Simple Ways to Sell Your Textbooks Online
Selling your textbooks online can be both simple and rewarding—and a great way to reduce the dust collectors on the shelf.
There are several companies available to sell your textbooks online, and many more seem to be appearing on the horizon, as more and more students look for ways to get more of their money back. After all, pursuing a college education can be expensive, so recovering some of that investment is basically a great way to get paid for recycling. Utilizing Chegg.com, eBay, or Half.com are just three ways to sell your textbooks online.
However, read all the way through to the end to find out how to get the most money to sell your textbooks online with eCampus.
Chegg.com, an online enterprise, is truly a textbook rental company, so they are constantly seeking textbooks that are in good condition to be rented again and again to potential customers. Part of their hype—the bonus for recycling—is that they “plant a tree” when books are rented. In the past, they’ve also awarded loyal customers who help promote them by providing additional discounts toward future rentals. Chegg.com has truly made being able to sell your textbooks online about as easy as it can possibly get. If the book is in good to excellent condition, with little to no “damage” (i.e., writing, highlighting, folded corners), the potential seller simply “requests a quote” by entering the ISBN and the condition of the book. A quote is typically provided on the screen within seconds, so the potential seller only has to decide whether or not to complete the transaction. The beauty of getting a quote is that the seller immediately knows how much the book is worth to them. However, there are two catches–the textbook has to be one Chegg.com needs and it can’t be one they formerly owned.
Making the deal to sell your textbooks online is fast and convenient—and much more lucrative than what students used to experience when they sold their textbooks back to the campus bookstore. Chegg.com offers a couple of payment options—a “Chegg” card to use toward future transactions, or reimbursement that can be turned into cash. The best choice for consumers really depends on whether the seller is a regular customer or whether he/she just wants the money. After receiving the quote, shipping the books to them couldn’t be easier. Chegg.com provides a UPS shipping label for the seller to print out and use on any box of his/her choice (so there is virtually no waiting for a shipping label to arrive because it’s all courtesy of the Internet), and, as an added bonus, even the box is provided if the seller has rental books to return.
If an online textbook rental company doesn’t want the book, eBay or their sister-site, Half.com, can be an excellent resource to help the owner empty the bookshelf for some cash. Like Chegg.com, the seller simply enters the ISBN and information regarding the book appears on the screen. This allows the seller to easily display accurate information about the textbook so that a potential buyer will ultimately be pleased with the purchase. The seller also has the opportunity to take bids on the book, or sell it for a set price. On Half.com, it is easy to find the “going rate” for a particular book in the same condition. The seller can also determine how much to charge for shipping, which is typically offered as USPS “media mail” to save the buyer money. Of course, the seller can offer “expedited shipping”—at the cost of the buyer. The advantage of using eBay or Half.com to sell your textbooks online is to “unload” books that are older—they don’t have to be the most current edition—they just have to be accurately advertised. One drawback is that part of the profit will go to eBay or Half.com for providing their listing site.
eCampus May Be the Best Option to Sell Your Textbooks Online
The other options mentioned above are good choices, but they have some drawbacks that we didn’t find with eCampus. Chegg.com is a good place to rent, sell or buy textbooks. However, if the book you want to sell to Chegg was previously owned by them, they won’t allow you to sell it to them. That can potentially rule them out as a viable selling option.
eBay can be a great place to dump your books, but eBay is a very competitive marketplace. If a lot of people are also selling the same book this will drive down how much you can potentially sell the book for. Plus, one of the biggest gripes with eBay is that their listing fees and commission fees takes too much of your profit if the item is eventually sold.
eCampus doesn’t have the drawbacks of the other companies when using their service, but they still have all the same great benefits. One of those benefits is the free shipping option when you sell eCampus a book. Just print the label, package it and off it goes. Once they receive the book you will be paid with a check or direct deposit. If you decide to opt for store credit, eCampus will give you an extra 20% in store credit for a future book purchase. We found that Chegg.com makes it a little more difficult to opt for a straight cash option.
You have plenty of options when selling a textbook online, do your research and decide which option works best for your situation. Either way, you shouldn’t ever have to pay full price for a textbook again. When you’re done with it, why not try to make some money back on it? Books are expensive and getting something back for them helps.