Any student attending college or university will have a long list of, allegedly essential, books to buy. Only half of these books will ever be read to any extent and after the year is over the books are never used again. They will sit in corners or clutter up cupboards.

There is an enormous market in pre-owned college books. It is organised formally through bookshops and websites, and informally through college notice boards. Students will usually be able to buy the books they need at far below their new cost, once they start their course.

Bookshops and online bookshops will buy textbooks at the end of the year for a pittance, because there are no buyers in the market at that time. These companies hold onto the books for two months, and then sell them for the new, higher market price at the beginning of the new college year.

If you are selling last year’s books the best way to get most of your money back is to hang onto them until the new college year starts, then advertise them on campus.

If you want to buy your next year’s books for the best price then ask around, even advertise on campus, or throw a website together and buy them at the end of the academic year or semester, not the beginning. You could even make a business of this. You could borrow money to buy hundreds of books in early summer, buying your stock for next to nothing.

You then sell your stock in the fall, realise your profit, pay off the loan, and still have enough to buy books the next season without borrowing.

You need to do your research with the faculties to find out which courses are changing significantly, which ones are expanding numbers and which courses will be taking on less students next year.