Recently, while shopping at a thrift store to find used books to sell for cash, I met a mother who home schools her kids.
It seemed she’d been buying a lot of homeschool books and other supplies – many of which were now lying around unused since her kids had graduated to higher levels.
She was eager to sell these homeschool books online for cash – but like a lot of inexperienced online sellers, thought her only options to sell books were Amazon.com and eBay.
I immediately referred her to my blog, which I hope can help not only her but also any parent seeking to declutter their house and turn their sell their homeschool books for cash by selling them to buyback companies – which can then be used to provide funds for their children’s education.
Homeschooling families are actually in a great position to make extra cash by selling books online since many of their textbooks are recent editions – which makes them easier to sell for higher prices (provided they sell them as soon as their kids are done using them so the books don’t have time to be replaced by later editions).
Families seeking to sell their used homeschool books and other curriculum materials online should follow these three steps:
Step 1: Visit Bookscouter.com
Once your kids are done using their textbooks, visit Bookscouter.com and enter the ISBNs of your books in the search bar to see if you can immediately sell your books for cash to buyback companies.
This is the fastest and simplest way to get money back for your books – but to make sure you get the best prices you need to sell these books immediately after your kids are done with them since textbooks depreciate rapidly as new editions replace the old ones.
(If your books are already a few years old, you might still be able to make a few dollars from them, but don’t expect them to sell for anywhere near what you bought them for).
Be sure to create a free Bookscouter account to ensure you receive offers from as many buyback companies as possible. If you’d like to know which buyback companies I feel pay the best and the fastest, read my articles 8 Great Book Buyback Companies to Sell Books To and 2 More Great Book Buyback Companies to Sell Books To.
(Incidentally if you’re looking for a great book buyback company to sell textbooks to, I recommend K-12 Book Buyer. This company specializes in buying grade school, middle, grade, and high school textbooks — as well as clean workbooks — so you should be able to sell quite a few books for extra cash to them).
Also, if you have a lot of books to sell, I suggest you invest in a barcode scanner — the wired versions are very affordable and will make selling your books a lot easier.
As you find buyback company bids from your books on Bookscouter, you may discover you can sell your books for higher prices by selling them yourself on Amazon.com. This is also a good option (especially if you want to turn selling books online into a side business) but please read my article Should You Sell Textbooks on Amazon or to a Book Buyback Company to Make Money? to learn how much Amazon takes in fees and commissions before you get paid.
As always, you’ll want to make sure that the textbooks and other educational materials you sell are still in good condition before you send them in. For instance, if your kids have filled out all their workbooks with answers, you won’t be able to resell them. (This is particularly true of buyback companies like Powells Books which will pay you well for your novels, textbooks, and nonfiction titles, but only if the books are in excellent condition).
For a more detailed list of book condition guidelines, read my article Is the Book Condition of Your Textbook Good Enough to Make Extra Money?
(After reading that article, I’m sure you’ll agree that it pays to keep your textbooks in good condition if you want to sell them!)
Step 2: Consider Re-Selling Textbooks for Trade Credit Instead of Cash
If you’ve read my articles, Should You Sell Your Books for Amazon Credit? and Advantages of Selling Books for Powell’s Trade In Credit, you know you can exchange your books for trade credit to companies like Amazon, Powells, and TextbookRush.
This can be a very attractive option for home schooling parents since many buyback companies offer more in trade credit than cash when they buy books online.
This trade credit can then be used to buy additional homeschooling books and materials as your child requires them. You can even keep exchanging these educational materials for trade credit to these companies over and over again (provided you keep them in good condition), saving you a lot of money in the long run.
You can find trade credit bids for your textbooks on Bookscouter.com as well (just be aware that your trade credit bids will often be higher than the amounts Bookscouter reports – Powells, for instance, offers a 50% bonus on all bids reported on Bookscouter if you accept payment in trade credit).
Step 3: Trade Books at Used Bookstores
If you find your used homeschool books are out-of-date and don’t receive very attractive bids on Bookscouter, don’t lose heart – you can still profit from them.
Just do an online search for used bookstores in your area. Then call them up and check to see if they buy books for cash or exchange them for trade credit.
Odds are most used bookstores have a trade credit program – and will accept many of your old textbooks. You can then use the trade credit to buy additional educational supplies at the bookstore.
If you find a lot of used bookstores in your area, be sure to check them out before you trade with them – you’ll want to make sure the bookstore actually has items you’ll want to use your trade credit on.
Final Thoughts
By the way, while I do believe in selling homeschooling books as fast as you can (given how quickly new textbook editions pop up), if you find you can sell your books for a significantly higher profit on Amazon than on Bookscouter, you may still want to try and sell your books on Amazon (while keeping buyback companies as an alternative).
If you’d like to learn some good tactics to sell your books faster and for better profits on Amazon, feel free to check out my new Sell Books Fast Online eBook series.
I hope these tips help homeschooling families save money. If you have any more questions about how selling books online can aid in your child’s education, feel free to contact me at sellbooksfastonline@gmail.com.
And if you’d like to learn more about selling books online to make extra money, please subscribe to my blog for constant updates!
