4 Cool Sites to Help You Sell Old and Used Books

Knowledge never dies. I guess it gets passed on in the form of books. In India, we have had a long tradition of giving away our old books or selling them off at basement prices. What passed from one hand to another in my country has gone the virtual way in countries like the U.S. Quite a few websites have sprung up around the practice of selling old and used books. It’s a barter which benefits both the seller and the buyer. The seller earns back some cash, and the buyer gets the right book at a slashed price.

So, here are four websites which can help you jump on to the bandwagon (and also help save some trees in the process).

1. Amazon

Amazon is not only a place to buy new books; you can also sell your old and used ones. The process is free and all you have to do is to follow either of the two ways:

Trade in Your Books: Use the search box to locate a book which meets Amazon’s eligibility criteria for a trade-in. If it does and is accepted by the merchant, then you receive an Amazon.com Gift Card for the value of your used books. Check out the Textbook’s Trade-in Store for more detailed info on the process.

Sell on Amazon.com: A simple three step process starts with you listing the product you want to sell under the category of books. Use the search box to find the same product on Amazon by title, keyword, or ISBN number. If a customer purchases the item, then it falls upon you to ship the product to the customer and get paid. Make sure the book is in saleable condition. Set your price and register with Amazon to collect online payment from your buyer via Marketplace Payments by Amazon. Amazon deducts a certain percentage of the transaction.

2. BookScouter

BookScouter is a pretty neat book reselling service. It works like a meta-search engine by comparing prices from over 40 book-buying websites so that you can quickly find the site that is paying the most for buying back your books. All you need to give to the search field is an ISBN number. You don’t even need to register on the site. The sale is conducted on the vendor site. The site lists the preferred vendors and has a rating system which you can check out when you are selling your old and used books.

3. Half.eBay.com

Half.eBay.com is an eBay company that’s all about getting those good old bargains on books, movies, music, and games. You can buy, rent, and sell your books here. With eBay’s reputation behind it, you can be sure that the transaction is going to be watertight. Presently the site is for U.S. only and you need to register (free) for a user account. If you have an eBay account, you can use it to log-in and become a seller. Payments are made by eBay as direct deposits to your checking account on the site.

4. Big Words

Big Words is a price comparison search engine. Use the ‘book bag’ to list all books you want to sell (or buy) and start the price comparison. The site searches all the best stores used textbooks and then gives you a list of resellers to choose from. Depending on the price listed, you can sell the book to any of the purchasers. You are then redirected to the purchaser’s homepage for the transaction. You can alternatively list your book for sale with a few more companies. This is a slightly longer process from offer to payment but you can get a higher price.

The best think for a student is the options available for him to earn back a few dollars by selling his used textbooks. Of course, he can choose to donate them for free also. Which book selling service would you recommend? Let us know.