The first time I walked into my college bookstore, I was immediately floored by sticker shock. How was it possible that a brand new copy of the book for my Intro to Psychology class was $125? At first, I thought it was mislabeled – and then I checked the prices on several other books to find that they were all insanely priced.
Used books offered a bit of a break, but most of them had been picked through already and I couldn’t find a lot of the ones I needed. That first semester, I bit the bullet and put it all on a credit card, pledging to work extra hours to pay it all off.
The next time around, I got smarter and went online. I discovered that not only can you buy and rent used college textbooks; the same sites will buy your copies once you’re finished. The top textbook buyback websites such as BooksRun are straightforward and easy, making the process quick and really simple.
The coolest thing about these sites is that they offer options that I didn’t get in my on-campus bookstore. Not only is there a greater likelihood of them having the used book I need in stock; I can also rent a copy at a fraction of the price and simply ship it back by a specified deadline. They also have ebook versions of many textbooks, which I love because who wants to lug around a bunch of heavy textbooks?
When I was done with my books, I simple went back to the site and typed in the ISBN number to get a quote for how much they’d pay to buy it back. I shipped my copies back using a prepaid shipping label and got paid via my PayPal account.
I can’t go back and stop my freshman self from racking up all those extra charges for buying my books new, but I can warn others. Don’t shop in person, students – go online!
