Although some textbooks may be good to keep for reference purposes, students and graduates may wish to think about selling textbooks that they have succeeded in memorizing and internalizing. When books are assigned by a professor for the purposes of accompanying a class or course, college students generally refer to their books over and over, repeatedly, resulting in an inevitable memorization of portions of the text. Though some memorization of the contents of textbooks may involve rote learning, much of the information conveyed by college textbooks may result in a form of realization, due to the applicability of the education topics discussed in the book’s contents. If a student consolidates the memorized chapters, the memorized information, and any subsequent realizations from textbook research, an internalization of the textbook’s educational knowledge may occur. Basically, when a student has memorized, internalized, and learned all there is to learn from specific college textbooks, some of the choices that remain are as follows:

• Keep the textbooks handy for future reference.
• Donate the college text books to an institution, such as a library.
• Give the texts to an individual, e.g. another student who might need the books.
• Sell the textbooks online to a college textbook buyback company that buys the textbooks.
• Sell used textbooks locally to an individual or company that wishes to buy those books.

Although other choices regarding those books may exist (too numerous to mention here), it may be regarded as a considerate gesture to recycle, sell, or somehow continue the usage of said textbook(s) so that they don’t go to waste (i.e. textbooks being used is viewed as “better” by many, rather than keeping those books in a closed box somewhere without getting any use whatsoever).

Sell Textbooks

So how does an individual, an academic, researcher, or student sell their used textbooks? Finding a buyer (a textbook buyer) may be an important step. Just because someone wants to sell something doesn’t mean that a sale will take place. What if the item is not salable? What if the item is salable, but not in demand? Demand, in regards to new and used textbooks, may be related to how much is wanted buy textbook buyers (e.g. how many copies of a book is desired — one, two, three, or ten copies, etc.). If a textbook is in great condition, contains very good educational information, is of great use to the seller, but nobody wants to buy it (“not in demand”), then obviously a sale is not likely. However, because there are thousands of colleges and universities in the US (with millions of students), there seems to be a substantial demand for certain college textbooks. Therefore if a “used textbook” is in merchantable condition and a book buyer, a student, a “brick and mortar” bookstore or company, or an online “textbook buyback” company wishes to buy the book the seller is interested in selling, then a sale may take place! An example is from a company to whom many students sell textbooks:

“If you’re an instructor, teacher, faculty member, professor or assistant professor, graduate, or academic that would like to learn more about how to sell textbooks to our textbook buyback service…”
&emdash; “Sell College Textbooks to our Online Textbook Buyback.” BooksIntoCash.Com: sell textbooks. N.p., 12 Jan 2012. Web. 15 Jan 2012. < http://www.booksintocash.com >

If a buyer is found, a negotiation may take place as to the condition of the textbook(s), the offering/selling price, and any rules, policies, or time constraints. For example, a textbook that is in demand during the month of January may have a different demand in February; if the buyback company requires that a book must be shipped within a certain time frame, doing so may behoove the seller in that if the time frame is exceeded and the textbook is shipped a week, a month, or six months later, the terms agreed to for the sale may have been broken and a re-negotiation might need to take place if the buyer still wishes to purchase the book. Therefore, it is prudent to read, review, and understand any terms and conditions of both the selling party and the buying party. To sell used textbooks may be a beneficial action for some. One may wish to review the following table delineating some of the those details.

Sell Used Textbooks: Conclusion

In conclusion, when a faculty member reviews a textbook list or list of college textbooks to determine which book best suits their course, and then provides the book’s details to either their students or the campus bookstore, students may wish to acquire those books prior to the beginning of class. Being prepared in such a way may help in ways so as to optimize the timeliness of any chapter research or study that may be assigned by the professor in regards to those textbooks. If a student is taking a number of courses, it helps to be aware of any textbook lists or educational media requirements that are needed (e.g. books, disks, booklets, literature, etc.). Having those required articles in advance of the college or university course, or as needed, again, may help in being prepared. At the end of the college course, students may then face the aforementioned choices and decisions: keeping the textbook, archiving it, donating it to a college or public library, giving the textbook away to friends, other students, or individuals, or, making a decision to try to sell used textbooks. Selling used textbooks can take place online, over the net per the instructions of the textbook buying company, or whatever online textbook buyer is being used, or the sale may take place locally (e.g. “in situ”), at a college campus bookstore, or at another location. By selling new or used college textbooks, the seller may be helping others get the chance to use that same textbook again, repeatedly, so that it doesn’t end up not being used. It is important to note that although some students have their own private libraries, the college textbooks in those libraries may not necessarily be used constantly, rather, they may be used intermittently as the need arises, thus helping substantiate the usefulness of whatever educational materials and research resources a student may own.