Topic: anyone ever sell their school books back to amazon?

[ScaryTooth]

I have a couple books here that I'll probably never use again, both worth a $46 dollar gift certificate. I mean, I probably paid like $100+ for these things, and the school book store wants to give me $5 for them...

I think this might be a better idea...

[ren]

I haven't ever sold back to amazon but I sell pretty much every textbook through my schools classifieds section. School book stores will rip you off but you can usually get a decent price selling it directly to somebody else.

[scottws]

I know the feeling, Scary.  I have a stockpile of college textbooks I just kept because I couldn't stomach selling them to the campus or nearby off-campus bookstores.  They are as bad as Gamestop.

I thought about selling them online, but ultimately it just seemed like too big of a hassle and I never did.  The classified section isn't a bad idea and it's not something that ever crossed my mind.  Craigslist might be a good choice.

[ScaryTooth]

I've done the craigslist thing and thats a huge hassle. I think I'm going to sell them to amazon. It looks pretty easy. You get your eligible books, print off and invoice, throw them in a box, and they pay for shipping.

Gonna do it tomorrow. I'll see if it's as painless as I hope it is.

I paid $145 for this psych book, and the school book store wants to give me $25. Amazon offers $56 for it. With just these two books I'll get $102 gift card. 

Text books are such a fucking scam. And a lot of times, damn near worthless. Case in point; My econ book. Bought it for $65, and opened it once to study Oligopoly firms during the entire quarter...

[scottws]

I tend to not buy textbooks unless there are homework problems or case studies in them.  I'm one of those people that just test well as long as I pay attention in class and take notes.  I rarely study.

[iPPi]

Rule of thumb - don't buy a textbook until you need it.

I've spent enough money on textbooks and I've only ever sold them back to the bookstore because it is convenient.  Even though you get ripped off to sell it back, it's better than getting nothing and having a textbook that you will never open again (unless you want to line it up on a bookshelf).

I also had the problem where I bought textbooks that would have new editions every year, so I have several textbooks that I could not sell because there were new editions out for them and I could not be bothered to try and sell them privately.

For my undergraduate degree I still have about 8 textbooks left that are tucked away in a closet.  I am somewhat grateful that for law, I use all of my textbooks.  That said, there are still several textbooks that I don't get much out of, so next year I will also be a little more careful about which texts that are deemed as 'required textbooks'.

[ren]

If you do have to buy a textbook and you can't find it used locally, check out www.abebooks.com. I've bought books there for under $10 that the university bookstore was selling for over $100. Then at the end of the term I sell it for $50 and amke a profit while some other guy thinks he's getting a good deal.

[Ace_O_Spades]

I kept every textbook I ever bought at university, save my Sociology 150 and Poli Sci 106 texts, because they were shite. My Poli Sci prof had the coolest name ever though... James Busumtwi-Sam. So much fun to say...

I kept them all because I found myself referencing them when I tried to write papers. I'd think, "Oh, I studied this in x, let me go get that text". Plus it is cool to look at my bookshelf and see my entire undergraduate degree sitting there. It helps that I'm interested in my field though, so I still find myself going back to my texts, primarily the upper level theory ones and my environmental criminology book, because WOW, people are fucking RETARDS when it comes to crime and criminal justice issues.