How to Sell Textbooks at
the College Bookstore Buyback

Now it’s time to sell textbooks after a long semester. You’re exhausted from exams and ready to head home for the break. You’ve got a stack of books you’d like to turn into cash so you'll have some spending money to hit the town with. You gather up your books and make a beeline to the nearest local college bookstore and plop them down. The clerk tallies them up quickly and quotes you a price for the entire stack. You weren’t expecting a lot but you were hoping for more. The clerk stares at you stone-faced. Not knowing what questions to ask, you submit to the deal. The clerk quickly executes the transaction like they've done a thousand times before.

I’ve just walked you through the typical college bookstore buyback transaction. Did you get a good deal? How do you know what a good deal is? If your parents bought your textbooks do you even care? Most students’ judge the buyback prices offered by college bookstores relative to how their peers did selling the same books earlier. You're only paying $8.00 for my chemistry book? Store xyz paid $2.00 more for my friend’s copy, I guess they're giving better deals. If the book cost $100.00, can you really call your friend’s $10.00 deal better?

The bookstores and wholesalers who run the buybacks don’t want you to ask a lot of questions when you sell textbooks. During text book buyback week they’re tired and you’re tired. They just want you to take the money and move along. It may feel like they’re holding a gun to your head, but you don’t have to sell textbooks on their terms. How do you know when you should decline the offer and seek a better deal? To know, you first have to do a bit of homework. I know what you’re thinking: More Homework! I just lost a week of sleep cramming for finals! Settle down, just think of this as a treasure hunt.

Before you begin the task of unlocking your book's value, you need to brush up on the industry standard pricing structure for college textbooks:

College Book Price Structure

Now you understand that your objective is to be offered half the retail price when you sell textbooks at the college bookstore buyback. In order to figure out how much that is, we need to know the current retail price for each of your books. I don’t have that capability on this site yet, so you need to go to Amazon, or your school sponsored bookstore’s website if they have a price lookup feature. Search for your book using the ISBN number, or the Author, Title and Edition. Once you have it located jot down the current retail price for a brand new copy in pencil on the inside front cover of your book. (Don’t put much stock in the price you'd receive if you were to sell textbooks right now on amazon or half.com; obviously there’s not much buying demand for textbooks during the end of term buyback.)

Your next step is to multiply the retail price by 0.75 (75%) and write that number below the new price. Excuse me, I was told there would be no math! Sorry about that, get your calculator out. Then multiply the retail price by 0.50 (50%) and jot that number below the others. Now you have in this order: The retail price of the book new, the used price the bookstore will sell it for, and what you hope the bookstore will pay you for it. (Most bookstores base their half price buy on last semesters new price, so the price we figured as half might be a little more than they'll offer if there’s been a price increase during the semester.)

We need to add one more price to our list, the wholesale price. The wholesale price at this link is provided by MBS Textbook Exchange, the largest book wholesaler who consistently pays the highest prices for books:

Sell Textbooks at the current Wholesale Price

Now add the wholesale price below the other prices on the inside cover. Congratulations your homework is done! OK, now that the homework is done can I go to the bookstore to get paid half back? Not just yet, first I need to go over some Caveats (warnings) with you:

Caveat #1 Do you know if your professor has re-adopted the book for use the following term?

Caveat #2 College bookstores will only pay half back for a limited number of copies.

Caveat #3 Not all college bookstores will pay you half back for re-adopted books.

If you don’t find any buyers from your peer group, you’re ready to try your luck at the bookstore. Let’s walk through a transaction and the possible outcomes. First don’t hand over all of your books at once to the clerk. Hopefully you'll sell textbooks back one at a time as you're finished studying from them. (Caveat #2) If you do have a stack, hand the clerk one book at a time and have them quote the price. Ask for the book back now and go to your notes on the inside cover.

If you're comparing prices offered at competing stores on your campus you can add those to your price list on the inside cover. Keep in mind that the price is only good while you're in the store and could drop before you make it back to the winning bidder. (Caveat #2) Where is the price you've been quoted in relation to the prices from your research and what should you do now?

• If the quote is half the new retail price or in that neighborhood, congratulations that’s the best you can do when you sell textbooks to the bookstore!

• If the price is near or above the wholesale value, but below half, do you know if your professor has turned in the order? (Caveat #1) If the order is turned in, and you believe you’re selling yours back before the majority of your peers (Caveat #2), consider checking one of the other stores serving your campus. Another store may still be paying half back. If you don’t know if your professor has turned in the order, ask the clerk. If they confirm that it has been ordered, ask why you can’t get half back. Most likely they'll tell you they don’t need anymore copies or they’re only paying you half of the used price. (Caveat #3) If they can’t give you an explanation consider trying another store if you have that option.

• If the price is near the wholesale price and you know the professor is not going to order the book for the next term, your only chance to get a better price is by listing it for sale online.

• If you have a hardbound text or a book from one of the hard sciences, and the price offered is 10% or less of the new retail price, then you likely have a book that has a new edition about to be released. Old editions for the hard sciences and other hardbound textbooks typically hold a pretty good value online for at least one more semester. You could consider listing it online at the start of the next term to make a little more money.

If you’re not offered half back, or you decide you want to try to sell textbooks for more than half back; are you willing to list the books for sale online yourself? Can you wait to sell your books until the start of the next term when the prices for textbooks online spike up? If you only have one bookstore serving your campus and you don’t feel they’re bidding enough for your books, your only recourse is to sell them online.

Did you take your courses by correspondence? Then you probably don’t have a local bookstore buyback as a choice. Listing them for sale online involves a waiting period until a buyer shows up. If you don't want to wait your only alternative for an immediate payment is to accept the the online wholesale price offered from a used book wholesaler such as MBS Textbooks. Wholesale prices for textbooks can range anywhere under 50% of the new retail price, but generally average around 20%.

Now you have the tools to unlock the most value when you sell textbooks at the college bookstore buyback. If you have the patience to wait and you're willing to put in a little effort, you could capture even more value. You just need to learn the best way to list and sell your books online:

Sell Used Textbooks Online





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