Do publishers change book editions every few years just to eliminate used books?
Please give an example to make these numbers more understandable.
How much is paid at buyback when no instructor has ordered the book?
Do publishers change book editions every few years just to eliminate used books?
While business issues are clearly a factor in determining the life of an
edition, primarily the average edition-life of a textbook has shortened because the
exponential growth of information has necessitated a shorter revision cycle to keep books
current.
Do frequent edition changes help or hurt college stores?
Stores understand the need for textbooks to be kept current. However,
edition changes generally hurt the college store industry's relationship with students. It
is very difficult to explain at the buyback counter that an old edition of a textbook
cannot be repurchased by the store. In addition, there would be more used books for
students, and fewer inventory problems for stores, if editions didn't change as
frequently.
How much do used books cost college stores?
Whether the book is bought from a student, or from a national used book
wholesaler, most stores pay 50% of the new retail price for a used copy of a textbook
adopted for the next term. (The College Store at Harford Community College
now pays 52% of the new retail price for a used copy that has been adopted for
the upcoming term.) Almost all stores sell used textbooks for 75% of the new price.
As a student, I don't remember ever getting back 50%-69% of the price I originally paid for my book at the buy-back.
We hear this frequently, yet college stores pay students millions of dollars
for used books at the end of each term, a significant percentage of which are bought at
50% of the new price. (If you originally purchased the book
used, this is figure is actually 69% of the price you paid.)
Unfortunately people tend to remember the $40 book that was sold
back for $5, rather than those for which 50%-69% was paid.
Are used books more profitable for stores to sell?
The numbers may seem to
make used books more profitable to sell than new ones. However, the cost
of acquiring used books is much more expensive for stores than simply
ordering new copies from the publisher. In addition, the actual amount
of money a store makes is about the same since the retail price on used
books is 25% less than the retail price on new books.
Please give an example to make these numbers more understandable.
A new $40 textbook, on average, is sold to the
college store by the publisher
for $30. The same book, in used condition, would be purchased either from a student or a
used book wholesaler for 50% of the retail price, or $20. It is then resold for $30. In
both cases, after paying for the book itself, the college store has $10 to cover the expenses
of buying and selling it.
Why does it cost more for a store to buy used books?
The demand for used books significantly exceeds the supply. Stores spend a great deal of time and energy trying to get faculty requests before exams begin because the best source for used books are students on the campus who already use those books. About 50% of the used books sold in a typical college store are purchased from students.
In addition to the expense of creating a buyback list, and running a used book buyback on campus, most stores search extensively for used books from used book companies. Stores looking for a particular book may contact several of these companies four or five times each during the order cycle. Each inquiry takes time and costs money.
Another reason the cost of the used book business is higher than selling new books is
that unsold books bought from students have to be sold at a loss on the used book market
or even destroyed.
How are the buyback prices determined?
If an instructor has submitted adoption information for the next term for a
textbook, and the store doesn't already have enough stock, most stores will pay students
50% of the new retail price, even if the student purchased it used. A few stores pay 50%
of the price the student originally paid. In both cases, these books are usually resold
for 75% of the retail price for a new book.
What happens to books not being used on campus?
The books not reordered by an instructor, or those for which the store
already has excess inventory, are purchased by the store for one of the national used book
wholesalers as a convenience to students. Or the store may invite a representative from
one of these companies to do the actual purchasing in the store.
How much is paid at buyback when no instructor has ordered the book?
Wholesale prices are based on each individual used book company's determination of a specific book's market value. The prices they pay depend on the age, popularity, and subject matter of the book. Wholesale buyback prices range from 0-20% of the retail price for older, introductory course books, to as much as 35-40% for newer, advanced-level texts.
There is a significant risk for used book companies that a textbook will
change editions and render their inventory worthless. Therefore, all used book companies
have people who specialize in determining the market value for used books, predicting the
demand for them, and trying to anticipate when books will change editions.
How can a book a student sells to the store at the wholesale price still end up on the shelf in their college store for sale the next semester?
Stores stop paying half price after they purchase the needed number of copies of a title, so it is possible for a student to see used copies for sale of a title they sold back at the wholesale price, but it is unlikely in this case that their specific book would be on the shelf for resale.
In addition, many instructors wait to evaluate their students' success with a book until after exams, and the store's buyback, are over. If an instructor decides then to readopt a text, the college store must place an order with the used book company, in hopes that the books bought in the store haven't been sold to another store. The store will pay the wholesaler's regular price in this case, since the wholesaler has the same expenses in selling these books back to the store as with any other book.
Sometimes a store receives the instructor's request after buyback, but
before the wholesale books have been shipped to the used book company, and pulls them from
the shipment. While the students who sold the books did not get the best price, at least
students taking the class the next term will have more used books available.
Do college stores make money from wholesale books?
Used book companies pay stores a small commission on these books to help
stores cover the cost of conducting the buyback.
Students have reported that some used books are stamped free copy, yet are sold at the same price as other used copies.
Some books marked free do find their way to college stores'
shelves, but they were not free to the college stores who sell them. These are called
complimentary
or comp copies, sent by publishers to instructors for their consideration for a
course. One of the largest expenses in a publisher's marketing budget is developing,
printing, stocking, and shipping these books.
Every year many faculty members, especially those teaching large introductory courses,
receive comp copies they don't need. Eventually many of these unwanted books are sold to
used book companies, a practice which is considered unethical by many members of the
academic, publishing and bookselling communities.
When resold to students, these books displace the sale of new copies, and deprive publishers and textbook authors (almost invariably faculty members themselves) of revenues and royalties. To discourage the sale of these books, many are clearly stamped free or complimentary.
Quite a few campuses have policies against instructor sale/college store purchase of these books, and some of the major used book companies do not buy or distribute them.
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