College Textbook Buyback: The Reality of Trying to Keep Money in Your Pocket

One of the many extra expenses that one will incur when they are in college is purchasing textbooks and supplies for their courses. In general, if a student is taking a full load of courses, which is considered to have more than 12 credit hours, he or she can expect to pay more than $250 for textbooks and supplies. However, this estimate can be lower or much more depending on the type of course you are taking. If you are taking a science-based course, you can easily spend $200 on that one class when you purchase the required textbook, lab book and study book. Also, if you do not purchase you books early enough you can forget getting a used textbook, because they sell out quickly. Having said that, there are some perks to buying college textbooks and a major perk is selling those books back.

Most colleges call this Textbook Buy Back. This usually begins during finals of each semester. You take in your textbooks and sell them back to the college bookstore. This sounds great and when you do this for the first time you imagine getting at least 60% of what you paid for the books. Well, the fact of the matter is that you hardly ever get 50% of the textbook purchase price back. Although this is not a good deal, you do get some money back. There are a few things to keep in mind when selling your textbook back.

Tip#1

Know What Courses are Being Offered Next Semester

This is important because if you have purchased a book during fall semester for a class that is only offered in the fall, more than likely you will have to wait until Spring Semester to sell the book back. This is because, the system is based on demand. If there is no demand for the textbook, because there will not be a course taught using that book the nest semester, then you will not be able to sell it at your bookstore.