The Best Place to Sell College Textbooks for Cash (Plus 30 More)

Looking for money for textbooks that you’ve had lying around from college?

College students usually don’t have a lot of money to spare, so it would be nice to get some extra cash when an opportunity arises.

Well, this is your opportunity!

I’m going to show you where to go so that you can make money from your old textbooks instead of letting them go to waste.

What’s the Best Place to Sell College Textbooks for Cash?

I chose BookScouter as the #1 place to sell college textbooks online.

Why?

First off – it’s easy to use!

You don’t want to have to spend hours trying to learn how to sell with a site before you actually get to sell your books.

BookScouter makes it simple to find your book and get a quote as quickly as possible.

Just type in your ISBN number and the site will walk you through the rest.

It’s also known to have some of the best prices for books on the web, which is great news for you because you don’t want to get stuck with a huge loss on a book you paid a lot of money for.

How does BookScouter work?

Instead of offering you a direct quote, it’ll compare the prices that other buyback sites offer to get you the very best price for your book.

Another thing I like about this site is that you can see seller feedback along with your price quote, which can help you decide if that seller is a good one to deal with.

Ship your books to the seller you choose and get your cash!

BookScouter even as apps for mobile devices that you can use to complete the whole process without a computer.

You Can Also Use BIGWORDS and Book Finder to Help You

I want to mention BIGWORDS and Book Finder as two sites that can also help you out in your book selling process.

I’ve listed a lot of sites here that will buy your books from you, but you’d need to go through every single one to compare prices and see where you should sell each book.

Instead of doing that, you may want to save some time by first checking either BIGWORDS or Book Finder along with BookScouter.

I’d personally use BookScouter first because it partners with the most buyback sites, but these other sites have some lesser-known sites in their databases that may have a better price for you.

These sites let you type in your title or ISBN. Then, they’ll pull up price comparisons for different buyback sites on the web.

Both sites will tell you what site the quote comes from and will give you a link to that site.

Plus, you’ll get to see several prices, so you’ll know which one will give you the most money and lowest shipping costs.

One note: These sites don’t have all the above sites in their databases, so you won’t get a price for every single buyback site.

That means you’ll still want to do some research on your own.

But they can still be excellent starting spots!

Where to Sell Used Textbooks for the Most Money: Book Buyback Sites

Below are some of the highest paying book buyback sites.

These are sites that will give you a quote for your book and offer to buy it from you to resell on their sites.

Quick note before you sell: Check over the condition of your books.

Make note of anything like scratches, torn pages, missing pages, or messed up binding.

You’ll need to know the condition of your books for each site because they usually ask when you receive your quote.

The better the condition, the more you can get paid for the book.

However, you don’t want to lie about its condition.

Once the company receives your books, it’ll do a quick check to make sure your books are in the condition you stated.

If not, it could affect your final pricing.

Now, onto the buyback companies!

AbeBooks

You can register for a free AbeBooks account to sell your books, but you can search for a quote for your textbooks without being registered.

It’s 100% free to ship your books to this site when you choose FedEx shipping.

After the company gets your books, you can receive your payment within 5 to 10 business days via check or PayPal.

Alibris

Alibris is a book selling and buying site that goes through another buyback site, Valore Books, to get you quotes for your textbooks.

Just type in the information about your books and view your prices online.

Bigger Books

Use the search bar on Bigger Books to find your exact books and get an instant online quote.

Ship the books with the prepaid shipping label, and you’ll get paid via direct deposit once they’re received by the company.

Blue Rectangle

Unlike other sites that make you search for books one at a time, you can search multiple ISBNs on Blue Rectangle.

Shipping is free when you use the prepaid shipping label.

Blue Rectangle pays you via PayPal or check.

BookByte

BookByte locks in your book quotes for a full 30 days, which gives you plenty of time to comparison shop with other sites too!

Once you get and accept your online quote, you’ll ship the books for free and wait about 4 to 14 days for the company to receive and process your sale.

Then, get paid via check or PayPal.

BooksIntoCash

This site is one of the oldest in the textbook buying and selling business, offering buybacks for books since 1999.

It’s also known for having some of the quickest turnaround times for processing your books and paying you, with as little as 2 days total.

You get paid with a check.

BooksRun

Similar to many of the other sites on this list, you can use BooksRun to search your books one at a time using their ISBNs.

Get a quote, ship for free, and get paid within four days.

Campus Books

Campus Books is actually another comparison site rather than a direct buyback site, but it’s worth a mention on here.

It even searches top places like Amazon and Barnes & Noble as well as other buyback sites to find you the best prices.

Cash4Books

This is one of the most well-known textbook buying sites on the web along with BookScouter.

You can search the ISBNs of up to 5 textbooks at a time to save you a little time with your search.

It’s completely free to ship your books to Cash4Books, and you’ll get your choice of a PayPal payment or a check upon receipt and quick inspection of your books.

Chegg

The popular online tutoring company, Chegg, also has a book buying company that will buy your textbooks from you.

Get an instant quote on the website for your books and then ship to Chegg for no cost.

In most cases, you can receive your cash once Chegg looks over and accepts your books.

CKY Books

You can enter multiple ISBNs into the CKY Books website to look up prices for your textbooks.

Then, ship for free and receive your cash once the company gets your books delivered.

Decluttr

Decluttr is a site that buys books, video games, phones, and a few other select items.

You can either use the website to enter your book’s information or use the Decluttr app to scan the barcodes and have the information transfer automatically to the site.

You’ll then get a quote, ship the books for free, and receive your payment with a check, direct deposit, or PayPal.

eCampus

eCampus is a go-to online marketplace for textbooks for college students.

It also buys your books from you!

You’ll get free shipping to send your books to eCampus for the company to buy from you.

You can also elect to sell them on the marketplace yourself, which could net you a larger return because you’ll be in control of pricing.

Get paid with PayPal, direct deposit, or store credit to buy more books for upcoming classes.

KnetBooks

KnetBooks works through another buyback company, SellBackBooks, to offer you quotes for each of your used textbooks.

KnetBooks pays you for your shipping costs, so you can keep the profits.

MoneyForBooks

This site doesn’t look super fancy compared to others, but it gives you cash for your textbooks, which is all you need anyway.

MoneyForBooks will pay for the shipping costs and send you your payment as a check once they receive them.

SellBackYourBook

Sell your books online quickly and easily with this website, which offers free shipping to send in all your books.

This company usually processes payments within a couple of days after receiving your books.

Textbook Rush

In addition to movies and games, you can sell textbooks to Textbook Rush, which gives you free shipping to send them in.

There’s also an app that can help you keep track of what you’ve sold.

TextbookBuyer

Enter multiple ISBNs on TextbookBuyer to get free quotes for your books.

You need a $10 minimum value of your textbooks to be able to send them in and get free shipping.

This company mails checks within one day from processing your books.

Textbooks.com

You can get a 30-day quote guarantee from Textbooks.com.

Then, ship for free with UPS and get a PayPal or check payment.

TextbookX

TextbookX claims to give up to two times more than other buyback companies, although you’ll still want to price compare to see what’s best for your books.

Books ship for free with USPS.

Valore Books

A unique angle with Valore Books is that it offers a buyback pricing guarantee for people who want to sell their books.

Because the company believes it always has the best prices, it offers a price match guarantee on your books.

That means that if you find another site that offers a higher price within one week of selling your textbook to Valore Books, you can submit a request to the company and get the difference back for your book.

There’s no cost to ship books when you use the Valore Books prepaid shipping label.

Other Best Websites to Sell Textbooks Online

These are more general selling sites that are still great places to sell your textbooks.

Amazon

Use Amazon to sell your old textbooks!

You can search for your book on Amazon and then look on the right-hand side of the screen where it says Sell on Amazon.

Click that button and Amazon will walk you through the process of selling your textbook.

You’ll need to register for a seller account if you don’t have one yet.

Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble has a textbook buyback program that’ll pay you for your used textbooks.

Just enter your ISBN and click Get Quote to find out how much you can get for your book.

Bonanza

Technically, this site is best for people who have out-of-the-box, unique stuff to sell.

But if your textbooks are for unordinary courses, then it could be the place for you.

There’s a full category dedicated to books of all kinds.

It’s free to get started as a seller and there are no listing fees.

Craigslist

Craigslist is always an option when you have stuff to sell.

It could be tough finding people interested in buying your particular textbooks unless you live in an area that’s heavy with college students, but it’s worth a try.

You can also place your ad in other neighboring towns and cities to get more people to see them, but remember that it could make it more difficult to find a meeting place that works for both of you.

eBay

eBay is another viable option you have when it comes to selling textbooks.

You can choose to list your books for any price you see fit on this site.

You can also pick between selling as an auction or as a fixed price.

eBid

eBid is similar to eBay; if you’re familiar with one, you’re familiar with the other!

Facebook Marketplace

If you’re a Facebook member, you can use Facebook Marketplace, which is sort of like an online yard sale, to sell your books.

Just click on Marketplace from your dashboard.

Then, add a description and a photo of your book and it’ll automatically enter the Marketplace and display to other Facebook users.

You can also share your listings to your profile, page, or in selling groups.

Get Paid for Your Used Textbooks

It’s time to make some money with those college textbooks you no longer need!

I definitely suggest using BookScouter or another search site first to see what prices you can expect with each book.

But it could also be worth your while to check out some of the other sites on this list, too, because they may quote higher for specific books.

And remember to always be up front about your books’ conditions before filling out information on a site and sending them in.

Have you used any of the sites above? If so, which ones have you had the most luck with?

Leave me a comment and let me know!