Today, I went to the local used books store to sell all my college textbooks. I spent several hundred dollars on them in total. I ended up walking out of the shop a pathetic $3.50 richer. FML
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Autumn: Leaves and Laughter
When the leaves fall, the laughter rises. Discover autumn stories as crisp as dried leaves!
Today, I bought my very first college textbook. I received a stack of hole-punched papers. My $195 "book" isn’t even bound together. FML
Today, I discovered that my parents rooted through our house looking for junk to sell at a garage sale. They sold all of my books from my bookshelf. When I freaked, out my mom said 'well you never read them'. There was about $300 hidden between the pages of those books. They made $60. FML
Today, I started at a new college. I bought my textbooks and went to my first class only to find out that they changed my schedule without telling me. I'd already opened the book. I could not get $200 back. FML
Today, I was at work when my mother called. She gave me great news that she had finally cleaned out my room and all those "old and useless" books that I had in there. Those "useless" books that she had just trashed were all antiques and worth about $500 each. There were 27 books in there. FML
Today, I had to listen to fellow classmates whine about selling one of their many houses, while I can barely afford to pay for a $100 textbook. FML
Today, I left for college. I spent hundreds of dollars on clothes, bedding and other things. After packing my entire closet and everything else I needed, I left only to have to head back home. My dad forgot to pay the first semesters tuition. He said "Oh well, you would have failed out anyway." FML
Today, I lost a book. I'd used my credit card as a bookmark. FML
Today, I had to spend all of my money on textbooks even though my refrigerator is empty. Starving and frustrated, I called home to ask for money for groceries. My mom told me I could afford to skip a few meals. FML
Today, I was mugged while on my way to the bookstore. I'd saved up for months to make a mega-purchase of study materials for my major, only for it to be taken away in a few seconds by some lowlife thug. FML
Today, I bought a textbook for my college class. Not only is the £150 book only sold by our teacher, it turned out to be a piece of shit that he obviously wrote, printed, and stapled together at home. When I went to the faculty about it, I was told it's all perfectly legal, and to drop it. FML
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Top comments
Markg1994 0
You should have asked to clarify whether she said "$350" or "3.50".
saksxalmo 20
This is why you always buy textbooks secondhand... I learned that the hard way.
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Comments (161)
Markg1994 0
You should have asked to clarify whether she said "$350" or "3.50".
ohSNAPyall 26
For real. They offered $3.50, but you didn't have to accept it.
oj101 33
You're right- second hand books should always be sold at half it's original price unless a new edition with slightly different content was released, and then it should be 20%. There are rules established to guarantee a fair rate of return. When I sold mine, I got 50% back for books I bought as second hand the year before and one didn't sell as no-one wanted a study guide with notes indie.
cashidler 3
So she profited 3.50??
inzunza 5
Haha OP's name had my dying :D
TheStormsFury 8
48- $3.50 richer doesn't mean profit. it means OP went in with books and came out with $3.50
dannyfont 5
63- I think it does mean profit, unless you are saying the books were worth nothing
Hiimhaileypotter 52
#85- It still wasn't a profit though, because she bought the books for a couple HUNDRED dollars and she only got $3.50 for them. She didn't make a profit.
dashizam 10
85- She sold the books for $3.50, if it were a profit it wouldn't be a FML. Plus, I've never met a used book salesman, that in this day and age, would pay OVER what the book is worth.
plum_lovin 28
You should have sold them on Amazon... may not have given you as much as you bought them for but it would sure be better than $3.50.
kultyre 7
At my garage sale my friend was selling his Beats by Dre for $350 and a lady tried to give us $3.50
trevishere 7
My Mom had bought the entire hardback "Left Behind" series for over $150. We went to a used bookstore and got 12 bucks.
Busybeth98 16
132- Seems fair.
scarperwins 1
Go to a different place? Dumbshit...
saksxalmo 20
This is why you always buy textbooks secondhand... I learned that the hard way.
khan7864u 4
Or u could just rent them
saksxalmo 20
^True, but if you damage/lose them, you have to pay as much as if you bought them. The truly sinister thing about textbooks is that even the ebook versions are hundreds of dollars now. >:(
Osito2011 9
That's what I do. Then after I'm done I post the on Craigslist.
spekledworf 18
Or you could download the ebook from the pirate bay for free
Cmdr_Shepard 17
I always try to buy used as well because I often save 70-80%. But lately, professors at my school are assigning textbooks with access codes to programs like MyMathLab, and they're actually requiring students to use them. Not only that, but you can't buy access codes "used" so I have to shell out $30-$40 extra. I suspect that my college is doing this on purpose to make students buy and sell only at the college bookstore and it's a rip-off.
lil_ham1644 29
Valorebooks.com buy/sell books there. They give you around 79%-80% back
ThatFunnyGy 2
Wow. You are really bad at bargaining.
MEM0817 18
They're just as bad at grammar too.
happle 21
I don't see why anyone would accept such a terrible offer...
lambda_fml 40
But he's exellent at barlosing ;-)
GroovyGravy 7
That goddamn loch ness monstah! Allways after that tree fiddy!
KaeporaGaebora 4
You give him tree fiddy he's gonna assume you got more!
operatorerror 2
It's called selling online bro.
MrSassypants 33
I find selling to the black market is better. You sell the History books to potheads since; they'll trip out when they find Abraham Lincoln isn't a vampire slayer, the Chemistry books to meth dealers; so they can create it better; the English textbooks to any drug dealer; since ain't noting wrong wit teaching em some grammar, your Economic textbook to drug lords; pretty self-explanatory, and your Biology book to poachers.
sens3sfailing 24
sooo, in short, I should donate my books to drugs?
Callyn 47
The college's bookstore would have decent prices too. Anywhere would have been better than a used book store.
gribbles 12
Yeah. I deff have to say YDI. Sell em to someone for next semester, though, I do realize they change textbooks literally almost every year. But you could have made more than 3.50.
yankfan89 27
The college bookstores only have good prices if you are the first one to sell the book back. What I do is buy on Amazon and then sell back to the university on the first day they start buying them back.
GothicAngel17 24
You should have donated them to someone who didn't have enough money to buy them but still needed them then.
GothickNihilist 15
When I moved recently, I donated all my books from college to the local high school. Their appreciation was more then enough reward.
Migole 36
Then why did you sell them at all? I wouldn't sell any book for that price, not even the bad ones :o You could always try selling them at a different place or make an ad. Or as the person before me suggested, donate them to people who can't afford a couple hundred dollars.
comment11111 39
especially considering not one but several books have been sold resulting in 3.50
PenguinBitch 43
Sell them at eBay or craigslist. You set up your own price and won't get easily run over with such a low price. 3 dollars and 50 cents? That's pathetic op.
jayellef 3
Every semester I sell my books on eBay, amazon, or Craigslist. I don't make all my money back but a good 80-85% of what I spent. It must be OP's first semester.
MeowZebraMeow 7
You do realize you had the option of NOT selling them, right?
howdeedoo 22
But then OP wouldn't have had any compensation at all
DontClickOnMe 28
Yeah, it sucks selling your used books. They're usually not worth much. That's why I usually buy used ones and then I sell them on Amazon.com for a decent price.