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At the beginning of the semester I purchased books for nearly $700. Today I went to return said books. I nearly skipped all the way to the bookstore because I knew I’d be getting at least half of that back. I risked my life skipping on the snowy ground – seriously UIC, shovel and salt that shit okay?
I go to the bookstore, hand the kind sir my books and he takes them all and hands me a fat wad of cash. I continue skipping out of the store… Wait, wait…that was all in my head. What really happened was he took ONE book, handed me $84 and sent me on my way.
I was confused. I still had books in my bag. Convinced that he was confused I questioned his decision. “Kind sir, I’d like some more money in my hand and less books in my bag.” I was then lectured on how the school only accepts so many of a certain book and perhaps I should have come earlier. Um..it IS early!
Then I kicked him in the face, called him a sucker and left…Wait…that was in my head, too. With three books in my bag and my head hung low, I left the store with $84 in my hand. You might argue that I’m $84 richer, but I’m a glass half empty kind of gal – I’m $616 in the hole.
*Yeah, that’s me stealing back my money.
{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
Sell them online!!!! Screw the middle man!
Rachel M.s last blog post..Happy Diana-Dan Mega-Humpday!!!!
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I *hated* that the most about books. Haaated.
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I blame the economy, George Bush, and the Big Three!
Jays last blog post..Inanely Ruminating
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I totally remember going through the book return pain and suffering. You’d spend like $120 on a textbook and they’d give you 10 for it. Assfaces.
Arielles last blog post..Christianity, in a nutshell
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i recommend posting the books you have available on a bulletin board at school…you might even be able to make more money back if you can figure out how much the school is charging for used books!
best of luck
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Sorry, this time I didn’t follow your paint show skills. I thought you were actually printing your own money.
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This is why I almost never attempted to sell books back. It wasn’t worth the risk that I might kill the person behind the counter by beating them over the head with my copy of “C++ for Java Programmers.”
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Oh my gosh, that’s terrible! I’ve never had luck reselling my textbooks through official avenues, I’m all about the black market.
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The textbook industry is effed! I used to buy and sell mine through Amazon and that worked amazingly well for me (but is a bit of a pain). I’ve also seen a lot of people buy and sell via campus listservs or flyers on bulletin boards.
$616 is ridiculous!
Laurie | Your Ill-fitting Overcoats last blog post..For a Snowy Evening
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Half.com is how I get rid of my books. I still have some floating around but they’re still listed. I sell 2-3 each new semester. I recommend it.
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Amazon? Ebay?
I’m sure when I was at uni we used to put signs up advertising our books for sale – i bet someone would buy them off you privately. . .
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Text books are one of the worst inventions ever. And since I’m in grad school, I’ve wound up KEEPING all my books for future reference. And comps. Blergh.
Phils last blog post..Next time, I’m going to grad school in a place devoid of a gravitational pull.
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You can try selling them online, I did that after every semester and always made more than the bookstore would give me.
Jossie Posies last blog post..My collage can kick your collages ass
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In my college days, I sold a 90 dollar book back for 15, only to learn that I needed to buy it back for another class the following semester. The guy at the store sold it to me at a “discount” because he felt sorry for me. I spent 75 bucks for the same damn book. My pencil marks were still in the margin. Made my blood boil.
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Selling books back is the MOST depressing activity, I swear! I was an English major so I would bring in all of the novels I couldn’t handle looking at anymore and they would give me .50 each. I once tried to give one back for free just because I hated the book so much but it was a no go. I agree with the others, sell them online!
e.s last blog post..City Love
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Don’t you hate that? the first time I sold books back was awful. There were some books where they actually only gave me 2 or 3 dollars. I’d think $84 is pretty good! You make more money selling them online directly to other students than going through a ripoff bookstore.
Nishas last blog post..An Open Letter to the President-elect.
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I hate that!
Jamies last blog post..is this thing on?
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As many have said already, sell them online. In fact, go to bigwords.com and they will even do a buyback price comparison so you can see who will give you the most money.
Amys last blog post..bullet points
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Holy crap. At first I couldn’t get over the $700 bit, but now there are time limits, too? That is in-f!@#ing-sane!
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Colleges and Ticketmaster have mastered the art of screwing people out of money. It is actually impressive. Sometimes you have to just sit back and go, “WOW! I never even THOUGHT of fucking someone over like that! Well done.
Narms last blog post..I’m Wiped
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I have heard rumors that the textbook industry is f’ed up, and you just proved it. It’s a systemic problem, and it seems to be getting worse and worse.
Noelles last blog post..“It’s like having a piano tied to your back”
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forgive me for:
-no caps
-not reading other comments
-wondering why you haven’t already put them on craigslist or ebay
-thinking you’re smurfy
-being away for so long
-knowing that i am not the only person who likes the smell of their own gassyassy. except when it’s like lowtide.
-thinking that the picture was you under the table doing sometihng naughty and the man paying you
-wishing i could see you when i’m in chicago in january for familyfun/hell weekend
-trying to figure out when i can come back to play with you in our cute black dresses
-singing free and easy down the road i go
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I remember those days. Sell and buy online, its cheaper!!
mandys last blog post..Sandy Wanted In On The Charity Challenge Too!
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I agree with everyone else. Online is where it’s at! Sell those babies fast before new editions come out, which is every 3.7564 seconds to screw everybody out of their buy-back money. When I taught grad classes, I purposely picked tiny, inexpensive books or used journal articles. I refused to make my students spend hundreds of dollars for books they would never use again.
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Wait wait wait. You thought you’d get half of the $700 back?
You should have asked any other college student. The book store is a HUGEEEEEEEEEEE ripoff.
Sell them on amazon. You’ll get a bit back.
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Oh man I feel your pain! I used to work at the school bookstore in college, and buyback time was the worst. I felt so bad for kids who got nothing back. But then they would yell at me for it and I would tell them to go f*ck themselves. (Not really.) The nice ones I told to sell their books on half.com, or go to the guy parked in McDonalds who bought books back too. Random.
Lacey Beans last blog post..Happy Anniversary!
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that is true bull****. i have NEVER heard anything like that at campus bookstores.
i think some egg-throwing is in that bookstore’s future.
thatShortChicks last blog post..Oh Christmas Tree
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i recommend trying to sell them on ebay, one of my friends had a lot of success that way. get at least some cash back. good luck!
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That is yet another thing about college that I think is such a rip off. Until I read your comments, I hadn’t thought about selling them online. I have 8 nursing books I’m about to list, whoo!
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oh no!! try to sell them online – i think there are options. goodle it
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Oh, book buyback myth, I know thee far too well. It makes me glad that grad school is just massive amounts of photocopies.
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buying back books is the fleecing of America. It’s just total BS. Drives me insane. I’ll help distract the cashier so you can steal.
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Check the non-university bookstores (if there are any). When I sold back my books I got a ton of money but I had to go to a few stores. I’m sure if you call ahead they’ll tell you if they’re selling and what they’re selling for.
If not then definitely go the online route.
Good luck!!
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Like many people above me said, online selling is the way to go.
At least you got some money. One year I dropped off my books at a student-run book fair. You drop off your books with a price, your name, and number. They sell the books and you later get the money or unsold books. Except in my case, they “lost” every one of my books and didn’t not compensate me. I was out $500. Bitches.
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at least they didn’t kick you in the nuts. oh, wait, yes they did.
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Same thing happened to me yesterday…except I got $5 for one book that was orginally $30 and $10 for a book that was orginally $60. That’s all they took.
And yeah, I bought a Happy Meal with that shit.
I am convinced there is a text book mafia.
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I felt that way every time I did the book buyback at LSU. The bookstore was the absolute WORST. It made me want to kick people in the face.
The good thing is you can create an account on Amazon and sell that shit for next semester. You can make the money back that way…
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My college bookstore once tried to buy a book back from me for 50cents. I went online and was able to sell it from $13. College bookstores really ripe you off.
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Oh, that sucks. And it also sucks when you’re selling at the end of the school year, and they’ve made new editions of the book you wanna sell back. And they’ll buy your over $100 book for $5. I say, eff you! I’ll sell this on Amazon or use it for a door stop!
poodlegooses last blog post..Excuses
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Welcome to the joys of the college book scam…
“oh… well they’re using the 5th edition next semester…. You have the 4th edition…”
“What’s the difference between the two???”
“uuhhh one’s got a 5 on it and one has a 4 on it…”
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