Tag Archives: Bookselling

Using a Textbook Search Engine Finds the Best Buyback Prices

By cheap-textbooks.com on | 2 Comments

University Students Find 355% More Buyback Money For Their Textbooks When They Use a price comparison service to Sell Their Textbooks.

Campus Shift announced the results of its examination of college textbook buyback book prices using the top 50 textbook titles purchased in January 2013. This infographic highlights the incredible amount of money students may find when comparing online buyback services when selling their textbooks.

http://www.campusshift.com/buybackinfographic/

The study found that comparing online textbook buyback vendors netted students an average of $25 more per textbook, for an average buyback price of $50. Students that purchased the textbooks in the study would receive $500 more for their books over the year with the help of the textbook search engine.

“The textbook buyback season is upon us as students prepare for their final exams,” said Jeff Lorton, VP of Marketing with Campus Shift. “Unfortunately, many students have not yet mastered the game of buying and selling textbooks and never will, which is why we built Campus Shift to help them reduce or even eliminate their textbook costs.”

Campus Shift found the range of buyback prices online varied greatly and students that fail to compare textbook prices are losing a lot of potential money. Sadly, those students who go to the bookstore for the on campus buyback may lose more as they are captive to only one buyback offer.

Students still may have a textbook that is worthless because a new edition was released or there are too many used books in the market. To counter this and to complement the recent trend of professors allowing students to use old editions of textbooks, Campus Shift just launched its student-to-student textbook marketplace. Students can sell their textbooks to other students netting the seller more money and allowing students get a better deal by cutting out the textbook middlemen. By combining a textbook search engine and a textbook marketplace, Campus Shift hopes to help students eliminate their textbook costs.

Related articles
Advertisement
Posted in: Textbooks Selling Tips | Tagged: , , ,

Students create textbook buyback program via Facebook

By cheap-textbooks.com on | 1 Comment

A group of scholars were unhappy with the campus bookstore’s textbook buyback program, so they started BooksDore as a system for Vanderbilt scholars to sell and buy textbooks.  BooksDore is a Facebook group devoted to providing a simpler way for scholars to get the textbooks they want without “breaking the bank.” “Students are getting ripped off by a 3rd party by going through the bookstore,” Nicole Zenkel, founder of BooksDore, related.  “With the amount that folk are spending on their textbooks, they are receiving so very little back that scholars are wasting a large amount of cash, and that is sort of silly because we are already paying so much in university fees. We would like to help scholars find alternative routes they can buy and sell their textbooks, and purchasing textbooks from one another can save lots of money.” Before beginning BooksDore, the team surveyed scholars to learn more about their experiences purchasing textbooks.  In their survey of 540 scholars, they discovered that only 44 had acquired textbooks from other scholars. Most of the scholars claimed to spend between $301 and $400 on textbooks in the average semester and receive back only between $0 and $50 from textbook buyback programs. Additionally, 76.7 % of scholars surveyed made a claim to be either “somewhat dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” with the existing options for buying textbooks. While some scholars already try to sell their books on Facebook through groups, Zenkel claims this Facebook group will be a way more acceptable way to do it.

Facebook logo Español: Logotipo de Facebook Fr...

Facebook logo Español: Logotipo de Facebook Français : Logo de Facebook Tiếng Việt: Logo Facebook (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Having its own page is much simpler so that you can just go to the current page and purchase and sell, in contrast to occasionally on Facebook it becomes lost in translation,” Zenkel asserted.  “If you post on the Vanderbilt page, nobody actually goes to that attempting to find books, so this is a less complicated way to do it.” BooksDore is a service, not a business, so it is totally free to use and makes no profit.  The page went public on March fourteen.  The group had 1,451 members as of press time.

Related articles
Posted in: College Tips, Textbooks Selling Tips | Tagged: , , ,

Textbook bargains if students do the research

By cheap-textbooks.com on | 1 Comment

With the beginning of a new college year comes the start of new classes, new chums and new costs.

With tutoring paid, dormitory rooms and flats decorated and prepared for living and meal plans set for spending, we are prepared to take on the issues of our new classes, right?  Sadly , no.  For most scholars, the most terrible cost of the college year is purchasing textbooks.  I went to scout costs for my books this year at the  School   Bookstore, in the hope of spending a tiny bit less on books than I did last year ; this was not right.  I spotted the gigantic line of scholars winding thru the store and, pairing that with the costs of my books, it made me wonder how much cash the store essentially makes on all this text.  What scholars are basically coughing up for when they buy their books isn’t the paper, not the ink, but the certainty that books contain ; the concepts, thoughts and equations that gurus of their field have written down and printed.  This information is very important so helping scholars learn in their various field of study, but if only half the content in the book is covered in class, is it basically worth $300?  The school book shop  is amazing in that it stocks the precise books that instructors use for their classes.  Never will a student ask for a book for their class the book shop doesn’t stock.  Maybe  convenience is cause for high costs.  But where can scholars who need to save a little bit of cash go so as to get their books for less?  I was latterly speaking to a man in one of my research classes about this subject.  He let me know that he purchased his book for only 4 greenbacks rather than the $150 that I was just about to spend on mine.  He simply ordered his online. Although he had to hang about for the book to literally ship to his residence, he saved 96 % on his book matched against the one at the book shop.  Books don’t need to drain your checking account.  The school book shop  is an excellent spot to get your books ; it still is where I am getting almost all of mine.

Nonetheless for people that have a restricted budget or for those deal seekers out there, with a tiny bit of looking and some patience, scholars can spend seriously less money on their compulsory textbooks by getting them thru used bookstores and internet sites like amazon, ebay or buy-cheap-textbooks.com.

Related articles
Posted in: Textbook Buying | Tagged: , , ,

How to Sell Your Textbooks Online

By cheap-textbooks.com on | Leave a comment

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.

Related articles
Posted in: Textbooks Selling Tips | Tagged: , ,

Find The Best Websites To Sell Your College Textbooks To

By cheap-textbooks.com on | 1 Comment

If you’re looking to find the best websites to sell your college textbooks to  then your in the right place. I have complied a list of websites that allow you  to compare book prices, so you can find the best sites to sell your used  textbooks on. Now with so many websites that buy, sell, and rent textbooks it is  becoming ever more difficult to decide which one to use, and with more sites  popping up every day that compare textbook prices, students now have to decide  which one of these they should use. With over two hundred websites that deal  with buying used textbooks, using a textbook search engine to compare the prices  of these sites will be a vital time saver for college students.

I have chosen five textbook search engine websites that compare textbook  prices well:

– Book Scouter – Direct Textbook – Book Finder – Big Words –  Cheap-Textbooks

A few weeks ago I compared the ‘Best Websites To Sell Used Textbooks’ on, and  I did all of the leg work myself, going to each website individually to compare  textbook prices. Of course it was pointed out to me by my comrades that they  would use a textbook search engine to compare prices, and that is what I should  have used too. The first site that was suggested to me was Book Scouter, I  decided to use the same book that I had used previously, Robbins Basic  Pathology, as a control in this experiment and will refer to it as the control  or textbook in this article.

Book Scouter Review:

Book Scouter says it “helps you to sell your books for the highest price. It  compares prices from over 40 book-buying websites so that you can quickly find  the site that is paying the most for your books.” When we compared the textbook  prices we received results for 21 websites. The top five were:

1. TextbookRush.com $43.25 2. BookStores $43.25 3. Amazon.com Buyback  $43.00 *store credit 4. FirstClassBooks.com $41.69 5. We Buy Textbooks  $38.70

Our top five results from a few weeks ago looked like this:

1. Campus Book Rentals: $41.69 2. TextbookRush: $40.00 3. College  Book Renter: $39.00 4. Bunches of Books: $38.70 5. Phat Campus: $37.00

Although the price of the book has gone up by a couple of dollars Book  Scouter seems to have excluded three of our top five results when we used their  search engine to compare textbook prices. Book Scouter actually excluded our  number one pick to sell our textbook to Campus Book Rentals.

Direct Textbook Review:

Direct Textbook says it “searches over 200 online bookstores for cheap  textbooks, to save you money and time. We also help you get more for your used  books with our college textbook buyback price search.” We received offers from  18 stores their top five looked like this:

1. TextbookRush $43.25 2. BookStores $43.25 3. Amazon Trade-In $43.00  *store credit 4. WeBuyTextbooks $38.70 5. Chegg $28.71

When we used Direct Textbook to compare prices it did return the same top  three results as Book Scouter, but it did not have First Class Books in its  search results which was willing to buy our control book for $41.69. Direct  Textbook also did not compare textbook prices for: campus book rentals ($41.69),  College book renter ($39.00), and bunches of books ($38.70). Which were in our  top 5 best websites to sell used textbooks to last week.

Book Finder Review:

Book Finder does not state how many sites it uses to compare textbook prices,  but it does state that shipping costs are included. The results from their book  buy back search engine looked like this:

1. TextbookRush $43.25 2. AbeBooks $43.25 3. Amazon $43.00 *store  credit 4. Valore Books $23.62 5. eCampus $18.00

Book Finder breaks the trend a little bit by introducing AbeBooks that tied  the top dog TextbookRush for the number one spot. Yet again it excluded campus  book rentals ($41.69), College book renter ($39.00), and bunches of books  ($38.70) that we found to provide students with some competitive prices from a  couple of weeks ago. Even though Book finder introduces AbeBooks it seems to  only compare textbook prices for seven textbook websites, which excludes a lot  of websites that could offer you more money for your textbook.

Big Words Review:

Big words promises big results stating “BIGWORDS compares the best textbook  stores at once finding the sweetest, cheapest textbooks on the planet.” we used  their search engine to compare prices and got these results:

1. TextbookRush $43.25 2. Amazon $43.00 *store credit 3.  FirstClassBooks $41.69 4. SellBackYourBook $24.59 5. eCampus $20.00 *with  coupon

Although they promised big time results when we used them to compare textbook  prices they came up average with their listings. Leaving out AbeBooks,  BookStores, campus book rentals, college book renter, and bunches of books. Some  of the stores that they excluded actually had prices that matched their search  engines best offer.

Big words did offer some interesting alternatives where you could list the  book through auction sites that were selling the control book for more than what  the book buy back websites were offering.

Cheap-Textbooks Review:

Cheap-Textbooks is a basic website that simple states “The Textbook Buyback  Price Finder quickly reveals best place to sell textbooks online. The secret to  sell used textbooks at the highest price is to comparison shop and use  up-to-the-minute information.” We completely agree with you that’s why we’re  comparing you to your peers:

1. TextbookRush $43.25 2. Amazon $43.00 *store credit 3.  FirstClassBooks $41.69 4. SellBackYourBook $24.59 5. BlueRocketBooks  $24.10

Cheap-Textbooks stays consistent with its peers and places TextbookRush as the  number one store to sell our control textbook on. It does not however compare  textbook prices with BookStores, campus book rentals, college book  renter, and bunches of books.

Best Website To Compare Textbook Prices:

Choosing the best website to compare textbook prices is a tough decision as  the five search engines that I used all had the same site as number one, but in  the end I would have to go with Book Scouter.

Book Scouter found four websites that would buy our textbook for forty plus  dollars, none of the other sites returned results that could match this. My  biggest disappointment would be with all of the sites reviewed as none of them  included the real top five websites to sell our textbook on, it would have been  nice to find one site that gave us these result:

1. TextbookRush.com $43.25 2. AbeBooks $43.25 3. BookStores $43.25 4. Amazon.com Buyback $43.00 *store credit 5. Campus Book Rentals $41.69 6. FirstClassBooks.com $41.69 7. CollegeBookRenter $39.00 8. We Buy  Textbooks $38.70 9. BunchesOfBooks $38.70

These previous textbook buyer websites show a true representation of where it  would be most profitable to sell our textbook. Of course when it’s time for you  to compare textbook prices your results may vary because of what book your  selling and what time of year it is, as you can see just a couple of weeks ago  TextbookRus was my second best offer and now it’s tied for number one. When  selling your textbooks there will be a lot of variables that you have to juggle  like store credit vs. cash, coupons, free shipping, and more. I would suggest  using a combination of these search engine sites to compare textbook prices, but  at the same time do your own research as these sites do not list every textbook  site that is willing to buy your books. Using a textbook search engine to  compare prices is a big time saver when your selling textbooks back, but don’t  trust the results of just one website use a combination of all the resources  available to you.

Greg Pearcey is a writer and researcher for Dirt Cheap College Textbooks.   People who are interested in staying up to date with the latest ways of saving  money when purchasing their textbooks, or getting more money for their used  textbooks should visit Dirt Cheap College Textbooks.

Related articles
Posted in: Textbooks Selling Tips | Tagged: , ,