Where to Sell Used Homeschool Curriculum

I love books, but I know that selling used homeschool curriculum is a good thing to do. Here are some reasons.

Space is limited.

One can physically have only so many books. Sometimes older books need to find new homes, especially when you need to buy new curriculum for an upcoming school year.

Children outgrow certain materials.

Although we can always enjoy a classic picture book, elementary teaching materials are probably not going to be of much use with your homeschool full of teens. If there are no other little ones coming up, go ahead and sell those phonics series and counting bears to another mom who will use them. Why let them gather dust on the shelf?

Selling books provides money for buying new curriculum.

Buying homeschool curriculum is expensive, and if you need to buy new materials, selling your old things is a good way to offset that expense.

VegSource Grades 3-6 Used Books Board
This no-frills site is a great place to list books for sale. Look for the listings for grades 7-12 and a misc. section in the drop down menu on the left. (I have bought from but never sold from this site.)

Homeschool Classifieds
I've used this site to sell a few things. It's easy to use and free to list up to five items.

Hip Homeschool Mom's Free Homeschool Classifieds
This attractive site is a bit more complicated to use, but it's free, and easy to upload an image of your book. I have sold books on this site too.

Homeschool Reviews Swap Board
Another no-frills board that sees plenty of activity.

Paper Back Swap
Okay, technically this site is not about SELLING but swapping. However, if you need other books for your curriculum, this may be a low-cost way of doing it.

Well Trained Mind Swap Board
This forum for classical educators sees lots of action.

Price to Sell

Find a competitive price on Amazon or Rainbow Resource as a basis for your pricing guide. When buying used books, the buyer doesn't care that you paid $5 more than it sells at a discount store. If she can get it new for $9.99, she's not going to pay $8 used. Ask for no more than half of the new price. If the book is worn or has damage, go down to a third of the competitive price.

Include Postage in Price

The reason to include postage is that the buyer knows there are no hidden costs. This is going to seal your deal. There's a sense of being deceived when the seller comes back with added costs. Make it all plain upfront.

Use Simple But Durable Shipping Materials

I find the US Postal system wonderfully flexible. I've wrapped books in newspapers, secured with clear tape, and affixed labels. I've also used paper shopping bags as wrapping paper. Tape is the one thing you can't really skimp on. You do need very strong CLEAR packing tape.

Use Paypal

It is pretty much the primary way to receive payment for used homeschool curriculum. Set up an account. It's free, and it's safe. It's much faster than waiting for a check to be mailed and to clear the bank.