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Amazon Textbook Buyback or Cash for Textbooks – Your Best Option?

It is the time of year when lots of textbook companies are hoping to buy back textbooks to sell back in the fall.  As someone endeavoring to get the highest price for your textbooks should you attempt to get cash for textbooks or try the new Amazon Textbook Buyback program which only offers Amazon credit?

Cash for Textbooks or Amazon Textbook Credit?

Amazon has been heavily pushing their Amazon Prime program to college goers via their Amazon Student Savings program.  Amazon Student offers free two-day shipping on eligible products with a year of Amazon Prime shipping benefits and other special offers via email.  Amazon offers this program for free to students that provide their school, major, and .edu email address.

Amazon claims students can get back up to 70% back on their used textbooks, but haven’t recently gotten into some legal action with the National Association of College Stores over their claims.  The Amazon textbook buyback program has been getting good reviews here at RentScouter with the program building a great deal of popularity despite only offering credit.  However, since Amazon sells everything from diapers to gourmet food, people are generally pretty happy with getting credit when they sell back books instead of cash for textbooks.  Plus, Amazon’s buy back program offers a great deal more than most companies offering to buy back textbooks.

Let’s look at a couple examples of cash for textbooks versus Amazon textbook buyback credit:

9781416056171  Physical Examination and Health Assessment by Jarvis

Amazon is currently offering $71.10 in credit, while the next best textbook buyback price is $9.00 from BookByte.  The cheapest price for this textbook is currently $15.63 used on Amazon.

9780495800187  A Concise Introduction to Logic by Hurley

Amazon is currently offering $56.86 in credit, while the next best book buyback price is $7.84 from Moola4Books, while it can be purchased used on Amazon for $16.00.

9780321558145  Campbell Biology with MasteringBiology 9th Edition by Reece

Amazon is currently offering $95.00 in credit, while TextbookRus is offering $103.00 and it can be bought as a used textbook for $141.95.

As you can see, sometimes you can get more cash for textbooks than Amazon credit, but are textbook buyback companies and Amazon equal?

From our own textbook trade-in tests to Amazon they are very picky on condition and supplemental materials.  They will reject most books that contain any sort of marking or do not include a CD or DVD or even access code.  Meanwhile, most companies that buy back textbooks will certainly take books with a reasonable amount of marking or highlighting, though most will not take textbooks missing required CDs or DVDs.

How does Amazon offer so much credit instead of cash for textbooks?

Amazon’s textbook buyback program is run by NorAm International which ultimately becomes Nebraska Book Company (NBC) one of the largest wholesale textbook companies that supplies new and used textbooks to hundreds of college bookstores across the nation and textbook rental companies as well.  NBC can offer more for textbooks through Amazon only for school books it knows they can resell for a much higher price, or sell to a book rental company that will offer it as a textbook rental several times.  So while you are getting a good deal of Amazon credit for your textbook trade-in, whoever has to buy that textbook next is not getting a bargain.

That is why a used book might be selling used on Amazon for $15.00 and they are offering $70.00 in credit – because NorAm is offering Amazon more because the book can be resold at a higher price, or used as a textbook rental several times.  However, remember that Amazon often loses money on certain products to make money on others, and they know if they give you $70.00 in credit, they are making 15% back in the commission they charge on every item you purchase on Amazon.  They also know that by giving you Amazon credit they are helping to retain you as a future customer that will spend more and more money with them – for instance, buying new textbooks that they will make a pretty penny in commission.

Cash for Textbooks or Amazon Textbook Buyback – if you need the cash get the highest price, otherwise you probably make out best with Amazon credit unless you don’t order much from Amazon.

Half Price Books has an aggressive plan for buying back used college textbooks and selling back those books online.

With headquarters in Texas, the family owned chain of over 110 bookstores is starting a pilot program in nine of its stores to become more active in the used college textbook buyback space.  Half Price Books has always allowed students to sell books and textbooks for cash at their locations.  Students have sought out school book savings at their stores for years, despite Half Price Books (HPB) not having an inventory system, but now HPB wants to draw in more students and see how much of the multi-billion dollar textbook buying and selling market they can garner.

How does Half Price Books stack up to the competition?  Their stores are generally located in malls and more suburban locations, but they have around 20% of their stores near college campuses.  This compares to the over 800 college bookstores operated by Follett based in Oakbrook, Illinois, and the over 600 stores operated by Barnes & Noble – the two largest bookstore companies serving the textbook market.  The National Association of College Stores (NACS) indicates the following:

59 percent of college textbooks are still purchased at bookstores or their websites

26 percent of textbooks are purchased online at venues like Amazon or Chegg

15 percent of remaining textbooks are bought and sold via student to student, alumni, or other bookstores like HPB

This means that nearly 75% of college students are still paying too much for books by not getting a price comparison.

Half Price Books is starting its textbook buyback program this month at nine stores near college campuses: University of Washington in Seattle, Washington; Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas; University of California Berkeley in Berkeley, California; University of Arizona in Tempe, Arizona; and five other locations.  According to HPB executive vice president Kathy Doyle Thomas, “We’re experts in the used book business. And we know college students are already in our stores buying the Julius Caesar supplement reading for a class on Shakespeare, but we haven’t been buying their calculus or economics textbook.”  Half Price Books will only sell back these used school books to students online, mostly likely through their Alibris portal.  RentScouter will allow students buying textbooks online to see these prices in comparison to normal used book and textbook rental prices.

The NACS reports that the average higher education student is spending $667 over the previous year on textbooks, workbooks, and related course materials.  Over 75% of students still prefer printed textbooks versus etextbooks, with extextbooks only comprising up to 10% of sales by 2012 according to the NACS.  According to a representative at the University of Texas Co-op in Austin, TX sales of electronic textbooks are growing, but reading a novel works well on a laptop or tablet – not an algebra or biology textbook.  Another issue with electronic textbooks is that they are generally not the cheapest textbook option, especially when one considers they can not be sold back for cash, or even transferred to another student.

While Half Price Books is rolling out a new textbook buyback program in nine stores, any HPB location will buy back used books, CD, DVDs, or video games just like always.  HPB is seeing what they can do to gain part of the almost six billion dollars a year textbook business in this trying economy while stores like Barnes & Noble are trying to diversify and Borders is rapidly closing stores.  In the flagship HPB store in Dallas, a new conveyor system and six buying stations has been implemented to speed up book buyback processing allowing them to buy back 8,000 to 13,000 books a day, compared to a wait time of up to an hour or more on the old system.

Get a buyback price comparison on RentScouter first, but don’t hesitate to check the buyback prices at your local Half Price Books.

College Textbook Buyback: What to Look for When Choosing the Right Buyback Website

With the ever rising prices of books, more and more college students are keen to buy used school books rather than brand new textbooks, triggering many to sell books that they no longer need. This in turn boosts the number of college textbook buyback sites, with both good and run-of-the-mill companies competing to tap the market.  Read these helpful hints when you are getting a sell back book comparison for cash.

College Textbook Buyback

Selling Books Online

Using a college textbook buy back site, which includes dealing with a business on the internet, has its own drawbacks but still millions of people choose to transact online without hesitations. The key is to only deal with legitimate businesses with a trustworthy reputation. When looking for a textbook buy back website, keep your eyes open for both good signs as well as red flags that will tell you whether or not the buyback site you are dealing with is worth your time and money.

Research the College Textbook Buyback Company

Beware of college textbook buyback sites that are secretive of their company or how they deal with clients. One warning sign is the absence of company name; aside from having the URL. Legitimate businesses are more than proud to tell you who they are but if you are dealing with a nameless brand, seek assistance from the Better Business Bureau.

Another red flag is not having the physical address listed on their site or at least a phone number. Also be suspicious if no information is provided about the people who are providing the service. A legitimate company is always ready to stand behind their service. They are even proud to eloquently tell you who they are, where they are, and how you can contact them. If a company is secretive about their information it could mean that they are not legitimate, that they are hiding something from you and that they are probably not the type of business that you want to give your trust.

How to Evaluate a College Textbook Buyback Website’s Claims

Still another way of knowing whether a textbook buyback business is good or bad is to check the testimonials posted about the book buyback company. Beware of glowingly positive sentiments from former clients. Remember not everyone will be satisfied with somebody’s work. There will always be a small percentage of customers who will clamor on with dissatisfaction every now and again, be it for delayed packages or damaged goods.  But be more skeptical if the reviews you read are perfectly crafted. Different people have different writing abilities. Even if someone writes great compositions, he will likely not be that eloquent when writing a review – let alone want to be bothered by the time to write a perfectly crafted one – especially if he is not paid to do it. If it seems that the feed back was not written by ordinary customers, you might be reading a write-up that has been cherry-picked to lure unsuspecting clients who are desperate in looking for a reputable college textbook buyback website.

Read user reviews and BBB ratings of college textbook buyback companies on RentScouter to sell back books for cash with confidence.