If you scroll through secondhand book listings on BookMandee, you’ll notice something. The descriptions are often detailed. The descriptions are straightforward, occasionally apologetic: ‘Used for one year, some pencil marks but readable,’ or ‘My daughter has moved to the next class, book in good condition’.
These aren’t professional sellers. They’re parents.
Six out of every ten school book listings on the platform come from parents clearing out textbooks their children no longer need. The remaining 40% includes students listing their books, occasional bulk sellers, and a small number of teachers or tutors offloading extra copies.
This breakdown comes from profile data, listing behaviour, and message patterns tracked over several months. The classification isn’t perfect (some parents create accounts in their children’s names, some students list on behalf of their parents), but the directional finding is consistent and that says the vast majority of secondhand school books being sold are coming from households.
That changes everything about how the market actually works.
Why this matters if you’re buying old school books
When you’re considering a used book, some of the first questions in your head is:
- Can I trust this?
- Is the condition as described?
- Will the seller actually show up for the exchange?
- Is this person reliable?
The fact that most sellers are parents shifts the answer in a few meaningful ways.
- Parents care about their reputation, even in small transactions
A mother listing her son’s Class 9 books isn’t running a business. But she’s also not indifferent to how the transaction goes. She lives in the same city, possibly the same neighborhood. Her child might attend a school where other parents are also buying and selling. Word spreads quickly in parent networks, and no one wants to be known as the person who misrepresented a book’s condition.
That social accountability, informal as it is, creates a baseline level of reliability that’s harder to find in purely transactional marketplaces.
- The books are usually exactly as old as claimed
When a parent says ‘used for one academic year’, that’s typically accurate. They’re not trying to flip books for profit or inflate their value. They just want the shelf space back and maybe recoup a fraction of what they spent. The incentive to deceive is low, and the detailed descriptions tend to reflect that.
Buyers notice this. In feedback and message exchanges, parents frequently mention that the book they received matched the description more closely than they expected, particularly.
- There’s context behind the listing
A parent listing books often knows more than just the title and price. They can tell you whether their child found the book helpful, whether it’s still aligned with the current syllabus, or whether the school they’re selling from follows a particular edition.
That kind of incidental information doesn’t always make it into the listing, but it comes out in conversations, and it can be surprisingly useful when you’re deciding between multiple options.
Which books are parents actually clearing?
Not all books get listed. The 60% figure represents what makes it to the platform, but there’s a selection process happening at home before that.
- Core textbooks come first
NCERT books, standard references, and prescribed readers are the most commonly listed. These are the books parents feel confident selling because they know there’s steady demand. They’re also the ones taking up the most space on shelves.
- Guides and question banks follow
Titles like Oswaal, Arihant, or RS Aggarwal see high listing rates, particularly after board exams when students no longer need them. Parents recognize these have resale value and are quick to list them while they’re still relevant.
- Workbooks and activity-based books rarely appear
These are consumables, written in and completed. Parents know they can’t be reused and typically discard or recycle them rather than attempting to list.
The timing is predictable, and that helps buyers
Because most listings come from parents, they follow the academic calendar closely. There are clear seasonal peaks that buyers can anticipate and use to their advantage.
- March and April see the highest volume
Exams have just ended, results are in, and parents know their children are moving to the next class. The window between exam completion and the new session is when most households do their annual book purge. Listings flood in, and buyers have the widest selection.
- June sees a second, smaller spike
This is when new booklists arrive, and some parents realize they have old editions or extras lying around. It’s not as large as the March-April wave, but it’s meaningful, and prices tend to be slightly lower because sellers are competing with the peak season overflow.
- October and November are quieter but still active
Mid-year transfers, subject changes, and students switching boards create a trickle of listings. These tend to be more specific (a particular edition, a regional board textbook) and attract buyers with niche needs.
Knowing this rhythm can help. If you’re buying in early April, you’re in a buyer’s market. Lots of supply, motivated sellers, room to negotiate. If you’re buying in July, the selection is thinner, but the urgency is lower, and sellers who are still listing are often more flexible because they’ve been sitting on inventory for weeks.
Read More: Competitive Exam Books Record 1.6× Higher Repeat Demand
How parents price, and why it’s usually fair
Used book pricing is one of the trickiest parts of selling them online. Too high, and no one bites. Too low, and you wonder if you left money on the table. Parents, for the most part, land somewhere sensible.
- A ₹500 book gets listed at ₹200-₹300, depending on condition. This isn’t scientific. It’s intuitive. Parents check a few other listings, see what similar books are going for, and price accordingly. They’re not trying to maximize revenue. They’re trying to move the book without feeling like they’re giving it away. Many of them also use our online price estimate calculator to set the price.
- A two-year-old book in excellent condition often gets priced higher than a one-year-old book with heavy annotations. Parents understand that usability matters more than recency, and buyers seem to agree. Well-maintained books move faster, even at slightly higher prices.
- Parents list at a price they think is fair, but most are open to small adjustments. A ₹250 listing might close at ₹200 if the buyer asks politely. The back-and-forth is rarely contentious. It’s transactional but civil, which keeps the process pleasant for both sides.
The challenges parents face as sellers
While the figure above suggests a thriving supply of parent-driven listings, it’s not always smooth on the seller side. Parents new to listing books often run into a few common friction points.
- Writing descriptions is surprisingly time-consuming
Do you mention every pencil mark? Do you specify the publication year? How much detail is enough? Parents often overthink this, either writing too little (just the title and price) or too much (a paragraph explaining their child’s study habits). Finding the middle ground of writing listing descriptions takes a few tries.
- Coordinating pickups can be awkward
Setting a time, finding a neutral meetup spot, and managing last-minute cancellations – these logistical details can feel disproportionately complicated for a ₹300 transaction. Some parents list once, have a frustrating experience with a flaky buyer, and never list again.
Platforms that simplify these pain points (better description guidance, templated descriptions, streamlined scheduling tools) may see higher repeat listing rates from parent sellers.
What buyers should know when dealing with parent sellers
If you’re buying from a parent, a few small courtesies go a long way.
- Be specific in your enquiries. Ask about the exact condition details you care about. If highlighting bothers you, ask upfront. If you need the book by a certain date, mention it. Parents appreciate clarity because it saves everyone time.
- Confirm pickup details early. If you agree to meet at 5 PM, show up at 5 PM. Parents are often juggling school runs, work, and household schedules. Keeping your word on timing makes the transaction smoother and builds goodwill.
- Don’t haggle aggressively on already-fair prices. If a book is listed at ₹200 and similar ones are going for ₹250, asking for ₹150 feels unreasonable. Parents aren’t professional sellers trying to maximize margins. They’re just trying to clear space. Respectful negotiation is fine. Lowballing isn’t.
- Leave feedback or a thank-you message if the platform allows it. It takes two seconds and means more to parent sellers than you might think. Most aren’t doing this regularly. A simple acknowledgment that the transaction went well encourages them to list again when the next set of books outgrows their usefulness.
Why this ecosystem works
The fact that 6 in 10 school book listings come from parents isn’t a limitation of the market. It’s actually what makes it function as well as it does.
Parents bring authenticity. They’re not trying to game the system or inflate value. They’re offering books their children genuinely used, in conditions that reflect real-world academic wear, at prices that feel reasonable because they’re set by people who were recently buyers themselves.
This creates a level of trust that’s hard to replicate. When you’re buying from a parent, you’re not wondering if this is a scam or if the book will arrive as described. You’re pretty confident it will, because the person on the other end has no reason to mislead you and several reasons (social, reputational, simple decency) to be honest.
As more parents participate on both sides, as sellers one year and buyers the next, that trust compounds. The ecosystem becomes self-regulating, not through formal mechanisms, but through repeated, low-stakes interactions that work out well more often than not.
It’s not perfect. There are still mismatches, miscommunications, and occasional frustrations. But the foundation is solid, and it’s built on something simple: parents helping other parents solve a recurring problem, one book at a time.
Data source: Observations drawn from anonymised listing and user behaviour tracked across the platform over a defined timeframe. Numbers reflect aggregated patterns and have been rounded for clarity.
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