One of the most frustrating, incomprehensible things about textbooks occurs during end-of-semester buybacks. You take a book that you bought brand new from the bookstore for $140.00, walk up to their buyback table, hand it over & wait for the offer…

“We can’t buy this book.”

“What? Why? I paid $140 just four months ago!”

“Sorry, it’s going out of edition”

If you’ve ever been a college student & sold your textbooks at the end of a semester, you’ve at least heard something comparable. It may be that the book is changing editions, that the bookstore has reached their max-allowed quantity, or that the professor isn’t using the text anymore. But regardless, the bookstore won’t buy it back & as a result, there’s an extreme distaste for selling textbooks. Everyone talks about it around campus, on Twitter & Facebook, and in blogs or news articles.

“Selling textbooks is a rip off!”

“You only get pennies on the dollar.”

“My book was worth $140 in August. Now it’s worth nothing?”

Admittedly, sharing this frustration is what led me to start FreeTextbooks. I couldn’t figure out how, in a free market system & with other buying choices, the majority of Samford University students would file into such a tiny bookstore, stand in line for hours & pay full price for their textbooks.

Problem is, this is the situation at campus bookstores across the United States. So why do bookstores continue to get so much student business? Answer: location and peace of mind. You see, most students wait until they actually attend class to buy their textbooks, then they’re stuck when their professor says, “You need your book by the next class.” That doesn’t leave you many buying choices, does it? It’s Monday & you need the textbook by Wednesday? “Oh well, I’ll have to buy it at the bookstore.”

Back on topic – why is a book purchased four months ago worth practically nothing?

Because publishers frequently issue new, updated (often sparingly) editions. Why? To combat the used textbook market. Think about it – if a new Human Anatomy textbook is published in January 2010 and is adopted by 500 professors around the U.S. with an average class size of 50, the publisher will sell 25,000 copies. By August 2010, many of those 25,000 books are on the market as used, cheaper copies, which means the publisher may only sell 10,000 new copies. By January 2011, there are about 35,000 used copies floating around, causing publisher sales of new books to fall further. This repeats for the life of the book & publisher sales continue to decline each semester. So, in order to sell more books, the publisher puts out a new edition & makes sure those 500 classes adopt the new one. It’s a constant game of cat-and-mouse.

That tells you why books go out of edition, but it only leads us to the most important part. If you purchase a book for $140 and it’s worth nothing four months later, it’s mostly your fault.

What in the…? Are you serious?

Unfortunately, yes. Because that $140 book you bought at the bookstore was available elsewhere for MUCH less. How can you be sure? If it’s not worth anything, then it’s going (or already is) out of edition. If it’s going out of edition, it’s been in print for at least three semesters. If it’s been in print that long, there are plenty of used copies available all over the internet. How much are they? A fraction of what the bookstore charges.

Here’s an example:

Mario Triola’s Elementary Statistics updated to an 11th edition just after the start of the August 2009 semester. For many colleges, the 10th was required for fall classes, as the 11th wasn’t in full distribution yet. Your bookstore’s new price was $149, and it’s used price was $99. But the market for the 10th edition was sinking in anticipation of the upcoming 11th edition, which means it’s real value was closer to $35-40. In August, FreeTextbooks sold the 10th edition for $33. At time of writing, the 10th edition had a used marketplace price of $11.79, but if the 10th edition is still required this January, your bookstore will still be selling it for $149 and/or $99. Why? Because bookstores adhere to strict pricing strategies no matter what the market conditions are (see previous blog post, How Your Campus Bookstore Makes Money).

We anticipate getting a lot of questions about how books are valued during buybacks this year, so I hope this helps answer some of the most common questions. Some of our angriest customers are those that purchased books at their bookstore, then get furious when that expensive book is only worth $8 or so at FreeTextbooks. Well, $8 > $0 & our price was a lot less to begin with. Since our prices are set by the entire used market, you always get the “best-case-scenario” for buying & selling books.

In closing, we know it’s frustrating. Very frustrating. But we’re here & trying to help by selling for less and buying for more. Plus, tell a few friends and get $5 per referred buyback. There’s an easy way to boost your total…

Beat your bookstore. Use FreeTextbooks.

________

Coming up next, we’ll revisit how books are valued, what drives buyback values, and most importantly, how FreeTextbooks beats your bookstore & other online buyback sites.

Questions or comments? Let us know below!

It seems that all college students, current or former, have been angered at the cost of their college textbooks. According to the U.S. PIRG, textbook prices have increased at four times the rate of inflation since 1994 and now cost students an average of $900 per year. That’s as much as 20% of tuition at an average four-year institution and 50% of tuition at a community college. While textbooks are a necessary cost for your higher education, most students are left wondering why they cost so much. Adding to that frustration is the simple fact that you, as a student, have no say in the matter – a professor assigns a book and you’re required to purchase it. So, is it the professor’s fault for assigning an expensive book? Or the publisher’s for making it so expensive? What about the bookstore’s for charging so much? Surely they’re making some crazy profits, right? Each of these is an article by itself so for now, let’s talk about how a college bookstore gets their books and calculates their prices.

Getting the Books

Don’t you wonder why your bookstore only has a few used copies of a book when there are countless available online? Here’s why – once professors notify their bookstore which book(s) they’ll use in their course, the bookstore places a bulk used book order with their used book wholesaler. One of four big-time wholesalers can control a bookstore’s operations & distribution: Nebraska Book, Missouri Book, Follett, and Barnes & Noble. Typically, a campus bookstore will sign a multi-year contract with one of these companies. Once bound, the bookstore will request the desired number of books based on class enrollment. The problem arises consistently, as every company only has a set number of used copies available.

Here’s an example: let’s say your bookstore needs 50 copies of Psychology, 2^nd edition by Ciccarelli, ISBN 0136004288. Let’s assume they’ve contracted with Missouri Book Service to provide their used books and that MBS has 600 copies of this book. If MBS has contracts with 500 bookstores around the U.S. and 60 of those request 50 used copies of Psychology, what happens? Every bookstore can’t get 50 because there aren’t enough to go around. So, your bookstore might get 10 when they need 50. Where do they get the other 40? Brand new from the publisher.

So, on the shelves, they have 10 used copies and 40 new copies, priced at $91.10 and $137.00, respectively. Better hope you’re one of the first ten.

Pricing the Books

Once a campus bookstore builds their inventory for the coming semester, they adhere to standard pricing guidelines that are practiced in virtually every campus bookstore.

Here’s the big secret – campus bookstores make more on the sale of a used book than a new book.  Why? Because new books have a standard mark-up of 20-25% whereas used books have a standard mark-up of 33%.

Let’s look again at Psychology, 2^nd edition by Ciccarelli, ISBN 0136004288.

New book

Cost to the bookstore, sold by publisher: $102.75 – 109.60.

Cost to student: $137.00

Used book

Cost to the bookstore, sold by used wholesaler: $68.50

Cost to student: $91.10

So how is Free Textbooks able to consistently beat the bookstore, selling books at 30-90% less? Because we build inventory from a variety of sources – wholesaler accounts, bulk resellers, marketplace sellers, and student buybacks. Doing so allows us to get any quantity of used books then pass these on to students.

Hope that helps!

Questions or comments? Post your thoughts below… 

What is Free Textbooks? Founded in January 2009, FreeTextbooks.com is an online textbook buyer and seller with a real-world presence at the University of Alabama, Samford University, the University of Alabama-Huntsville, Auburn University, and Troy University. We sell for less, buy for more, and offer a unique cash back program (so you can earn free books).  FreeTextbooks.com is also a social venture, helping to meet the underprivileged’s most basic needs – food, clean water, clothing, education, and health.