A Guide to Textbook Buyback

It's the end of the semester and those expensive textbooks you bought at the beginning of the semester are about to start collecting dust soon if you don't sell them soon. Selling textbooks back at the school book store might not be the best idea, especially since they offer such low buyback prices. So i've created a list of sites that offer the best buyback value for your textbooks so you get more than loose change when you sell them.

I've used one of my books, Microbiology: a systems approach (ISBN: 9780077266868) to compare the buyback prices on different websites.

1) Barnes and Noble: $59.30
They pay shipping and include packing slip. Payment in form of check
Website: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/frames/selltextbooks/index.asp?&cds2Pid=32517

2) Textbookbuyer: $53. 42
They pay shipping and packing slip included. Payment in form of check.
Website: http://www.textbookbuyer.com/

3) Booksvalue: $58.56
You pay shipping. Payment in form of check or via Paypal.
Website: http://www.booksvalue.com/

4) CKY Books: $57.89
They pay shipping (fedex or USPS). Payment is available in form of check or via Paypal. They list their turnabout time as 15 days.
Website: http://www.ckybooks.com/

5) College Book renter: $58.80 for Paypal for website credit: $64.68
Free shipping (UPS), payment via Paypal.
Website credit gives you a higher buyback rate, and allows you to rent or buy books for other classes.
Website: http://www.collegebookrenter.com/

Otherwise you can list your books for sale on these websites:

1) Half.com: Average listing price $100-120

No listing fee, commission varies on selling price. Buyer pays shipping, and payment is made to bank account (see policy for payment schedule)
Selling Price Half.com Commission
$0.75 - $50.00 15.0%
$50.01 - $100.00 12.5%
$100.01 - $250.00 10.0%
$250.01 - $500.00 7.5%
> $500.00 5.0%

2) Amazon.com: Average listing price $95-115

No listing fee, charge a referral fee, variable closing fee, and fixed closing fee. See website for charges, since they vary according to item and selling price.

3) Ebay: Avg. $62.11

Can list as auction or buy-it-now which allows you to set the book to your asking price.
In the sell your item tab, before you list you can use "what's it worth" to find the average selling cost of the book or your items.
Free listing if you start auction under $1 otherwise listing prices are as listed:

Starting or reserve price Insertion fee
$0.01 - $0.99 Free (up to 100 listings)*
$1.00 - $9.99 $0.25
$10.00 - $24.99 $0.50
$25.00 - $49.99 $0.75
$50.00 - $199.99 $1.00
$200.00 or more $2.00

Fixed price insertion for $0.99 or higher : .$0.50

Final sale price has a 9.0% fee, if item does not sell there is no fee.

Tip: For eBay the best time to list books is the first week of classes.