I would also be interested to hear if anyone has a better idea how to dispose of used textbooks at the end of the semester. From what I have seen, textbook buyback services offer you a very small percentage (15%?) of resale value. I have had quite good luck reselling used textbooks on Amazon, for about what I bought them for (or more) if they were already used, and you really only have to come up with a condition and a price. It is not hard to check to see what the cheapest one of comparable condition sells for, and price yours the same (or a penny less), and then they usually sell quickly because of how many customers they have. Yes, I am usually out the shipping and Amazon commission. This is for any book that sells for more than $3.99 - less than that and it you might as well donate it and take the tax deduction, post it on PaperBackSwap if it is light, or keep it as a trophy. YMMV. :-)
So far, I still think buying used physical books and reselling them is cheaper in the long run than either using electronic books or textbook rental, as long as you can trust yourself to remember to sell them within a year. They do devalue fairly quickly if you keep them too long, of course.
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