At the end of every semester, I am left with a variety of textbooks that I will most likely never open again. I pile them up on an empty shelf in my closet and wonder what I am going to do with them now that I'm done with that class. The stack continues to grow taller. I am sick of seeing all the wasted money on textbooks that my professor didn't put to use once during the entire duration of the course—don't you love those mandatory $100 textbooks that we never open, said no student ever!

Buying textbooks is a vicious circle that all students get sucked in to. We buy books in August, and again in December, and then repeat until we graduate. By the end of our fourth year, we have more books than we know what to do with. I decided I would try and cheat the system and sell my old textbooks to make cash in order to buy new textbooks. I just couldn't justify spending hundreds of dollars on books that are used for five months, so I started using some of these sites and bookstores to sell my books to put some cash back in my pocket.

University Bookstore

Every college should have a bookstore where you can BUY and SELL books. The bookstore is convenient because it is right on campus, however, they tend to be on the pricier end when it comes to buying books we need for class. I don't know if it is because they think we are lazy and will end up buying the books from them either way or if that is standard for university bookstores, but I usually buy my books elsewhere for a cheaper price.

You can sell your books back to the bookstore, but again, they don't give you nearly as much money back as you should receive. If you don't care how much money you get back and just want the books out of sight, then this is the place to go!

Amazon

I buy my textbooks from Amazon and sell them back to Amazon almost every semester. They have great deals on textbooks and will usually give you a nice chunk of money back for textbooks you don't want anymore. The only downside to selling your books to Amazon is that you have to mail the books to them (they pay for shipping) and then have to wait for them to go through your books. If you don't mind the wait, then use Amazon and get some money back.

Barnes & Noble

I never knew Barnes & Noble bought back books until recently. They do have a $10 minimum to be able to sell back books, but most of us have hundreds of dollars worth of books. You can go to their website and get a quote for your books before you even sell them back. Like Amazon, you send them the books and then receive the money after they receive your books.

There are a ton of other bookstores that will buy your textbooks as well. I love selling my books back and having money to buy more books for the following semester. These sites work for all books, not just textbooks, which is also a plus! Now you can buy textbooks with a smile on your face knowing you can sell them back.