DECLUTTER. MAKE MONEY
So if you’re anything like me, I tend to hang onto things thinking I will use them later and then later never comes. This was the case five years ago when I was in college. I hung onto a lot of my textbooks because I was insulted by the price offered to me for selling it back and I thought I just might need it. Well…I only ended up using a few of those books for teaching so when I was reminded of the neglected books in our guestroom I thought I might see what I could get for them now. I did this project two weeks ago and boy was it worth it! I made $112.56! And to think that money was just collecting dust. This week I encourage you to find what money you have hiding in old books.
Supplies Needed:
- boxes
- packaging tape
- shipping filler for boxes
Game Plan:
1. Gather unwanted books
I had the most luck with textbooks and some of my classical literature. My suggestion is to grab several of each genre and see what they bring before carrying all your books over to the computer.
2. Open up two tabs on your computer- one for textbooks.com and another for cash4books.net
Both of these companies are legit. I used both and then sold my book to the one who would give me more for it.
3. Enter ISBN numbers
ISBN numbers are usually found on the back of the book, but if not there, look at the first couple of pages and it should be located on the page with all the other information about the book such as copyright date, etc.
4. Follow site directions
5. Package books
Each company has its own specific way to do this but both suggest filling any empty space left in the box with packaging material- wadded up newspapers work just fine
6. Ship books
Again, each company has a specific way so follow their directions but both give you a free shipping label. Wahoo!
7. Get paid!
You have options for how to get paid; I chose to get checks in the mail. My check from cash4books.net came within a week and textbooks.com came within two!
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Here’s what books I sold and what I got for them:
textbooks.com
Romance of the Rose by Delorris $4.25
Portrait of Artist as Young Man by Joyce $.30
Pedagogy of Freedom by Freire $3.70
Decameron by Boccaccio $1.25
Nonfiction Matters by Harvey $6.05
Book of Margery Kempe by Kempe $3.70
Being There by Kosinski $1.85
Alchemist by Jonson $1.20
Choice Theory by Glasser $1.80
Mythology by Leeming $3.65
World Mythology by Rosenberg $12.40
Results Now by Schmoker $6.95
New Teacher Book by Salas $2.50
End of Education by Postman $1.85
cash4books.net
I don’t have the list of titles because I already deleted the e-mail since I have gotten my check. I made $66.11 from them for seven books.
I would love to see how successful you were with this project.
Post your totals!
I made $47 and some change for 2 books! Need to ship them this week! I was hoping the other 12 books or so that are on my floor would have sold, but I’m glad to just have a few of them out of the way!
That’s awesome for two books! That beats my total for a two book total. Bummer the other 12 didn’t sell. Which site gave you the better deal?
The cash4books gave me the better deal.
Thanks for tip Brady. Below are my results from Cash4books
A Way of Being by Carl Rogers ($1.82)
An Introduction to Theories of Personality by B. R. Hergenhahn, Matthew H. Olson ($3.45)
Community Psychology: Guiding Principles and Orienting Concepts by Jennifer Kofkin Rudkin ($27.10)
Understanding Mass Communication: A Liberal Arts Perspective by Melvin L. Defleur, Everette E. Dennis ($10.45)
Grand Total: $42.82
Hey, that’s pretty good for just four books! A little extra cash!
Yes, I’ll take it!
Thank you for blogging. That’s the most nice article I have found about this.
Thanks, means a lot, especially since I’m new to the whole blogging thing.
Thanks Brady! Here’s a tip for preparing boxes for shipping:
If you’re using a box with lots of labels, writing, etc. on it, you will have to remove this information from the box (required by shipping companies). You can do this with a marker, but sometimes this doesn’t work too well and if you’re like me, you might be just a little bit embarrassed to ship a messy-looking box. Instead, you can take a piece of fresh packaging tape, stick it right on top of the label/marked-up area, and pull off. This will rip off just one thin layer of the box and leave a nice clean surface.
Great tip Stephanie! Thanks for the input!
I like the design of your resource! It looks really awesome.
Thank you!
I have tried to sell books on ebay and I have to say its a nightmare and a complete waste of time. Since my first foray in selling books for cash I have sold a box of books to Cash for Books and was quite impressed. Very reasonable prices, you get price quotes for your books straight away off of the site and if you sell more than five books they pay the postage for you. They payed me very promptly and I had no hassles at all.