When you need to buy or sell your textbooks each semester, you have several choices. Do you return your books to the bookstore like everyone else? Do you burn the books to keep warm? These are choices that you have to make.

Here is a list of a few choices you have, and the pros and cons of each choice. Hopefully by the end you'll agree with us that COC Underground is the best choice for you.

Before now, there were only 3 options for selling your books:

- Return your books to the bookstore (including online bookstores like amazon.com).

- List your books on an auction site such as eBay.

- Advertise your used books on the COC bulletin boards.

Each of these methods has their own strengths and weaknesses.

Selling back to the COC bookstore:

Strengths: It's the easiest way. You don’t have to worry about your book not selling or deal with the hassle of shipping or working out the price.

Weaknesses: You only get 50% of your purchase price back, if they buy it at all. You can only sell back when they have their buyback program (usually during finals, which makes things even more complicated).

Conclusion: This is a great option for someone who has run out of places to sell and is desperate to get their book off of their hands. Not so great for people who actually want to get some money back for their initial investment.

Selling on eBay or other similar sites:

Strengths: Bidding increases purchase price. It's easy to talk with the buyers through eBay's messaging system.

Weaknesses: Price is not guaranteed, and you could end up selling for much less than you hoped (like happened to me). eBay, PayPal, and shipping fees will take a large chunk of your money too.

Conclusion: While eBay is well known for its ability to provide many bidders on an item, the fees can be a killer, and sometimes you won’t even get the price you wanted.

Posting on COC’s bulletin boards:

Strengths: It's free. You will sell locally, so there are no shipping costs. There is no obligation to sell if you don't get a good offer. You have the ultimate control over your asking price.

Weaknesses: It's hard to get your ad noticed. The boards can be cluttered. There is no organization to the boards. You are limited to a single piece of paper and 30 days.

Conclusion: The COC bulletin boards are an excellent way to save money while selling your books, but of course the less money you’re willing to spend, the more work you’ll have to do to compensate.

Then of course, there’s a new option, COC underground.

Strengths: It's a local market so you won't have to deal with shipping. Your listing will be active for up to 30 to 180 days. It's super convenient - use it from anywhere you have internet access. You can sell your books on your own terms. Best of all, you'll be helping a fellow COC student save money on their textbooks!

Weaknesses: Well, people have to actually use the site! It wouldn't work if nobody came to look for their books now would it?

Conclusion: COCunderground.com takes the strengths of the other options and rolls them into one, while practically eliminating the weaknesses! Hopefully you agree and are ready to get those books off of your hands.