Best Time to Sell Your ASU Textbooks (Timing Is Everything)

Timing Your Textbook Sale Is More Important Than the Platform

A lot of students focus on where to sell their textbooks — campus bookstore buyback, Amazon, Chegg, Facebook. But the more important question is when to sell. Timing affects both how fast your book sells and how much you get for it.

Here's the honest breakdown for ASU.

The Best Window: One to Two Weeks Before Finals

Counterintuitive but true: the best time to sell is before finals, not after. Here's why.

Buyers fall into two categories:

Students who planned ahead and buy at the start of the semester
Students who procrastinated and suddenly realize they need the book when the final exam is approaching

Category 2 buyers are motivated. They're not price-shopping as carefully. They need the book now. That's leverage — and it disappears the moment finals end.

If you can part with your book before you've finished studying for finals (ideally after the last midterm), you capture the best price. Many students take a photo of key sections they still need or use library reserves for the final stretch.

The Second-Best Window: Week One of the Next Semester

The start of a new semester brings a fresh wave of buyers. This is when students are first learning what their professor actually expects, checking syllabi, and comparing prices.

If you missed the pre-finals window, list your books on ASU List on the last day of finals or immediately after. Position your listing to appear in searches when next-semester students start looking.

What Happens When You Wait Too Long

If you list your books in the middle of summer or a few weeks after finals, a few things happen:

Competing used copies from other students flood the market
Buyers have found alternatives — rental, library access, a friend's copy
You're competing against the campus bookstore buyback, which has already priced the market down
The next semester's course might have switched editions, making your copy less valuable

The longer you wait, the worse it gets.

Campus Bookstore Buyback: Avoid It If You Can

The campus bookstore buyback program is convenient but consistently offers the lowest prices — often 10–20% of the book's original price. They can only take copies they know they'll resell, and they have strict condition requirements.

You will almost always do better selling directly on ASU List or Facebook Marketplace. The exception: if the book is obscure and you've tried for weeks to sell it yourself. Then buyback is better than nothing.

How to Price Your Listing

Check the current lowest Amazon used price for your exact edition. Set your price 15–20% below that. Buyers know Amazon prices and expect a discount for local, no-shipping convenience.

For high-demand books (intro course textbooks, heavily used major requirements), you can price closer to Amazon — demand will absorb it. For niche upper-division texts, price aggressively to move it before semester-end.

Listing Tips That Actually Help

Include the ISBN in your listing — buyers search by ISBN to confirm they have the right edition
Note any highlighting or writing. Honest listings build trust and reduce back-and-forth.
Include the course number it was used for — "Used for MAT 265" tells buyers exactly what they're getting
Respond quickly. A buyer who doesn't hear back in a few hours often moves on

The Math of Good Timing

A textbook you sell in week 13 of the semester at the right price beats a textbook you try to sell for three months after finals. Students who are systematic about timing — listing before finals for each semester's books — typically net $30–80 per textbook versus $5–15 from a bookstore buyback or a delayed, low-competition sale.