MACHINE DESIGN TEXTBOOK

 

I always find textbooks at garage sales and thrift stores, but rarely buy them.  However, when I do the payoff is usually VERY GOOD!

Here's my FOUR RULES for buying a textbook when I don't know if it will pay off:

1) Copyright date cannot be older than 2008.  Obviously, 2009 or 2010 would be better.

2) Very good condition.  Book can't be falling apart or have torn pages.  Highlighting is okay.

3) Has to be less than $2.

4) SPECIALIZED SUBJECT.  (NOT accounting, math, biology, general science, or literature.)

Let me try and explain more about TIP #4.   Textbooks that are for a particular field of study are usually expensive to buy new or used AND they don't get revised very often.  Almost every year the basic accounting textbook will issue a new edition.

For example, the textbook above caught my eye at a garage sale one day.  First, I noticed the condition was excellent and the CD in the back had never been opened.  Second, I flipped through the pages and realized that this was a "specialized" field of study.  I actually had never seen this textbook before or come across this subject.  BUT... it's copyright date was 2007.  Uh-oh!  That doesn't fit my "rules to follow".  Lucky, for me my home was just around the corner, so I was able to check the market and value.  I went back and bought it for $1 and resold it for $39.99.  Click here to see the listing.

So next time you see that box of old textbooks you may want to see if one of them is "specialized".  And, if you can negotiate a super low price, like 25 cents.... then why not?

I once sold one of my husbands old engineering textbooks on Amazon for $100.  It was about a very particular engineering subject and it was just sitting on his shelf.  I'm not sure if the price was too low since it sold in 30 mintues!  There wasn't any information on the interent ANYWHERE to tell me the value.  Oh, well!   Not bad for a book that had been sitting on a shelf for years.