[rant]

Textbook buybacks have to be the biggest scam that universities pull on students.

I know that it's reasonable for the bookstore to want to make a profit, but I feel totally burned when a book that was brand new for $75 only sells back for $2. After that, the university will turn around and sell that same book that they paid me less than a pittance for for around $50. Thats $48 profit per book. I get shafted big time and the university bookstore makes a killing. Textbooks are one of the few commodities that you pay full price for and have it depreciate to almost nothing in a matter of months.

I would expect not to get much out of an independent bookstore, since they have high volumes of books (High supply) and extra expenses to meet such as their lease, but for a government-subsidized store I would have expected better. ($10-$25 for a large expensive textbook would be more like it instead of $2) I spent a few years at a community college and they always gave you better deals on returns.

I went in with a stack of 10 books that cost me well over $270 at the beginning of the semester and only got $22 when I sold them back today. (after standing in line for a half hour I just wanted to get rid of the books since my arm was getting tired and couldn't carry them for much longer. Not many stores would give you a better deal and when you list on Ebay or amazon there's a chance it won't sel land you're stuck with it) Some of them were used but most of them were new. Next semester I'm keeping the books and taking my chances on Ebay.


The best part: The university has a drive-thru book return in the parking lot that was jammed solid with cars that zig-zaged up and down 5 parking rows. You could wait in line in idle mode for at least an hour and burn up 25% of your fuel and still get shafted. Also, they have it all roped off with those plastic parking barriers, so once you get in line you can't leave if you change your mind. Awesome.


Also, this very same bookstore nearly always under-orders books every semester so there are shortages for a few weeks for at least one volume that I need. I'm not about to pay a textbook scalper for an overpriced copy so I have to order it online and wait for it to come. Thanks a lot, CSULB.

[/rant]

So.... how do your universities handle this? Do you get a raw deal too or do they treat you somewhat fairly?

wow, your bookstore sucks. It's not that bad at RIT, I usually seem to make decent money with buyback, lately it's been 40-50% of what I paid. Of course, I still have books that they decided to not renew, so there's $150 down the drain...

Yeah, I get a lot of those too. Unfortunately, they're almost always expensive books or paperback novels that I no longer want that I had to read for some class.

Our bookstore is genreally a ripoff, but I still got $35 for a $75 text...

I don't sell my books back.

Buy textbooks online when possible..it's much cheaper.

yeah, ours is a ripoff, but not quite that bad. Though I sold back a $125 book, a $10 book and...I can't recall how much the other one was and I only got about $40 this semester. Sucks, but the expensive one is slightly useless without the workbook... though now that I tihnk of it, I paid 35 for the workbook.

What I hate is that the majority of my books couldn't be sold back, because we write in our theory books (and we're using them next semester anyway) and I had 2 workbooks, and they don't buy back smaller books, so 2 choral conduncting books and 4 Revolutionary Europe were out of the question. so while I spend probably a good $200 at least, I only got about 40 back.

I got about 75% back. I didn't even open my C++ books (And got an A in the class without going. Did all of the programs in the first week and was done with it.) and got full price back.

Although, most kids at my school use ebay/amazon JUST before classes are starting, and sell their books for at least twice the amount the bookstore would apy.

If you can't get good money at your bookstore, sell them on Amazon.

Our bookstore isn't too bad usually. This year was the worst actually, where I only got like $45 for three books (but they were cheap and paperback to start with). Was kinda pissed that they wouldn't accept my expensive math book, but apparently a new edition just came out.

I can remember back during my freshman year making a killing though. Getting around 75% back on lots of books like my chemistry, calculus, and digital logic books. Really depends on what classes/what types of books you have. That's generally how it goes with freshmen classes that a ton of people have to take though. Not so much with classes that rely on LISP reference books...

I didn't feel too bad about keeping a lot of the books I had this semester. Books like Aeneid, Iliad, and random philosophy look good on a shelf.

Buy and sell online, saves you so much money. I had a friend which made a PROFIT selling the same book he bought online.

Yep. Everyone gets a better deal that way.

The Cal bookstore blows. The books are really expensive and the buy back isn't too good. Fortunately, right across the street, there's an independnt store that gives much better prices on buy backs and used books.

Also, when I can't get a decent price on a book buy back, there are some online places to sell books that might give a better price or buy books that your bookstore won't buy.

I'll be selling mine on my own, not selling it back to the bookstore

I kept all my civil/structural ones, got a good tenner or so back for most of them, and the one that got taken off the book list I just gave away to a stranger - someone who was moving into the house I was just leaving was an engineer too so I just gave it him.

Thanks to a scholarship, I get my books for free, and if I want to keep them, I have to pay the buyback price, which is about 20-25%. Great deal for me, totally shafts everybody else.

We have an independent bookstore about 2 blocks away from the uni one, it helps prices a little bit, but not a lot. My friends typically buy off the internet, they get the eastern india edition, or something, same book, in softcover, black and white, and says not for sell in north america.

sell them yourself, or try the students' union

edit: for 2 dollars why didn't you just keep it

Depending on where I go, I get 50-60% of my money back. It's roughly as good as Amazon and Ebay; I just save myself the trouble and sell them back directly to the store.