home and commuted to the local Community College. Life was grand. I didn’t pay rent or utilities and carpooled with two other fellow students to split the cost of gas. I was working part-time and thought it was wonderful.

The next three years were spent at a different college, now I lived in the dorms so the cost was covered by the financial aid I was fortunate enough to recieve. I was now without a job, minimal savings, a few bills and the need to pay for such things as food, gas and anything else I may need.

I started looking for used books on www.amazon.com this was a wonderful resource and has saved me a bunch of money. You simply can look up books by the ISBN and search for ones that are new, used, and then condition of the used book. I now sell my books on there as well since it has always been a better return than the on campus book buyback.

I have also shared books with fellow classmates. Luckily I was living with one of my classmates and we happened to have two classes together. It could not have been better. This classmate was in a much better financial situation that I and agree to buy the book and simply let me use it to do homework and study. In the end, I helped sell those two books on www.amazon.com and made him some money!

During my internship I had a friend who ordered a book online, and this book never came in the mail. Luckily, I had the book she needed and let her borrow it while she got her order figured out. (Which never got sent and she ended up having to simply get a refund.)

You can also try to find the books in the library. Check the catalogs of your school library and the local public library. If you can’t find a book there, and you use social networking websites, you can try posting on those as well.

Try to search in search engines, like www.addall.com, www.bookfinder.com , or similar. Thes particular sites compare prices from various online vendors.

Some college towns have unofficial off-campus bookstores. Often they are a bit cheaper than the on-campus bookstore.

If you are apart of your college network or in a group that involves your college, you can post what books you need (or want to sell) and find others who are in the same boat as you and without the hassle of shipping since they are most likely in the same town.

There are other websites that offer great deals on textbooks as well. Such as www.half.com which is through ebay, http://www.abebooks.com/books/Textbooks/, http://www.buyusedtextbooks.com/ and many others.

The truth is, to find a better deal than paying full price at the campus bookstore you need to do some research, start early, and shop around. If this doesn’t sound like you, sometimes good things can just happen. Once, one the first day of class, my instructor informed us that if we had no bought books yet (so not like me at all…) we could use the previous edition of the book to save money. In the end, my book was on a list of top ten buyback books at our campus bookstore and I received about 50% of my money back.

This is just the start of my blog so stay tuned for more posts, and feel free to comment on anything and let me know what you would like to see me write!