To sell textbooks is pretty easy if there is a buyer wanting to buy your college textbooks and you’re willing to sell them. If you are wanting to sell used textbooks, you’ve probably already given some thought to the possibility that you may need those books again, in the future. Although those texts may have been very useful for your classroom studies, educational lessons, and academic research, a conclusion might have been made that you’ll never make use of them again for various reasons: you’ve memorized the pages, chapters and contents, you’re no longer interested in the subject matter (e.g. the textbook is on university biology, but your interest is now college algebra), or you’ve found other college books to be more relevant to the topics you wish to study, and you need some cash to buy those books. It’s interesting to note that across the USA, at various college and university campuses, many textbook shops (“bookstores”) offer what is called, “textbook buyback.” Textbook buyback may be offered on those campuses throughout the year, or, at specific times like the end of the semester, or conclusion of a quarter. Many students line up at those bookstores, during textbook buyback, with one or more books in a bag, ready to approach the textbook buy back clerk and see if they are wanting to buy those books. If the textbook buyer wants to buy some, or all, of the texts the student is presenting for purchase, then the buyer will offer cash (or, in some cases, bookstore credit) for those books. The book buyer will subsequently attempt to recycle and/or sell those books so that future prospective college students or academics may purchase them for their use. Nowadays, as well as a long time ago, many college students are very happy to use “used textbooks” for their course. The student who has just sold their books may now have some cash which they can use for various academic or educational purchases such as study materials, research tools, more new or used textbooks, etc. In fact, in addition to college campus bookstores offering textbook buyback, there are also occasionally independent textbook buyers setting up a “book buying booth,” usually off-campus (maybe a block, two blocks, or more away from college) where students may feel they have an alternative place to sell used textbooks. There may be a situation where the student presents their book(s) to their own college campus bookstore, but the buyer there doesn’t want to buy that book (again, for various reasons — the book may be out of date, etc.), or, the student may feel they’d like to shop around and see if they can get more money than the textbook buyback buyer is offering. So they might bring those books to the off-campus independent bookbuyer to see what they are offering. Interestingly, with the advent of the web, there is a new way to try to sell new and used books, and that is selling textbooks via the web. On the net, there are a number of textbook buying companies that purchase books from academics and educational students that are wanting to sell textbooks for cash. The procedure to sell those books is similar to selling text books in person: the book seller wanting to make a sale will try to find a book buyer wanting to purchase those textbooks, and if an agreement is made for the sale, then the student can sell their new or used college textbooks online. When books are sold via the web, it usually involves entering in the barcode number (the ISBN number from the book) into a web form and clicking a button to send the list to the online bookbuyer. Usually, the online buying site will present a list of instant quotes; alternatively, the seller will be emailed a quote. When students use these online web sites, there may be a number of rules and policies that must be understood and agreed to for the sale to take place. Some examples of these rules may include: books must not be in defective condition (no missing pages, no water damage, etc.), books must be sent within a specified amount of time (online textbook buyback quotes usually have a time limit), and if price quotes are for textbooks with accompaniments, then the accompaniments must be included with the book.

Finding a Textbook Buyer

So, as described above, it can be fairly easy to sell textbooks if there is a textbook buyer wanting to buy the particular books you are wanting to sell. There are a good number of places to sell used textbooks. A company or an individual may be considered a “textbook buyer” when they buy textbooks. Here’s a few examples of book buyers:

1. College campus bookstores (“textbook shops”).
2. Off-campus book stores.
3. Independent individuals who do textbook buying.
4. Web based “textbook buyback” companies.
5. Other students, academics, or friends wanting to buy your textbooks.

Item number 5 (“Other students, academics…”) may include students who are about to take the same college class or course that requires the specific book you’re wanting to sell. Around many college and university campuses, there are often bulletin boards where students can post advertisements. These ads can be for books, and ads such as these can be found posted on lots of cork boards or bulletin boards: “Mathematics book for sale,” or “English textbook for sale,” followed by contact information like a phone number or an email address. Pupils walking by may see these ads and be very interested in buying those books. So, to find a textbook buyer who wants to buy the books you want to sell may be as simple as asking around on campus, visiting want-ads or bulletins, or going online. It’s important to remember a few things about bookselling, though, and among those things to remember is that not all textbooks end up being bought, possibly for reasons including supply versus demand, etc. That could mean that a student, an academic, or an individual who has made use of college books throughout their university studies may end up with a lot of really good educational literature to keep close by, just in case the need comes up for research, impromptu or otherwise. Some academics may forget some of the alternatives to selling textbooks, and some of those alternatives are swapping books, and keeping them for reference. There are a lot of places, nowadays, where lots of students swap books. You might have a math book that someone else wants, and they may have a history book that you want. Lots of students trade. And, keeping books that may be used for future reference is not a bad idea, either. Imagine selling a new or used college textbook, and then a few days or weeks, or months later, you realize you need some of the important information contained within the text. Now what do you do? Do you have to go out and buy another copy of that book if you can’t find, acquire, or borrow one? Some volumes have very good reference information such as academic or educational charts, illustrations, diagrams, or theories which may be useful to refer to from time to time throughout one’s educational pursuits. That may be why quite a few former students and graduates have very nice bookshelves, with lots of reference literature spanning the shelf.