Textbooks: The Biggest Legal Scam in History

When the time to buy textbooks comes around, every college student groans. Why? Because the purchase of textbooks means a lot of money out of the wallet, without the promise of that money being returned in the future (i.e. at the end of semester). In my opinion, the market for textbooks is one big scam. Generally what happens is a student purchases a textbook for, say, $100. But when they go to sell it back, they can only get a small fraction of what they paid for.

To add to the frustration and financial pain of textbook buying and selling are university exclusive books. These are books that are custom for the university you are attending and generally more expensive than a non-custom book given that I can only buy the book from the school’s bookstore, which has the tendency to be more expensive than other stores. Then, when it comes time to sell back books at the end of the semester, the university bookstore will not buy back my university exclusive textbook. And no other book buy back company wants it either. I’ve lost $300 this way. I bought 2 books for $150 each that were exclusive to my university, but the bookstore would not buy them back and other book buy back companies offered $1 for them. I don’t think so.

Buying books online from places besides the school bookstore is helpful and can save some money. However, this brings into play the honesty of the seller, which can sometimes be unreliable. When I buy a book in “Very Good” condition, I expect it to be just that. This is often not the case. I have received “very good” books so filled with writing as to be unreadable. When I spend $80 on a “very good” book, I want my money’s worth. End of story.

It is also completely infuriating when you arrive to class, after having just spent $150 on a textbook, and the teacher tells you that you don’t need to purchase the book. If the book isn’t required, then don’t put it under “required” on the bookstore website. I don’t understand why that is so difficult.

Access codes are also super frustrating. Access codes are a series of letters and numbers purchased in order to access online study tools and the like. I’m not quite sure why a series of letters and numbers needs to be $100, but that’s how it is. I hate purchasing an access code and a textbook, only to find out that the textbook has an online version that I purchased with the access code. So I could’ve saved myself $150.

It’s hard to know when to buy textbooks, too. I like to buy my textbooks in advance so I have them for classes. However, sometimes when you get to class, they give you additional information about the books: what you don’t need to purchase, what additional study tools you need, etc. This is where things become even more frustrating. Nothing seems to be straightforward about textbooks.

My advice to you? Not much. If you are concerned with saving money, shop around different sites to find the best price of the book you are looking for. The bookstore is generally the most expensive version you are going to find. If your sole concern is getting your books before class, order them online, but if you want to make sure you are purchasing everything you need and avoiding that which you don’t need, wait to buy the books until after you have heard what the teacher is going to say about them. At this point, you can either buy books online from places besides your university bookstore to find some cheaper prices, but keep in mind that these books could take a couple weeks to ship to you. You could also buy them from the school’s bookstore, which could be more expensive, but they will be ready almost instantly. Renting textbooks saves money, too, but you must remember to return the books by their due date or you will end up paying the rental fee and the cost of the book since by not returning the book, the bookstore generally assumes you are going to keep the book. Policies vary by university, so make sure you know yours before renting.

But the most valuable advice I can give is to save your money for books. I spent $710 on books this semester. Talk about a dent in your wallet.