Have a stack of Textbooks You No Longer Need?

The Smart Way to Make Money by Getting Rid of Unwanted Textbooks

Written by Oxana Tsirelman, Online Editor

If you’re a student, you’re probably wondering how you can rid yourself of old textbooks and make a profit.

You may be tempted to take a humongous stack of old textbooks to the campus bookstore and sell them back. Before you do, stop and consider this: you bought the textbooks for a lot of money, right? I speak from experience when I say that the bookstore will give you $2 back for a $50 textbook, if you’re lucky!

If you want to gain a decent profit from your books, one option is to just create a flyer advertising all your textbooks, charge half of what the bookstore would for each volume and post the flyers around campus. At least one student will notice the advertisement and buy the textbook for sure! I mean come on, what student WOULDN’T purchase a textbook for half of the original price?

Another profitable move is to check out campus websites that offer to take your textbooks and sell them online. Although I’ve never done that personally, I have friends and acquaintances that have and they’ve made a considerable profit doing so. After all, students aren’t rich; many of them either work one or several part time jobs, or are religiously looking for work. That being said, making an extra buck never hurts!

Use the internet as a venue to sell your old textbooks. Ebay is good, but Craigslist is better because, according to the website Money Debate, Ebay will “eat up your profit by charging you a listing fee, another fee once it sells and then PayPal will charge another fee to collect your money.”

Selling your goods on Craigslist is very simple. First, choose the state/city you live near and port your textbook for sail. Next, create a title for your listing that includes the name and quality of your textbook and don’t forget to add your contact information! One last word of advice: add a clear picture of the textbook.


Lastly, college students looking to save money might consider renting instead of purchasing their textbooks.  As Money Debate points out, a textbook that retails for around $100 can be rented for a semester for just under $20, putting more money in your pocket.

Best of luck to you!

ARB Team
Arbitrage Magazine
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