Sell your textbooks

FAQ

Do you have a textbook you no longer need? Looking to make cash on that textbook? Would you rather avoid having to mail your book away somewhere and wait for your Cash to be sent back?

Several Campus Bookstores have merged their Textbook buy-back lists for access by students on or near participating Schools.

The purpose of the facility is to increase the resale market for used books, to make more used books available for resale at Campus Bookstores at reduced prices, and to provide more options for students to help manage their textbook budget.


How is the Buyback Price determined?
The pricing formula isn''t too complicated and it contains 3 levels, depending on who is buying the book. This is how it breaks down:

  1. If the Concordia Bookstore is buying it (ie. the book is still being used in a course at Concordia, and the Bookstore is not already fully stocked for that book) you will receive approximately 50% of the price of our current new book price. We call that the "Home Price".

    If we are buying a particular book, we will have a quota set on the number of copies we need based on our current stock and the number of students who are enrolled in the courses which use the book. Once we have bought back that quantity, then the system automatically switches over to the next category of buyers.

  2. If the book is being bought by another campus bookstore that is part of our Buyback network** you will receive 30% of the current new book price (much of the difference from our price is for shipping/handling to send books across the country). We call that the "Away Price".

    ** Most of the largest University and College Bookstores in Canada are part of the "SellMyTextbooks.org" buyback network including, among others: York, University of Toronto, U.B.C, Queens, U. of Alberta, Brock, Western, U. of Calgary, McMaster, and U. of Victoria.

    Like the Concordia Bookstore, these other campus stores all set quotas on how many copies of each book they want. Once one store has bought up their quota, then the next store in the queue starts buying... repeat there are not more copies being bought by any other stores, then the next category of buyers for a used book are the textbook wholesalers.

  3. If none of these campus bookstores are buying a particular used book (because everyone is already fully stocked, or the book is not being widely used in courses this term), then the last buyers are book wholesalers operating out of the US. Unlike the academic stores, they do not offer a fixed percentage of the new price, but set their bids according to the demand they "guestimate" for each title. Sometimes when a book is not being widely used, that can sometimes result in very low bid prices for a used book.

    For example, rather than controlling the number of copies they buyback of any given title by setting a quota on it (like the campus stores do), the wholesalers control supply by changing the price they offer for it. So if they do not think that they will need many copies of a particular book, they set a low bid price, if they want a lot of copies, they use a higher bid price.

    So when you occasionally get a very low bid price on a particular book, that means that a) the wholesaler bid price has filtered to the top because none of the campus stores are *currently* buying it, and b) the wholesalers don''t think that they need very many copies of that book.

What can I do if I find the price offered too low?
If the book has not yet been adopted on any campus you can list the books for email alerts for when they are being bought, in fact, you can list all of your books in BuyBack Alerts. When any participating campus or wholesaler adds the title you will be notified by email of the price.

You can also list your books in our Used Book Classifieds to try to directly sell them to other students (the Bookstore does not get involved in these transactions, they are private sales).

How firm is the price?
The demand for the book is finite and is maintained in real time. The demand decreases instantly with every sale and can expire quickly as other students line up across North America at end of terms to sell their books.

When is the best time to sell my used textbooks?
The best time to try to sell your used books is when all the campus bookstores on our Buyback network are creating their orders for the next term. Most professors tell the bookstore what to order in the month or two before the class starts. Selling your book at that time - before the bookstores have placed their orders for new books & used copies from wholesalers - gives you the best chance at a decent price.

So the best times are mostly near the beginning of a semester (especially in August/September, January, and May), those times of the year are when the best bid prices are typically available. The rest of the year wholesale prices tend to dominate in the buyback database. Also note that books which are used in Fall or Winter classes may not be used during Summer courses, as a result demand for those books can be minimal during that time. If you''re not seeing any good prices for your book during the Summer, check again at the beginning of the Fall term.

I live in a different city from the school. When I go home can I sell my book back to the university/college in my hometown?
Yes! and we encourage the practice, but remember demand can expire fast so get there quickly. Also, please make sure that the university/college in your hometown is buying your book. You can look up buyback demand from many different schools through SellMyTextbooks.org. If you''re school doesn''t have a buyback list registered with them, the site will direct you to the nearest school that does.

What happens if demand expires before I get to my nearest store?
Sorry, you are out of luck. You can list the book in resale registration (aka Buyback Alerts) and when another campus adopts the book you will be notified by email.

What happens if I am notified by email and demand expires before I get to the nearest store?
Sorry again but it is due to the real time nature of the system. The local store has no control over the demand for a book or the numbers needed at another school.

How does my book get to the other Campuses?
The Bookstore will pay you the cash and look after the shipping & handling to get the books to the campus which has the demand.

Do you buy study guides or CD ROMS ?
Some schools do, some don''t, it also depends on the individual study guide or CD. As long as it has an ISBN number you can search for it and won''t miss any opportunities at participating schools. If it''s an item that doesn''t have an ISBN, you''re unfortunately out of luck.

What is an ISBN?
International Standard Book Number. All books have one and each edition of a title has a different ISBN. Even different versions of the same edition (ie. with/without an included CD, or study guide) have different ISBN numbers.

Can I sell a book I originally purchased used?
Yes, you will receive about 50% of the NEW list price if it will be used on your home campus and about 30% of the NEW list price if used elsewhere. If you luck out, you could get the use of that book for peanuts.

Does the previous edition of my text have resale value?
Not usually, and the system buys based on ISBN to ensure the correct and most current edition is purchased. Also, when Faculty orders the books for their clasess through us, it''s all done by ISBN - we don''t necessarily know what''s different from one edition to the next of a given book, that''s why we''re sticklers for matching up those ISBN numbers.

Can I sell back books in any condition?
The decision belongs to the buyer working at the Buyback. We want "used books" not "abused books" and reserve the right to refuse to purchase damaged books or books that are unlikely to be repurchased by other students.

Why are there not more titles on the Buyback list?
Late adoptions (when a prof orders a book for his class, he "adopts" it), or a new edition has been released, a different book being used for the same course vs. last term, are some of the reasons. Only those books that are certain to be used on a campus make it to the list. Encourage your instructors to adopt early and to adopt the same book as last term to help increase the numbers and value of used textbooks.