If you are looking for the best websites to sell your college textbooks then you have come to the right place. I have compiled a list of websites where you can compare book prices to help you find the best sites to sell your used textbooks. With so many websites buying, selling and borrowing textbooks it is becoming increasingly difficult to choose which one to choose and with more textbook price comparison sites popping up every day, students now have to decide which one to choose they should use use. With over two hundred websites dedicated to buying used textbooks, using a textbook search engine to compare the prices of these websites is a major time saver for college students.
I have selected five search engine websites for textbooks that compare textbook prices well:
– Book scout
– Direct textbook
– Book finder
– Big words
– Cheap textbooks
A few weeks ago I compared the ‘Best Sites to Sell Used Textbooks’ on and I did all the legwork myself, visiting each site individually to compare textbook prices. Of course, my buddies pointed out to me that they would use a textbook search engine to compare prices, and I should have used that too. The first site that was suggested to me was Book Scouter. I chose to use the same book I had previously used, Robbins Basic Pathology, as the control in this experiment and will refer to it as the control or textbook throughout this article.
Book Scouter Review:
Book Scouter says it “helps you sell your books at the highest price. It compares the prices of over 40 book-buying websites, so you can quickly find the website that pays the most for your books.” When comparing textbook prices, we got results for 21 websites. The top 5 were:
1. Textbooksrus.com $43.25
2. Bookstores $43.25
3. Amazon.com buyback $43.00 *Store credit
4. FirstClassBooks.com $41.69
5. We buy textbooks for $38.70
Our top five results a few weeks ago looked like this:
1. Campus Book Loan: $41.69
2. Textbooks R Us: $40.00
3. College Book Borrowers: $39.00
4. Bundle of Books: $38.70
5. Phat Campus: $37.00
Although the book’s price went up a few dollars, Book Scouter seems to have excluded three of our top five results when we used their search engine to compare textbook prices. Book Scouter actually ruled out our first choice to sell our textbook to Campus Book Rentals.
Direct textbook review:
Direct Textbook says it “searches over 200 online bookstores for cheap textbooks to save you money and time. We received offers from 18 stores whose top 5 looked like this:
1. TextbooksRus $43.25
2. Bookstores $43.25
3. Amazon Trade-In $43.00 *Store Credit
4. WeBuyTextbooks $38.70
5. Chegg $28.71
When we used Direct Textbook to compare prices, it returned the same top 3 results as Book Scouter, but it didn’t have First Class Books in its search results, which was willing to buy our $41.69 control book. Direct Textbook also did not compare textbook prices for: campus bookstore ($41.69), college bookstore ($39.00), and book bundle ($38.70). Which ones were in our top 5 best sites to sell used textbooks in the last week?
Bookfinder Review:
Book Finder does not state how many sites it uses to compare textbook prices, but states that shipping is included. The results of their book buyback search engine looked like this:
1. TextbooksRus $43.25
2. AbeBooks $43.25
3. Amazon $43.00 *Store Credit
4. Valore Books $23.62
5. eCampus $18.00
Book Finder breaks the trend a bit by introducing AbeBooks, which pushed top dog TextbooksRus to the top spot. Again, excluding campus bookstores ($41.69), college bookstores ($39.00), and book bundles ($38.70), which we found a few weeks ago to offer students some competitive prices. Although Bookfinder introduces AbeBooks, it appears to only compare textbook prices for seven textbook websites, which excludes many sites that could offer you more money for your textbook.
Big words review:
Big words promise big results: “BIGWORDS compares the best textbook stores all at once and finds the cutest and cheapest textbooks in the world.” We used their search engine to compare prices and got these results:
1. TextbooksRus $43.25
2. Amazon $43.00 *store credit
3. First Class Books $41.69
4. SellBackYourBook $24.59
5. eCampus $20.00 *with coupon
Although they promised great results when we used them to compare textbook prices, they were average with their listings. Skip AbeBooks, BookStores, campus bookstores, college bookstores, and book bundles. Some of the stores they excluded actually had prices that matched the best offer from their search engines.
Big Words offered some interesting alternatives where you could list the book on auction sites that sold the control book for more than what the book buyback sites were offering.
Evaluation of cheap textbooks:
Cheap-Textbooks is a simple website that simply states, “Textbook Buyback Price Finder quickly reveals the best place to sell textbooks online. The secret to selling used textbooks at the highest price is to compare and use current information. ” We totally agree with you, so let’s compare you to your peers:
1. TextbooksRus $43.25
2. Amazon $43.00 *store credit
3. First Class Books $41.69
4. SellBackYourBook $24.59
5. Blue Rocket Books $24.10
Cheap-Textbooks stays in line with its competitors and ranks TextooksRus as the number one store to sell our control textbook. However, it does not compare the prices of textbooks to AbeBooks, BookStores, campus bookstores, college bookstores, and book bundles.
Best website to compare textbook prices:
Choosing the best website to compare textbook prices is a difficult decision as the five search engines I used all had the same number one website, but in the end I would have to choose Book Scouter.
Book Scouter found four websites that would buy our textbook for over forty dollars, none of the other websites returned results that could match these. My biggest disappointment would be with all of the sites reviewed, as none of them really included the top five sites for selling our textbook. It would have been nice to find a website that gave us this result:
1. TextbooksRus.com $43.25
2. AbeBooks $43.25
3. Bookstores $43.25
4. Amazon.com buyback $43.00 *Store credit
5. Lending Campus Books $41.69
6. FirstClassBooks.com $41.69
7. College Book Renter $39.00
8. We buy textbooks for $38.70
9. Bunches Of Books $38.70
These past textbook buyer websites provide a real representation of where it would be most profitable to sell our textbook. Of course, when it comes time for you to compare textbook prices, your results may vary depending on what book you are selling and what time of year it is, as you can see TextbooksRus was my second best deal a few weeks ago and now it’s bound number one. When selling your textbooks, there are many variables to juggle, such as: E.g. credit vs. cash, coupons, free shipping and more. I would suggest using a combination of these search engine sites to compare textbook prices but do your own research at the same time as these sites do not list every textbook site willing to buy your books. Using a textbook search engine to compare prices is a great time saver when you’re selling back textbooks, but don’t trust results from just one site that uses a combination of all the resources at your disposal.
Thanks to Gregory Pearcey | #Find #websites #sell #college #textbooks
