Get the Most Bang for Your Text Book

The Black Death and the Transformations of the West. Human Interactions in Geological Systems. Multivariable Calculus.

By no means are these the most riveting titles in the world, but these are textbooks that may seem familiar to the average college student just embarking on summer vacation. Despite the fact that they are destined to simply gather dust on a lonely bookshelf for the foreseeable future, students hold onto these textbooks, trucking them around from dorm to dorm, apartment to apartment and even into their first homes.

Why? Because it oftentimes seems like it's such a rip-off to sell them back. Bookstores pay a fraction of the price students originally paid, and it's often frustrating enough to drive students to keep that biology textbook - just in case they ever need to understand the difference between monocots and dicots in their future lives.

Here's a hint: you're never going to look at them again. It's time to dump those old textbooks and get the most cash you can. Here are a few tips to maximize the bang for your book.

It's all about timing
This may be bad news for many, but the longer you hold onto those old textbooks, the less you are likely to receive. Textbook companies put out new editions at a dizzying pace, and if your textbook becomes out of date, you're not likely to receive much. College bookstores usually won't be old editions back and you may have to settle for eBay - where it is a hit or miss proposition whether it will even sell. When the semester ends, get bust selling those textbooks back.