Buybacks: Why you get, what you get!

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Selling your books back at the end of a semester is a practice to help the students combat the rising cost of textbooks. While it is true that the amount of money being spent for textbooks gets higher every semester, buyback gives you the opportunity to get some of your money back.  Here are the 3 main criteria that we use when determining the amount you will receive.

1.      We give you the opportunity to get ½ the NEW textbook price 
    if:

·         We are using the textbook for a class on this campus next
semester. (A good way to find out if this is the case – ask your Professor if they have turned in their book order for the next semester. If they say they are using the same textbook next semester, but have not submitted their order – we will not be paying ½ the new price until we have their order at the store.)

·         We, also, may have a limit on how many of those textbooks we can buy based on enrollment for the next semester and the quantity we currently have in stock. Always use your best judgment when you begin to study for your finals, NEVER sell them back before the professor is done using them. If you’re not sure ask them.

·         If you happened to buy a textbook used at the beginning of the semester, that is being re-used on campus, the added bonus of getting ½ the NEW price, is that you actually get 66% of what you paid back for that book

2.      We give you the opportunity to get some of your textbook
    money back if:

·         We have reached our limit on what the store needs to fill our orders for the classes next semester.

·         The book is being used on other campuses around the country and can be purchased by a national wholesale company.

3.      You could get nothing back if:

·         There is a new edition of the textbook coming out from the publisher (most publishers have been coming out with new editions every 2 to 3 years).

·         If your book is falling apart or missing pages, it is un-saleable and therefore has NO value, even if it is being used on campus. Would you want to buy it?

·         If the item is a lab manual, solutions manual or study guides that have been written in, it can not be resold.

·         International editions purchased online through websites other than the Cop-op Store can not be resold.

·         If you have lost a required CD that goes with the book, once again, who is going to buy it if all the pieces aren’t there.

If you look at it rationally, if you purchase your books at the start of the semester and pay $350 for them and at the end of the semester you sell them back and get $140, then your textbook expense for the semester was $210. It’s still a lot of money, but it doesn’t look quite as bad as it did. Not something you could say if you buy your books online or at another bookstore.  Online companies don’t offer a buyback program and other bookstore’s offer you “funny money”, that can only be used there, to get you to come back and pad their pockets. If you do all of your business with the Co-op Store, the money stays right here, in a cycle, to benefit the students here at IUP. The fact that the Co-op Store is student owned makes selling your books back, a benefit to YOU and not some company using you to make money. That money will never come back to you through programs and grants focused to make student life better here at IUP.

Correspondence regarding this site should be sent to its maintainer, Hazel Hull, <Email>. 
Please see IUP's statement regarding pages that do not officially represent the university.