School is starting. Everyones favorite time of the year right?! Okay not everyone, but I get a little thrill about this time of year. Always have. I get all giddy and excited pushing my cart around Wal-Mart, throwing pens and notebooks in. Used to be I had to adhere to my mom's strict rules and budget. Now that I'm in college, I get to buy whatever I want. Page markers? Yep, don't need em, but they're neon! 30$ backpack? I could find one cheaper, but it's green and cushy!
It's all fun and games at the store, stockpiling on 25 cent composition books! (Perfect for notes by the way! I used em last semester, one for each class. Cheap easy way to keep notes organized!) Then comes time to walk into the school bookstore to get your textbooks. My first semester of college, I got my books from an online bookstore for my school. Simple and to the point. Granted my pocketbook cried a little at the 400$+ cost. Last semester I decided to get mine at the school bookstore. It's quite an experience to walk in, grab 4 or 5 books, and spend 500$ without the exchange of money. Thank god for financial aid!
But now the semester has ended and I'm left with Math and English books that I don't need. That's the sucky part of college. I'm sure I'm not the only one looking at that Intermediate Algebra book on their shelf and wondering what to do with it. Alas there are plenty of options rather than using it for kindling for your next backyard BBQ and kegger.
Most colleges have whats called a "Book Buyback." It's where you take your unused unwanted leftover books from the previous semester and sell it back to the school for a lil money. The bookstore then uses these books again selling them as "Used" at a lower price. This can be an easy quick way to get rid of them. Though some of the bad things that I have heard are that most schools aren't offering enough of a compensation. Last semester a girl in my math class sold her 200$ English book back to the school for $6! In my opinion, what a rip off!
Besides this method, there are plenty of online sites to sell your books to! They do they same as the bookstores, but sometimes you can find a better deal for you! Some of them include Chegg.com, (which also "rents" textbooks for a significantly lower price), Half.com (they even sell older versions!) , and Craiglist. These ways are also good places to look to see if you can get the textbooks you need for a better price than the outrageous prices that the schools charge.
Last semester I ended up doing a Trade-in with Amazon.com. I just looked up the books I wanted to sell and printed the packing slip and shipped em off for $4 at the UPS store. A week or two later, I received and Amazon.com gift card! I was able to use this for ANYTHING on the website. I would recommended this method to anyone that is an avid online shopper. It was really cool to get a new purse, lip rings, xbox live card and a book for practically free! I even had a remaining balance to get a used dvd!
Anyway you look at it, those old college textbooks can help you make a lil extra cash, or take some money off that new iPod you want online, rather than collecting dust and space on your shelf. Help a poorer college kid in the economy, SELL THOSE TEXTBOOKS!
No comments:
Post a Comment