Price Structure for
the College Book

On this page we’re going to examine the price structure used by the college book industry so you can know what to expect. I’ll also give you the goal to shoot for when you buy and sell your textbooks back to the bookstore.

Let’s start with a hypothetical brand new edition priced at $100.00 on the shelf at the college bookstore. The publisher would have charged the bookstore $80.00 for that book. Some bookstores may take bigger or smaller markups, but a 20% margin is the industry standard for new books. If you purchase that book, then bring it in to the college bookstore end of term textbook buy back, your hope is that the professor has re-adopted the book. If that's the case, there's a chance you'll be offered $50.00 for it. This is half the original $100.00 you paid.

The college bookstore now takes the book they paid you $50.00 for, and prices it “used” for $75.00. Once again the industry standard practice is to offer used books at a 25% discount to new. Actually the publishers probably would have raised the new price for the book to $102.00 by now, so the used price would actually be $76.50, but we’ll stick to a no inflation model for this example.

When a bookstore sells you a new book, they’re only making a 20% margin, or $20.00 as in this example. If they sell you a used book, they’re making a 33% margin, or $25.00 as in this example. Hopefully you can see how the bookstore favors the used book industry as much as you do. If the college bookstore doesn’t buy a used book from you for $50.00, they can search the inventory at the large used book wholesalers for the same $50.00 price and favorable margins.

If your school sponsored bookstore doesn’t seem to have many used books on the shelf, it’s probably because the manager is being judged on top line sales more than bottom line margins. It may also be the sign of a lazy textbook manager who just doesn’t take the time to search the used book wholesalers for used books; or it might just mean the manager has a nice relationship with the publisher’s representative and enjoys a free business lunch or two each semester in exchange for large orders for new textbooks. Whatever the reason it's not helping you accomplish your goal.

The important lesson for you to retain is: Buy used books and save at least 25%. Then shoot for half the new retail price at the textbook buy back, netting you an out of pocket cost of 25% of the new retail price for the use of a book during the semester. This won’t happen for you on every book, but now you know the ideal setup and where you can set the bar for the net cost of your college textbooks.

Return to How to Sell Textbooks at Buyback


Link to a Cool Video Illustration of the College Book Price Structure





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