PocketCoinage

If you are like most former college students, there’s probably a few old text books sitting around and collecting dust.  For some reason I had a strange attachment to these books; even though they sat inside a storage tote down in the basement for well over a year.  I decided to take action and put them all on the shelf, inventory them, and see what each would sell for.

I started this project with one goal in mind: to sell items I no longer use, or need, in order to speed up my debt payoff.  There was also the fact I was collecting too much stuff.

Initially I started my search at bigwords.com to compare book buyback prices.  I wanted to get money for my books as soon as possible, but I noticed that many of the buyback stores had a minimum buyback amount.  This was a problem since many stores did not want all my books.

Then I noticed that if I gave it a little time and effort, I could possibly sell my books for more money through the Amazon Marketplace.  Sure enough this was the best choice.  Within three days, I had two books sell.  They brought in roughly $50, which is a quarter of my monthly loan payment.  That extra $50, before tax, will be going towards the principal.

I chose Amazon to sell because of their large presence on the Internet.  Their commission was also reasonable: $0.99 and a percentage of the sale.  Anytime I look up a product, Amazon is my first choice and they are usually the least expensive.  The ability to list something and have it sell within hours can give you a big leg up when trying to get out of debt.

Have you ever sold back your textbooks?  What service did you use and why?