Review- Amazon Textbook Trade In

Sometimes pregnancy-nesting can be a lucrative thing. After having stacks of books in my house from school that I was ready to just toss, I was told about Amazon.com's Textbook Trade In. The steps are simple, you only have to find your books by the ISBN, select Trade In, then pack up and ship for free with a printed label. I had used their marketplace before and still have books listed that I have been trying to sell for a year.

I was happy with my experiences selling on Amazon, I sold a lot of the books that I had listed and in about a year I made $206.92 by selling only 8 books, and this came to me as cash in my bank account that could be spent on anything. Though that was helpful at the time, there were also downsides to doing it that way. I had to wait around until I got an email that something had sold, then ship it asap (at my own expense up front). This meant there were times that I would have to run to the store for an envelope before paying for shipping at the post office. By the time payment would clear in my account it would be just added into the money that was available, so it did not feel like I had any "extra" in there for my efforts. There were also times that the selling price was so low that after paying for the shipping and packaging, I only netted a couple dollars for my effort.

Since I have many that have still not sold, I did not want to wait around for another year to only sell a few. Instead, I listed 10 newer books and mailed them in on May 21st. Today I got the email the 9 of the 10 I sent were accepted and that pile that was just taking up space in my house has been turned into almost $200 in Amazon Gift Cards. In less time I made the same amount as I did when I waited a year and had to individually list, pack, and mail books. Though this is not given in cash form, Amazon offers a variety of things including grocery items, baby items, and more. This money has to be separated from my usual income, so it will feel like the little effort I made did result in something extra.

I checked the books that I still have listed on Amazon, and only have about $10 worth of books. There are some that aren't even in the system because I waited so long to list them. I plan to cancel all my listings, pull aside the books that are eligible for Trade In, and donate the rest.

If you have any books taking up space in your house, I encourage you to check Amazon and see if you can turn them into something you can really use :)