Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Selling Back Textbooks



This is pretty just my personal rant about reselling my textbooks back to my school. To me it seems like such an unfair practice, but people still just accept it because of the convenience. To start with they charge you ridiculous prices for the books in the first place. And then they act as though allowing you to sell them back is some great favor, when they're just gonna take them and sell them next year to students for more outrageous prices. The profits they make off of these books must be high since they can keep on repeating this process year after year. I could make more money by selling them online to people for less than the school would sell them for, and then I make more money and the new students pay less. But I, and probably the majority of the students here won't do this. Allowing the school to buy them back is just so much easier. On my way to class I pass at least three tents that will buy my textbooks for a fraction of their worth, and since I'm lazy I know that I'll do it. It's an infuriating system to think about, but since all people like me do is complain about it but not actually do anything, I don't see it changing anytime soon.

28 comments:

  1. That's kind of stupid, ripping off there own students, right?

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  2. I know, it is such a hassle to deal with. I completely understand.

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  3. Most important thing i learned in college is to how profit off the textbook. now i just need to write one.

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  4. If schools actually wanted to help the students economy they would promote e-books.

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  5. Yeah they defo rip you off .

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  6. Yeah, that's why it's not changing any time soon :P I've used amazon the times I had to buy/sell, but never at school...

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  7. Once I saw how bad I was gonna get ripped off selling back my books, I decided to keep them. Now I have a home and 4 bookcases full of books.

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  8. I always kept the good ones and sold the others on Amazon. Not TOO much work, and gave me a few extra bucks for other activities.

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  9. i hate having to get rid of my old books. so much effort and such a hassle

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  10. nice blog, and nice design, i rly like it :)

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  11. It does suck that schools sell them back for a profit, but for many students who can't find other buyers, it's better than nothing.

    Interesting post! I enjoyed reading it!

    Looking forward to more, definitely following :)

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  12. It is highly unfair, if only they had a textbook "rental" service.

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  13. woa, I should do this. i have a stack

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  14. Always hated getting raped on textbook sell backs.

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  15. I can definitely make some money off of any circumstance you present me with. And that's all I gotta say.

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  16. I had over 90 pounds of old CS textbooks to sell back... walked away with $0... they needed the textbooks but they wouldn't buy them. What a Gype!

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  17. Amen to that shit.

    Can't wait to get a fraction back for mine!

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  18. Here is a million books. "Here is one hundred dollars."

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  19. It's easier to resell than to sell online

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  20. @Al3xaG I agree. Ebooks are the way to go.

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  21. be a smart student... don't buy books... you can find everything online.. or in other universities' slides.

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  22. I'd rather sell them back for a little bit less and not have to go through the hassle of selling them myself.

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  23. Starting school after summer, cant wait for the pricey books.....

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  24. New follower! I sooo agree, shopping for textbooks always puts me in a foul mood for the rest of the day, so I never do it on a weekend! I remember back when laptops were becoming more affordable, & thinking 'Finally! We can just buy digital copies of textbooks, save loads of money & kill less trees!' Well, today e-texts cost just as much, & I'm mad.

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  25. It's harder, but much better to just sell to a freshman.

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  26. ITs a rip off too many people are profiting from students

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  27. I stopped buying my textbooks from the Uni bookstore after 1st year. Ever since I bought everything from half.com or amazon and I've been selling them back the same ways. It's cheaper for other students out there and it's more profitable for me in the long run.

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