College is expensive. It’s a well-known fact. Even commuting to a community  college will set you back a few thousand dollars a year. Tack on the price of  textbooks and you can easily add a couple thousand dollars expense to your  entire college education. In order to help ease the cost of textbooks, sell them  when you’re finished and are certain you won’t need them again in the  future.

Choose a Site

Do a search for your textbook on Amazon.com or Half.com, whichever you choose  to use. Search for the title or ISBN number. Once you find it, look for the  button on the page that says something like, “sell your copy.” Click it and  follow the prompts.

Filling Out your Listing

Fill in all the necessary information such as a description, condition,  shipping methods available, etc. You can offer just standard shipping or add  expedited as an option. You’ll be reimbursed more and have more potential  customers.

Make sure you fill out the description thoroughly. Buyers like books that  have adequate descriptions with the edition, condition, and peripherals. Those  sell faster, even if they cost a little more. Set a fair price to bring in  potential customers without selling yourself short.

Sell and Ship

Once your listing is ready, it will be submitted and ready on the site. Once  a buyer buys from you, you have 2 days to ship it out. It’s best to ship it  through the Post Office by media mail. Media mail is used for books, CDs, DVDs,  and other media. It’s cheaper because it takes longer and isn’t fragile.

When you package your books, always include a copy of the invoice they have  you print. Right in bold letters “Please leave seller feedback, thank you!” This  will help encourage buyers to leave seller feedback on your account. Seller  feedback is critical to your book-selling success. You’ll notice more sales  faster when you have more 5 star ratings because people trust you more.

You can also send them an email and ask for feedback. Send an email right  after shipping to let you know it shipped. In the email, ask for seller  feedback. If after 2 to 3 weeks, they haven’t left feedback, send another email  asking if they got the package and if so, to leave seller feedback. Don’t be  overly pushy, but drop a hint. Send a link to the section so they can do so  quickly and easily.

Samantha loves to write about ways to save money on college expenses. Learn  more about how to sell textbooks online while you’re in college.