It’s that time of year again – time to sell back old textbooks for a fraction of what you paid for them back in the beginning the semester.

Some students have been creative with the selling of books once courses have ended, but many still turn to the Fairfield bookstore in hopes of getting at least a few dollars back.

Fairfield’s bookstore is operated by eFollet, the same company that controls bookstores at colleges and universities nationwide, including Boston College and Loyola University in New Orleans.

According to the eFollett book buyback guidelines, “If an instructor has requested your textbook for next term, then the value increases,” sometimes up to half of the book’s original price.

Additionally, the guidelines say, “Textbooks will be purchased until we reach our shelf stock limit.” The first students to sell books back will be most likely to get the highest buyback prices. Once the bookstore reaches its quota, students are sometimes out of luck. Books can be purchased by the bookstore to be sent to other bookstores or won’t be purchased at all.

Even when the bookstore does offer to buy the books back, students may sell them back at a much lower value than the original price. The bookstore can buy back a used edition of a book, like Introduction To Public Speaking textbook for CO 101, for $29 and then sell the same used copy the next semester to students for $89.50, according to the eFollet Web site.

Because the bookstore is known for its low sellback prices, some students turn to services other than the bookstore to sell back their used textbooks.

“I’m selling some of my books to my friends who are taking the same classes next semester, or I’ll sell them on Amazon or another Web site,” said Victoria Niles ’13.

Niles isn’t the only student to use Web sites or other online marketplaces to sell their books to other students. “I use Amazon, because I get more money than the bookstore would give me,” said Danielle McGee ’10.

Bigwords.com offers a comparison price service for students trying to sell textbooks online. Sellers can enter the ISBN number of the textbooks they want to sell and the site will provide a list of at least ten different other online marketplace Web sites and the price they will pay the seller to use their online bookselling service to sell back their book.

Regardless of the site students choose to use to sell their books back, there is no easy way to earn full money back. Buying used books can make this goal more attainable, as can comparing prices before purchasing, yet book sales are still a challenge for students across campuses.

Amnesty International is giving Fairfield students a new alternative to getting rid of used textbooks as the last few weeks of first semester draw near.

“At the end of the semester when the bookstore won’t buy back your book, or will only give you two dollars for it, what do you do?” asked Katie Cincotta ‘10, the president of Amnesty International at Fairfield. “Donate it to them? Or throw it out?”

Instead of throwing textbooks away this year, students can donate their books to the club’s book drive.

This year, Amnesty International is working with BetterWorldBooks, an organization that helps libraries and campus groups to organize book drives in addition to serving as an online marketplace for a variety of book types. According to its Web site, BetterWorldBooks has saved 30,000 books from landfills by using them to support global literacy initiatives. To date, the organization has raised more than seven million dollars.

A portion of the proceeds from the book sales on the Web site’s marketplace will be sent to Worldfund, a foundation created to benefit the struggling students in poor and lesser developed areas of Latin America.

Amnesty International chose to donate to Worldfund because the group felt that “the issues in Latin America do not get enough attention,” Cincotta explained. The organization works to “minimize the education gap” between Latin American students and those in other countries worldwide “by investing in high-quality and outcome-driven schools and education programs that serve impoverished children,” its Web site explains.

“Literacy is an issue throughout the world, and it is a barrier to success for many people,” Cincotta said. “If you are illiterate, it is nearly impossible to improve the standard of living of your family.”
Amnesty International hopes that students will help in their efforts to make an impact on correcting the problem of illiteracy worldwide. Book collection boxes will be located at the BCC info desk, and the Loyola, Kostka and Apartment lounges.

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