rant: college book stores suck!

[amdskip]

Does everyone else here hate college book stores and how they are the biggest freakin rip off? Some books you pay $40 for and then they offer you like $2 because they aren't using that book next semester. I realize they need to make some money but talk about a rip.

I decided to sell all of mine on amazon this time and avoid the book store. I go entering all books and look at my rating level after selling like 6 books so far. I have one freakin rating and its a 1 from a chick who was pissed that she bought the wrong book from me and I wouldn't take it back. She claimed to tell me like 3 hours after she bought it but it was actually the day after and it was already in shipment, jeez! Hopefully with my crappy feedback people will buy this round of books from me.:disgust:

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

yup, it sucks, luckily I only have to buy two books this semester, one at ~$17 and the other at ~$95. Last semester it totalled ~$290.

 

[MrBond]

Might try Half.com for selling books too.

I don't mind selling back books I've used a lot. My calc book served me well for three semesters and I got back like $67 for it, which was half what I paid new. Other books rarely get opened and then the damn university decides not to use it again

 

[Nocturnal]

How was the condition on the majority of you guy's books? Mine, it's crappy as hell sometimes. I don't even bother selling it back because it looks kinda trashed. I don't trash it or anything, it's just that when it's in my bag, I guess the corners get bent up and what not.

 

[wyvrn]

I look at books as part of the college expense. You aren't going to get anything back for them in most cases, they just add 10% to the cost of your education. I keep mine because they are worth more to me as a reference than the $5 each I am going to get back for them.

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal
How was the condition on the majority of you guy's books? Mine, it's crappy as hell sometimes. I don't even bother selling it back because it looks kinda trashed. I don't trash it or anything, it's just that when it's in my bag, I guess the corners get bent up and what not.

I try to keep the condition of my books in good order, but I don't hesitate the least if I feel the urge to highlight something.

 

[Semidevil]

I brought 2 books for 60 USD and they offered to buy it from me for 8 USD.......man....talk about rip off....then, I had to buy 2 electrical circuits book, which cost a total of 210 USD......

I try not to sell the *important* books....but for stuff like "english 101," or "world music," I'll give them for 5 dollars if I have to.

 

[ScottyB]

They were going to give me $3 for a hardcover book that I paid like $60 for, I told them no, then I sold them a paper back novel for $7.50 that I paid $10 for. It didn't make any sense. The hardcover book was also printed this year so they will be using it for a while.

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

Originally posted by: ScottyB
They were going to give me $3 for a hardcover book that I paid like $60 for, I told them no, then I sold them a paper back novel for $7.50 that I paid $10 for. It didn't make any sense. The hardcover book was also printed this year so they will be using it for a while.

you would think so at least. But new revisions come all the time, and if you already purchased a bunch of books, they have no reason to buy back your used textbook. It sucks, we know.

 

[wnied]

With the internet and the ISBN book listings on it, why would you worry at all about paying retail for a book you need for class? Ebay or amazon or Half.com have tons of books, and if your not totally sure if you have the right book, you just simply look up the ISBN # in a search engine and ~VOILA!~ you'll find what your looking for. Any book I needed for class - I've found online at infinitely cheaper prices.

Screw the College Bookstores and their "captive audience" sales stradegy.
~wnied~

 

[AreaCode707]

Prices are just the beginning. I had a class this quarter where the bookstore STILL didn't have the book in, seven weeks into a ten week quarter.

 

[wyvrn]

Revisions are made to books sometimes with the sole purpose of generating more sales. Many professors write text books and receive royalties, and the only way to keep the royalties coming is to make minor revisions to the original and release it under a new volume number. I had two professors in college who admitted to doing this on purpose.

 

[notfred]

I don't even buy a book anymore until the professor actually starts making assignments from it. I've had too many "required" books that I've gone an entire semester w/o using.

 

[BD2003]

When I tried to sell my books this semester that sneaky little bastard scanned them all and gave me a price. Of course when I ask which ones cost how much, he went over it real quick (30, 2, 45, 4, 3, 4). Of course I kept the books he was giving me less than double digits for. Watch out for that.

 

[Apathetic]

Yup, it's a scam. I recommend only buying new books for you major (when given the choice) and used books for everything else. Let's face it, the only books you're likely to keep are the ones in your major. I despised my book store. Now, 12 years later, I still despise them for ripping off students.

Dave

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: notfred
I don't even buy a book anymore until the professor actually starts making assignments from it. I've had too many "required" books that I've gone an entire semester w/o using.

I learned that lesson quickly. Worst part is that my school's bookstore changed the return policy so that you couldn't get a full refund without proof that you dropped the class it was required for. So if you bought the required books, the first day of class the prof might tell you "Nevermind. Return this book if you bought it" and you're screwed.

Freaking scam. And owned by BN. Like BN needs to rip off college students to stay in business

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: wyvrn
Revisions are made to books sometimes with the sole purpose of generating more sales. Many professors write text books and receive royalties, and the only way to keep the royalties coming is to make minor revisions to the original and release it under a new volume number. I had two professors in college who admitted to doing this on purpose.

I have levelled this accusation on a few occasions. At my school they have it down:
Every student is required to take a useless class: Society Ethics and Technology.
The book was written by 2 campus professors who also happen to teach the class.
The book is released in a new edition every year. The bookstore will not buy back old copies. THEY DON'T EVEN CORRECT TYPOS!
So you just borrow a friend's book, right?
Then they include with the textbook, a unique login to some on-line research site which is required to complete one of the assignments. The login is only good for a semester. A friend's book is useless b/c you still won't have access to the research site. Naturally, you can still share a friend's login THIS semester, but somebody still has to buy the book and subscription brand new.

This is nothing more than a scam to guarantee sales of at least 1500 copies a year.

 

[Sid59]

Originally posted by: Jzero

Originally posted by: notfred
I don't even buy a book anymore until the professor actually starts making assignments from it. I've had too many "required" books that I've gone an entire semester w/o using.

I learned that lesson quickly. Worst part is that my school's bookstore changed the return policy so that you couldn't get a full refund without proof that you dropped the class it was required for. So if you bought the required books, the first day of class the prof might tell you "Nevermind. Return this book if you bought it" and you're screwed.

Freaking scam. And owned by BN. Like BN needs to rip off college students to stay in business

book stores charge up the butt. It sucks. I was getting a blue book for an exam and i looked through and they had an HTML BOOK for sale and the sticker for the price said. "retail $44.99 : OUR PRICE $54.99" .. uhhh, there's seriously something wrong with that.

For that simple reason, i haven't bought books in 2 years. I never use them, so i save myself money. Just pay attention a bit more in class.

I don't like waiting in huge fricking lines to buy school books.

 

[brtspears2]

Textbooks are a scam already.

 

[Vadatajs]

Being a computer science major, I usually keep all of my books. I've found that they come in handy later on. It does piss me off, however, that my gen-ed books cost $100+ and I'm lucky if I get half that back.

 

[DiamondJ]

Originally posted by: notfred
I don't even buy a book anymore until the professor actually starts making assignments from it. I've had too many "required" books that I've gone an entire semester w/o using.

Mee too! The college bookstores work ya over worse than a prettyboy in the state pen.

 

[Lithium381]

i hate bookstores.....i just paid 185 today for two freakin' books, when i sell them back i'll get maybe 40 bucks....no joke about a rip.....i'll probably see them on ebay or something

 

[psianime]

I go the half.com route. It's a b!tch to ship out the stuff and pack it, but it's well worth it to resale items at almost 100% (if you bought the book from half.com). I spent about $100 this Winter for books. Laste qr. was about $200. I never buy paperbacks online since shipping kills and they get here to slow.

-psianime

 

[OutHouse]

funny you mention this. Yesterday i got in a cleaning mood and spotted about a dozen college text book i have been hanging on to. the book store didnt want them because they were last semesters edition. So I kept them just in case I need a reference, and i just couldnt throw out 500 bucks in books.

yesterday after sitting on a shelf and collecting dust for 7 years they met their fate, in the trash they went.

 

[LS20]

the dumb thing is that our official bookstore is a CO-OP, and yet they rip you off.

the only co-op part of it is their profit sharing, where, after they rape you by selling all merchandise at 150% price, they give you back a 2% discount (off your purchases) at the end of the year