Amazon Wants Your Used College Textbooks

(MoneyWatch)  Just in time for the holidays, Amazon has launched a trade-in program for used textbooks.
In its announcement today, Amazon says it's developed an easy way for students to trade in their college textbooks.

Here's how it works: Head to Amazon's trade-in-textbook site and find the title that you own. Once you locate the book, you'll see what price Amazon is offering.
If the price is acceptable, you will then print a pre-paid shipping label -- that won't cost you anything -- and you'll use it to mail the textbook to Amazon. After receiving the book, Amazon will deposit a gift card in your Amazon account.

To see how this works, I grabbed one of my son's math textbooks -- Single Variable Calculus, Early Transcendentals -- which is used in Calculus 1 and Calculus II courses. I typed in the title and saw that Amazon is offering $42.65 for the used math textbook. The list price for this four-pound book is $180, but Amazon sells them new for $137.36.

By the way, Amazon only wants textbooks in good condition and they must be mailed within seven days of the transaction.

The Amazon textbook program is certainly convenient, but the gift card will be a non-starter for some. I'm sure most students would rather pocket the cash, but if they plan to buy textbooks from Amazon -- and this trade-in program certainly will encourage that -- then this could be a good deal.

Of course, there are other ways to deal with the high cost of textbooks. For instance, have you ever thought about renting textbooks?

Lynn O'Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution.

Further Reading:

Amazon.com's Kindle Taking Aim at Textbook Prices

The Best Colleges You've Never Heard Of

College textbook image by Wohani. CC 2.0.