# Damn You, College Bookstore... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 4, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425 "2006-05-04T18:44:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425/1 "2006-05-04T18:44:45Z")
…damn you to hell!! I spend something like 600 bucks on books and just got done taking half of them back. So far, I’ve got $23.50 for the trouble. Yes, my ass is bleeding. I was expecting something like…40 to 50%, and realistically looking at it somewhere around 40%, but damn! Maybe I should have just kept it all and added to the bookshelf back home (except I don’t want to lug the additional hardware home and over two bridges and through Canuskistan to do so.) Gr. ---
**Author:** ![eric\_lawstore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@eric\_lawstore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eric_lawstore)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425/2 "2006-05-04T19:11:10Z")
You were expecting??? I think in many used bookstores, expecting around 30% or so of the price at which they’ll attempt to sell the book is the very maximum one can expect. College bookstores, well – you might as well burn the books for fuel, a la Boheme. What grinds me is that university bookstores seldom offer significant discounts on used textbooks, vs. new – a couple of bucks, relative to the price of a new textbook. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425/3 "2006-05-04T19:14:16Z")
This is why I use [Half.com](http://Half.com) to sell most of my books. I’ve been known to sell books to the bookstore (especially after the spring semester) but I get much better returns from Half. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425/4 "2006-05-04T19:29:16Z")
Ah, another disillusioned freshman. Wait until you get to the part where they tell you they can’t take your chemistry book back because it’s the 6th edition and the prof is using the 7th edition next year, which has 5 words changed. ---
**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425/5 "2006-05-04T19:37:15Z")
I’ve used both [Bookbyte](http://bookbyte.com/) and [eCampus](http://ecampus.com/)’s buyback programs to sell my books and did pretty well. Although the buyback rates are good at both places, I’m still waiting for my check from eCampus (I sent my buybacks in back in November and they’re still listing it as processing.) Bookbyte got my check to me pretty quickly. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425/6 "2006-05-04T19:44:17Z")
Our bookstore _says_ they’ll give you whatever % of a book, but they never do. I sold back around $30 worth of books today and got $2.25. I was surprised I got anything back. It just sucks when your book is brand new and perfect then they tell you, “We’re not using this anymore.” Fark you, this book is perfect and I paid $110 for it and it was BORING. Argh. I’m hoping my Nutrition and Communication books give me a decent amount. They cost me about $200 together, and they are both very recent or brand new. ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425/7 "2006-05-04T19:44:48Z")
Hmm, I stopped buying text books after around the third semester of university. It seemed much easier to just a) borrow the silly thing from the library, or b) just look things up with google or wikipedia (or asking the Dope 🙂 ). I understand the second choice probably won’t be possible for very obscure or technical fields, but I’m a finance major, and there a millions of websites out there that explain the Black & Scholes option pricing formula or mortgages or cost of capital calculations at the undergraduate level. In fact, I just grabbed the one book I will need for spring semester from the university library yesterday and plan on using it for the course. I’ve bought a few textbooks, but these are books I plan on keeping for the future, like the _Income Tax Act_ and whatnot. FWIW I’ll be graduating after this last course (knocks on wood). ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425/8 "2006-05-04T20:53:10Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > Ah, another disillusioned freshman. Wait until you get to the part where they tell you they can’t take your chemistry book back because it’s the 6th edition and the prof is using the 7th edition next year, which has 5 words changed. No, no. Not freshman. Senior. I thought I was going to get the members’ bounce or something. Harumph. ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425/9 "2006-05-04T22:03:17Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > Wait until you get to the part where they tell you they can’t take your chemistry book back because it’s the 6th edition and the prof is using the 7th edition next year, which has 5 words changed. Which points the finger at the real villains of the piece: not the bookstores, but the publishers. It’s the publishers who make secondhand textbooks worthless by cranking out endless new editions with minor tweaks. I handle scientific textbooks every day, and I’ve learned that “thoroughly revised and updated” from a publisher is about as meaningful as “thoroughly renovated” from a landlord. I’ve seen a second edition that was entirely identical to the first edition as far as the text went; it was a new edition because a CDROM with some of the illustrations on it was now pasted in the back. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425/10 "2006-05-04T22:54:47Z")
> [@ryobserver](#): > > I’ve seen a second edition that was entirely identical to the first edition as far as the text went; it was a new edition because a CDROM with some of the illustrations on it was now pasted in the back. A CD-ROM which, by the way, will get lost by everyone who buys the book within two weeks because the professor doesn’t care it’s the second edition and doesn’t have you use the CD-ROM. And when you try to sell your book back, you find out that they can’t accept it without the CD-ROM. :mad: And another thing that sometimes changes with editions are the problems. I was an engineering student, and it would never fail that after the first homework assignment was handed back, a few people would wonder why they got remarks like, “What problems are these?” and, “what edition are you using?” because they bought their book used online for from a friend who took the class a year before. Now they spent money on that book, and have to decide to buy the SAME BOOK again, or go the whole semester having to borrow someone else’s book just to do the problems, usually after they are done with the problems, which could be as close to an hour before class. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425/11 "2006-05-05T00:02:51Z")
> [@ryobserver](#): > > Which points the finger at the real villains of the piece: not the bookstores, but the publishers. It’s the publishers who make secondhand textbooks worthless by cranking out endless new editions with minor tweaks. I handle scientific textbooks every day, and I’ve learned that “thoroughly revised and updated” from a publisher is about as meaningful as “thoroughly renovated” from a landlord. I’ve seen a second edition that was entirely identical to the first edition as far as the text went; it was a new edition because a CDROM with some of the illustrations on it was now pasted in the back. That may be true for some books (and I’ve been a student too, so I feel your pain), but there are also subsequent editions with substantial changes. God knows I’ve plowed through hundreds of pages’ worth of authors’ chicken-scratched handwritten revisions – adding explanations, updating information, revising the pedagogy (boxes, examples, etc.), correcting figures and diagrams, and so on. Believe me, some of the textbooks I’ve worked on, I WISH there weren’t so many changes. So yeah, even though those new editions are my bread and butter, it would be nice if the buyback system could be fixed to make things a little easier on students. Scarlett, college textbook copyeditor/proofreader ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425/12 "2006-05-05T00:15:29Z")
So, **Scarlett** , you show your face here in this thread??? How dare you!! You’re working for the enemy!! Now that your nasty, sordid little secret is out, you textbook-worker, you, you will be our double agent! You are to slide in some "Hi Opal!"s in every single book and more references to death rays, particularly of the 1920’s persuasion. Now go forth and be fruitful! ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425/13 "2006-05-05T01:32:34Z")
> [@ryobserver](#): > > Which points the finger at the real villains of the piece: not the bookstores, but the publishers. It’s the publishers who make secondhand textbooks worthless by cranking out endless new editions with minor tweaks. In some cases, though, the publishers’ main aim in bringing out new editions is to comply with the requirements of those using the book, especially is the textbook if a crossover book that can be used for college freshmen as well as high school juniors and seniors. I’m currently doing a bit of contract work for the publisher of a history textbook that is used in high schools, junior colleges, and four-year colleges in the United States. I’m helping with content for the book’s accompanying website. The book is currently in its third edition, and i know one of the authors, and he says that he and his co-authors are currently working on the fourth. The thing is, if the publisher doesn’t get the authors to update the book, a lot of the potential market will begin to see the book as out of date, and buy a different text. If the publishers could continue to sell the same edition, without going through the time and expense of updating every few years, they probably would. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425/14 "2006-05-05T01:56:28Z")
During finals week, our school gives 50% of what you paid (assuming they are buying back whatever you have). My best quarter, I got back $200 (of the $400 I paid)- the worst quarter, I got back $50 on the $300 I paid (they weren’t buying back most of what I had. . . assholes.) Anyway, it sounds like your school is full of jerks. It’s just like getting poodle-balled without the requisite, follow up skunkin. Jerks. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425/15 "2006-05-05T05:11:08Z")
Poodle balled? Darling, I got Don King Balled. well, I think I win the award for “It Couldn’t Come Out ANY Worse”. And I accept! I think they threw in the skunkin’ on my accord. Probably paid for with my hard-earned monies. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425/16 "2006-05-05T05:41:26Z")
My undergrad university in Australia had (probably still has) a non-profit student-run used bookstore where all books were sold on consignment. You took your book to the store, set the price yourself, and once it was sold the store would keep 10% of the sale price to cover overhead, returning the balance to the seller. Once a year, at the end of the academic year, the store would hold a sale where all books would be offered at half their marked price. If you, as a seller, didn’t want to sell your book that cheaply, you had to go to the store to retrieve it. I think it was a great system. Allowing students to set their own prices prevented bitching about prices, and allowed the seller to balance possible returns against the chance that the book would sell. Set the price too high, and no-one would buy it. Buyers also often had a choice of multiple copies of the same book, and could compare prices and the condition of the book in order to choose the one that seemed the best value. This also allowed people with different priorities to make their choices accordingly; some folks hate buying books with underlining and markings, and are willing to pay more for a clean book, while others don’t care about markings and are happy to save money. The once-yearly half-price sale ensured a good turnover rate, and allowing sellers to opt out and retrieve their books meant that no-one got screwed. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425/17 "2006-05-05T06:02:27Z")
I’m surprised you haven’t encountered this crap before, **Least**. It happened to me every quarter at college. Somehow, being around me caused books to lose between 75 and 90% of their value. I heard about [Half.com](http://Half.com) my senior year, sort of too late. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425/18 "2006-05-05T06:21:06Z")
Another place to sell textbooks is [amazon.com](http://amazon.com), which posts your set sale price + postage stipend - percentage (I forget what percentage they take) into your checking account in a week. You can see how other sellers are pricing their books before you price yours. However, if the book doesn’t sell in the first week of the quarter/semester, it probably won’t sell. And, yes, I know that different schools have different schedules. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-you-college-bookstore/355425/19 "2006-05-05T16:04:06Z")
> [@ryobserver](#): > > Which points the finger at the real villains of the piece: not the bookstores, but the publishers. It’s the publishers who make secondhand textbooks worthless by cranking out endless new editions with minor tweaks. I handle scientific textbooks every day, and I’ve learned that “thoroughly revised and updated” from a publisher is about as meaningful as “thoroughly renovated” from a landlord. I’ve seen a second edition that was entirely identical to the first edition as far as the text went; it was a new edition because a CDROM with some of the illustrations on it was now pasted in the back. As a college teacher, I get annoyed by the frequency with which new editions of textbooks appear, both for my own sake (I have to go through and revise page numbers and exercise numbers on homework assignments, in-class examples, etc.) and the sake of my students. Last fall, I got an e-mail from a publisher sales rep proudly announcing that the new 6th edition would be available for spring, of a textbook that was on its 2nd edition when I first started using it about 10 years ago. I replied back that I wasn’t going to be teaching the class in question in the coming year, but that if I were, I would seriously consider switching textbooks altogether since I’d have to switch to a new edition anyway. In response, I received a passionate defense of the practice of frequent new editions: > [@textbook publishing guy](#): > > But I have to be honest, not only do we have to revise books to improve them, but we do face the fact that after two years, we have virtually no sales of the new edition. … if we would not revise frequently, we could not sell enough books to support the kind of book students want nor the ancillary package that is required by instructors. Thus, we are in the middle of a catch-22. > Students want all the students support they receive, they want 4-color books, and instructors want the full package of instructor supports. > Without those the book would not sell, but then we are criticized because we have to price a book to a certain level or revise it frequently. (For what it’s worth, I personally don’t generally request or use the “anciliary package” or “instructor supports.”) There followed several paragraphs ranting about how little students spend on textbooks compared to what they spend on tuition, cell phones, video games, etc.; the challenges facing college publishers today; and how we in the US seem to be losing our passion for education.