Text-book buyback

PiKA2001 · #1 04-28-2003, 03:14 PM

Dont you love it when you spend $300 on new books and when the semester's over you get this response,
" I'm sorry, we are going to be useing a new edition next year. You get nothing back!"

The best was this the Humanities text that the bookstore sold out of, had to wait a week for the book to get in, spent $90 on it and now when I try to sell the bastard they tried to give me $3 for it! What the hell! For the headache that I spent trying to get the book i'm gonna keep the bastard!

texas*princess · #2 04-28-2003, 03:30 PM

sell them on www.half.com

some other school out there is probably still using it!

Optimist Prime · #3 04-28-2003, 03:41 PM

i got nine dollars back for all the books I bought.

lindsay_iu · #4 04-28-2003, 04:51 PM

I work at my school's bookstore, so I know all about the buybacks. A lot of times you get nothing for the book is because there is a new edition. Other times, the professors haven't requested their books for next semester, so that lowers their value. And the last reason you get nothing back is that some books just aren't being used anymore.

It truly is a pain in the butt. But please don't take your frustrations out on the clerk! We have nothing to do with the prices.

And I know how you feel because I'm a student too.

FiReKraCkEr · #5 04-28-2003, 05:08 PM

I just got from the bookstore. I got exactly $20 for $350 dollars worth of books....that's some messed up sh*t....

Atleast I can go out tonight and party that my semester is OVER!!

Munchkin03 · #6 04-28-2003, 05:42 PM

I've actually had pretty good experiences with this...usually I get 85 dollars back on $200 in books. By the end of the semester, I'm just so excited to get the damned things out of my life that they can give me 50 cents for them.

I notice that social science texts, at least in my department, tend to be used over and over again.

sigmanuzk · #7 04-28-2003, 05:44 PM

My first semester freshman year I spent nearly $400 on books and only got $100 back. Since then I follow these rules.

1. Wait as long as you can to buy the books for a class especially the ones with like eight books. I wait to see If I actually need the book or if it is for reference use only.

2. Most of our professors keep books on reserve in the library. I go in there and check it out, not only does it save me money but since you can only check it out for an hour it makes me actually use the book rather than let it sit in my bag unread.

3. I'll always buy used, if I can.

4. If you know what classes you are taking next term buy the book from a friend of yours for five bucks more than the bookstore will give them It'll still be cheaper than buying a used copy from the store, your friend gets five more dollars and next term you can sell it back and get more than half of your money back.

It is really cheap of me to do this but hey when books are $75++ if you can avoid buying even one that's quite a bit of money.

What really pisses me off about the bookstore at Fresno State is that when they discontiue our books they buy them back for $5 and turn around and sell them to anoher school for $35+.

Kenny

OrigamiTulip · #8 04-28-2003, 05:58 PM

I spent $180 dollars on books for my 2 classes this semester, and when I went I went to sell them back, they offered me $1.50 for one of the books, and nothing for any of the other ones. Grrrrr.

AXJules · #9 04-28-2003, 06:01 PM

The same thing happened to me..............so go to TextbookX.com.
I made about 50 bucks off 3 books, even though there are still a few I couldn't sell. Was very easy, too.

aephi alum · #10 04-28-2003, 06:42 PM

I used to sell my texts privately (those that I didn't want to keep as references) to people who were taking the same course the next semester/year. Did pretty decently that way.

A few of my professors used lecture notes rather than hardcover textbooks. Sometimes they were online; other times you had to go and buy what amounted to a stack of paper (sometimes bound, usually not) for between $5-$20. That was sweet

except that you then had to sit there hole-punching everything and putting it into a binder.

I once took a course where the prof was writing his own text, so he made us buy drafts of the text at about $10 each. By the following year, he'd published the text, and the poor students had to drop $200+ each on it. Nor could they reuse the drafts, because he'd changed the problems.

MoonStar17 · #11 04-28-2003, 06:54 PM

Im glad I am not the only one who has dealt with this...

GRRRR for a while i thought it was only my school...

this year i got 40 dollars back for almost 300 dollars worth of books....

so i took that 40 dollars and spent it celebrating at the local bar that the semester was finally over....had to turn that bad thing into a good thing

juniorgrrl · #12 04-28-2003, 07:00 PM

For all of my law texts sI spent about $1000 last semester - and they don't buy those back at all. Plus, b/c LA hs a fferent type of law than the rest if the US, they wouldn'tell too well online

smiley21 · #13 04-28-2003, 07:16 PM

i was thinking ealier today that i wanted to start this thread. this morning i took 15 books to the bookstore. i walked out with eight of the books and sixteen dollars!! i was pissed! i had a brand new book for my education class (a new edition for this past semester) that i paid $100 dollars for. the lady at the counter said that she cant take it back because there is new edition coming out in june! WTF?! so now i am starting a collection of textbooks that i have to keep

dont you love it when a text book is only worth $.50...great now i can buy half a coke can

kddani · #14 04-28-2003, 07:41 PM

Everyone, seriously check out selling them on half.com and/or amazon.com
And for buying too.
It's really easy, and you definately get a lot back for your money.

I listed 5 review books last for my law classes, when I came home this afternoon, 2 had sold already.

SATX*APhi · #15 04-28-2003, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by smiley21
i was thinking ealier today that i wanted to start this thread. this morning i took 15 books to the bookstore. i walked out with eight of the books and sixteen dollars!! i was pissed! i had a brand new book for my education class (a new edition for this past semester) that i paid $100 dollars for. the lady at the counter said that she cant take it back because there is new edition coming out in june! WTF?! so now i am starting a collection of textbooks that i have to keep

dont you love it when a text book is only worth $.50...great now i can buy half a coke can

What you do is don't sell them back! You really won't miss the $16, right?? The book store will make hundreds off of your books though. If all you get back is pocket change, I say tell them never mind. Screw them like they screw you!