At the end of every semester, students may find themselves with unwanted textbooks they were required to buy for their classes. There are a couple different options to help prevent these books from collecting dust and to help students gain some money back.
Tony Marcolina | Argonaut
VandalStore employee Claudia Wohfeil scans an incoming textbook Monday at the University of Idaho Bookstore. The VandalStore will be buying back used books Dec. 14-21.
The first option is to sell textbooks back to the VandalStore. It is the fastest and most convenient way to get rid of books before break begins.
In order for the VandalStore to buy back textbooks, the books must be adopted for the next semester — meaning a professor has let the store know they will use the same book of the same edition again.
“The condition of the book must be good,” said Cyndi Shropshire, an employee at the VandalStore. “Some of the things we look for in the books are water damage, broken spines and excessive highlighting or writing.”
Unfortunately, students will not receive the full amount they bought the textbook for. According to Claudia Wohlfeil, an employee at the VandalStore, students will normally receive about one-third of the original price.
The VandalStore is partnered with a national wholesaler that also offers money for textbooks they are looking for, which tends to be less than what the VandalStore offers. This is a good option if the Vandalstore has no need for the textbook.
Before going into the store, students can go online to see how much the VandalStore will pay for their used books, if at all. At the VandalStore’s website, students can go to the Vandal Books tab and click on Textbook Buyback. From there, they can enter the book’s ISBN, which is the 13-digit number on the back of the book. If the store hits their limit of the number of books they need for the next semester, the book will go to wholesaler price.
The VandalStore will start buying textbooks back Dec. 14 and will finish Dec. 21. Rented books are due by Dec. 23.
Another option for selling used textbooks is through online retailers such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble, which both buy textbooks and supply free shipping. Barnes and Noble will send a check once an order is received and verified and Amazon will send gift cards. They both determine the price of the book by looking at the future demand for the book and the current stock availability.
If for some reason a book cannot be sold, it can be donated. ASUI has partnered with Better World Books, an organization that donates used textbooks to developing nations that are in need of the books.
“Through this partnership, we can show a really effective way of recycling,” Wohlfeil said.
Two donation bins for textbooks can be found at the VandalStore.
McKenah Lesko can be reached at [email protected]