Hey moms -- trying to clean up the house.... key word TRYING....
I have books from college that I think are still useful, from Occupational Therapy program (in case anyone is interested) and i would like to sell on-line -- has anyone sold books before, and how does it work? I've bought books online before. Is it alot of work? Cause if it is, it'll never happen =)
Thanks for the info.
I use half.com which is owned by eBay. So easy. It'll take you less than 10 minutes to do several books. Good luck!
I have an ebay buyer/seller account. I can usually list for free so it is no big effort for me. It is a nice way to get things out of the house if someone buys them and I'm keeping any income from that in my PayPal account for Christmas stuff for the kids.
With older textbooks you will want to make sure that they are still the newest editions. It is highly unlikely that a student will buy a used book that is outdated if a professor wants a newer edition. If your books are the newest, price them to be competative and definitely get them out of your house! I always shopped online through half.com (linked through ebay, too) for school books whenever possible. If you do not use ebay, you will need an ebay account and a seller account, so you will have to set up a PayPal account as well. Once that's done I think it's pretty easy. I also sometimes list things for friends and family who do not have seller accounts and want stuff out of their houses.
We sell stuff (a few books) on Amazon.
Just search your book and see what the going rate is.
We've had a lot of success. And no issues w/ shipping media rate at the USPS.
You will fare much better selling on Amazon than at Half Price Books, IMO.
They are thieves.
Gave me pennies for a book then stuck it in their high dollar cabinet for over $20. >:(
Amazon makes it really easy. I've bought and sold used books on there many times. Depending on how old the books are though, it might be better to sell or trade them in at a used bookstore. I've also done that, and gotten some new books to read!
I know you can sell them on ebay.
Ensure you have a great picture - detail the condition of the book - if the spine is tight, dog eared pages, high lighted sections, etc.
List with ISBN - they might have a stock picture and description as well on ebay.
Amazon.com sells used books as well.
If you are still near a college - take them to the college bookstore and see if they are still being used and if so - will they buy them back at a reduced price?
I don't think it's a lot of work. It's taking the picture and writing up the listing. If your picture isn't good and your write up isn't good - it most likely won't sell. If you don't have time to do it - donate them to the library and get the tax write off.
Not if you go to the sites that really do all the work for you.
I've sold several back over the last few years on chegg.com, barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com.
All 3 will send you a shipping label where they pay for the shipping too. Now are you getting the best possible price? Frankly, I don't care. I'm getting some money and they are out of my house.
You need to ship media mail to get a discounted rate, but it is very sloooowww and people get irate if they are not warned ahead of time.
If your books are not recent, it is very hard to sell them. I would try advertising on your local college's bulletin board, craigslist, etc..
If the person can see the books, you have a better chance to sell.
Whenever I've sold books I've done so on eBay, and shipped using the "Media" rate. This is a slower delivery method, however, so I offer Priority Mail as an option, costs more but buyer gets it sooner. I've never tried Amazon, but I see that other moms are recommending it so will try it next time.
Research your books by the ISBN for pricing and keep in mind that as textbooks go professors typically change the book or edition they use on a yearly basis, so yours may already be out of date. If so you might want to consider donating them to your local library, ours has sales by the "Friends of the Library" a few times a year with the donated books.
I've sold textbooks online, but only to the companies that buy them.... go to the different textbook websites and enter the USBN number, and they will give you a quote on the price they are willing to pay (often not much, unfortunately), and they will also give you a label to ship it to them free.
I've bought a few books from individual sellers, too.... but I've never sold books online as an individual seller.
Unfortunately, if your books are a few years old, they may not have much value to the resellers.
You can also take a big box of them to Half-Price Books if you have one in your area, and they will give you a quote... again, you often don't receive very much.
Why not load them up and take them to Half Price Books? They buy used books, and you can probably get rid of the entire stack at once--O. trip.
I have sold on Amazon before. It's very easy. I'm a professor and there are some book buyers out there that come by my office and want to buy my textbooks. You might try googling and see who you find in the area. If you are really interested, I could probably find a card in my office from one of them. I know from that experience that if the book has had more recent editions, what you have is probably worth about $5.
I've bought used books from Alibris but I've never sold before.
