How to Make Extra Money Selling Old College Textbooks

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The minimalist revolution in my household has official kicked off!

We just sold our first item online for some extra income. Granted it wasn’t all that much money and I think I got hustled by listing the item too low. However, I am totally pumped to list another item, and another, and another!

I never realized that selling stuff online was so addictive?

I Got Hustled

Getting hustled was totally my fault. I listed the item for sale too low and somebody jumped on the opportunity.

After doing a little spring cleaning at our home recently, my wife and I realized that I had a bunch of old college textbooks lying around in our attic. Since I forgot we even had them, I decided to see if we could sell them to make a little extra cash.

Remember, I am looking to scrape and claw to fund our investment challenge account. Selling unwanted items like this textbook is all part of our plan to fund this account.

I started looking around on different websites to see how much a couple of my text books were worth. The textbook I decided to sell was listed on a few websites going anywhere from $20 to $40 it seemed like. I didn’t think that was too bad for a book that was 10 years old!

I actually found the price tag on the book from when I purchased it back in college – $75! I remember having textbooks even more expensive than that.

Anyways, I decided to get my feet wet and list the book for $19.99, which was a penny cheaper than the lowest listing for the same book.

Now it is important to point out that I was comparing the selling prices for the textbook in similar conditions. My book is still in very good shape but does have a little wear and tear to it – but not all that much.

My Listing

I listed the textbook for sale on Half.com and within 3 hours it had sold. It kinda of surprised me as I have had mixed results selling other items on eBay, Amazon, and Craigslist. I haven’t sold anything in a couple of years but I was pumped when I got the email about my sale.

Then I started second guessing myself. What if I just got hustled? What if a hustler more experienced than I played a little online arbitrage on me?

That could have been the case or it may have been a young college student who I helped save a buck.

Either way, I am happy I made the sale and this little bundle of money ($19.99 minus commission) is heading straight for my investment challenge account.

Final Thoughts

Selling unwanted items online serves two purposes. First off, it helps me adopt more of a minimalist lifestyle. Why keep a bunch of clutter around our home on items we don’t use? Selling items like old college textbooks helps my family reduce our storage space in the attic of our home.

The second benefit from selling unwanted items online is to generate an extra income stream. While I probably won’t be able to retire from selling off things around the home, I know I can make a decent amount of cash. All that cash will then be used to fund our investment challenge account to buy more dividend stocks.

Can’t wait to list my next item!

What do you sell online? Have you ever been hustled? What have you learned from selling online?

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