How to Sell Your Old Textbooks Online

Published by Renee Powers, Dec. 28, 2023

Your term papers have been submitted, and your final exams have been taken for better or for worse. Now, it’s time to close the book on the semester. 


Or is it?


Chances are, you’ve got some textbooks you’ll never need again (we’re looking at you, Bedford Introduction to Literature!) In this article, we’ll provide an overview of the options you have to earn some money back by selling your textbook online. Read on for considerations and best practices to make easy and efficient textbook sales. 


Textbook selling tips at a glance:

  • Consider the pros and cons of where you are going to sell your textbooks.
  • Selling through person-to-person marketplaces like PangoBooks will usually earn you more money than through buyback platforms and wholesalers.
  • Research the market to arrive at a fair price.
  • Check which edition of the book you are selling. 
  • Disclose any highlights, margin notes, or other condition issues in your listings.
Photo of a worksheet called "important Formulas" next to a textbook called "Elementary Statistics" from a Pango Seller

Where to sell textbooks

There are quite a number of avenues you can pursue to sell your used textbooks, with each offering different pros and cons. For many students, the easiest path is to take advantage of a college’s buyback period. Typically, this program entails selling books back to the campus bookstore for a small percentage of the original price. This option has the advantage of being quick and easy, but it usually only yields a fraction of what you might earn selling elsewhere. 


Similarly, there are a variety of online textbook wholesale and buyback companies that will purchase your textbooks from you, such as GoTextbooks. These types of services also offer a quick way to sell all of your books, but like with campus buybacks, you will only be able to earn a small percentage of the final resale value of the book. 


The best way to earn more of the final value of your books online is to sell via direct person-to-person marketplaces (PangoBooks being one example). Some marketplace platforms require a bit of a learning curve to get started, such as Amazon and eBay. All of them will require you to take some time to create individual listings for your books, as well as ship them out when you make a sale. The advantage, however, is that opting to sell directly through a marketplace will allow you to set your own prices and earn you more money than a buyback program. With PangoBooks, we’ve tried to make the process as simple as possible (more on that later). 


A final option would be to sell your books to a used book store in your community or local classifieds. This approach can be a bit of a hit or miss as far as finding the right buyers. But if the book is for a class that gets taught every semester, you might have some luck finding an incoming student who will need it. 


Options on where to sell textbooks:

  • Campus bookstore buyback period
  • Online wholesalers and bulk buyers
  • Person-to-person marketplaces (like Pango) 
  • Local used bookstores and classifieds 

How to price your old textbooks

If you opt to sell your textbooks to a store or bulk textbook buyer, they will offer you a fixed price that’s significantly lower than what they will charge for the book when they resell it. If you plan on selling direct, however, you can set your prices and there are some steps you can take to ensure your listing is fair and competitive. 


To start, you should spend some time assessing whether or not you have the most recent edition of your textbook. If there are newer editions with additional material, your textbook will not fetch as much as the updated version. Significantly outdated editions may be better suited for crafting projects or collectors. 


If your textbook is the most current edition and is in good condition, you can base your price on the current used market and the original retail price of a new copy. Some marketplaces like PangoBooks will provide suggestions based on previous sales of more popular titles, but you can also check out used listings on other textbook sources like Amazon and Bookscouter to get a sense of what other sellers are asking. If you can’t find any other listings online, we typically recommend pricing your book at around 50-60% of the new price and lowering the price from there based on condition. 


You’ll also want to take shipping and platform fees into account when selling your books online. Consider who pays for shipping, whether or not there’s a cost involved in listing a book, and how much of a cut the platform takes for itself. For example, it’s always free to list your textbooks on Pango. We’ll only take a fee when your book sells.

Photo of a vintage science textbook open to a page with a black and white image of the galaxy above the heading "Fundamentals of physical science" from a Pango seller

What to include in your textbook listings

When selling textbooks on marketplaces like Pango, we recommend adding information to your listing to make sure that potential buyers have all their questions answered. As mentioned above, disclosing the edition of the textbook is key. You can do this in your listing description or you can add a picture of the title page or copyright page as well. On most marketplace platforms, you’ll have the option to include multiple images of your book. This is a simple and effective way to present needed information to folks looking at your listing. 


After a semester of use, your book might have some bends, scratches, cracks, or other sorts of conditional issues. Or maybe you’re the type of student prone to highlighting and note-taking in the margins. None of these things are deal breakers for resale, of course, but they should be mentioned and disclosed in your listing. While imperfections in the book can lower its value on the used market, there are usually students looking for these exact types of listings to stretch their book budget as far as they can.


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How to ship textbooks

Shipping textbooks can follow the same guidelines as shipping any other sort of book, and you can find out more about book shipping via this blog post. Feel free to use any sort of box or bubble mailer that will fit the book while eliminating extra space on the edges so the book does not rattle around too much in transit. Since textbooks tend to be heavier hardcovers, we recommend adding extra padding such as bubble wrap around the corners and space to help protect the book in transit. 


Generally, the most affordable way to ship textbooks within the United States is via Media Mail service from USPS. If you sell on Pango, we’ll automatically provide a Media Mail label based on the weight of your book, but you can also elect to purchase one at the post office if you prefer.

What to do with outdated textbooks

If your used textbook is tragically out-of-date or obsolete, the unfortunate reality is they are not likely to sell for all that much on the used market. That said, there are some creative ways to get these books into someone else’s hands. Here are some of our ideas! 


  • Bundle a bunch of books together. Create a listing with multiple textbooks in the same discipline for a great price. 
  • Do you have supplemental materials for this course? Consider including those with the textbook listing! Flashcards, worksheets, or even a class syllabus might be a welcome addition for the right buyer.
  • Suggest in your listing that buyers can repurpose the textbooks for crafting. Older biology books are especially awesome for artists and crafters! Make sure you tag these with #crafting and #vintage so the right buyers find your old textbooks.


Why sell old textbooks on PangoBooks?

No matter what sort of book you’re selling, on Pango, we’ve endeavored to create the easiest bookselling process possible. All you have to do is take a photo of your book, scan its barcode, and fill in a few details, and your listing will be viewable by hundreds of thousands of other people on Pango within minutes. Check out our selling guide to see just how simple it is to sell textbooks online, and then learn how you’re protected as both a buyer and seller.


Unlike selling textbooks on Amazon or eBay, PangoBooks also provides a shipping label and handles all customer service for you. All you have to do is pack your used textbook and drop it off at the post office or in a blue USPS mailbox. As a Pango bookseller, you can run sales or offer discounts just for your shop and list as many books as you want for free. Plus, you can rest easy knowing you’ve likely shipped your used textbook to another student and not a retailer who’s going to resell it. You’re keeping the textbook economy affordable for everyone – and you’re helping us all work towards a more sustainable world.


Ready to sell your old textbooks? Become a PangoBooks seller today!

Close up of a white woman's hands holding a stack of six textbooks

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