Textbook bargains depend on shopper, not shop

Using a list of eight textbooks meant to represent a range of disciplines, The Pitt News… Using a list of eight textbooks meant to represent a range of disciplines, The Pitt News compared prices at the University’s Book Center, Gotused Bookstore, Amazon.com and Abebooks.com to help buyers and sellers get their money’s worth. It turns out getting the best deal on a semester’s worth of books has less to do with where you shop than how you shop. Taken alone, the numbers tell one story, but considered in conjunction with coupons, discounts, deals and shipping rates, the best buy might not come from where you’d expect. When looking for a good deal at one of the bookstores in Oakland, specifically The Book Center or Gotused, Christine Michnowski, a customer service representative at The Book Center, says it has what students need. ‘I feel for the students, I really do,’ said Michnowski. ‘We can’t compete with prices online, but we’re a service here, and you pay a little more for service.’ Michnowski said The Book Center’s advantages come in the form of convenience ‘mdash; students can count on finding the books they need in stock or at least backordered. The Book Center is the first store to receive copies of professors’ syllabi, thus giving it an edge on ordering the books students will need for the upcoming semester. ‘We always exchange if a student drops a class,’ said Michnowski, ‘and our return policy allows students to return books up to three days after they’re purchased with a receipt.’ As classes are generally dropped a little later in the semester, The Book Center’s returns for dropped classes allow students to bring back books for full refunds or exchange during the two-week add-drop period with a processed add-drop form. Gotused, just blocks up Forbes Avenue from The Book Center, arguably has the same level of convenience for students shopping in Oakland, and it has access to the same book listings from professors that Pitt does. What then, is the difference? Price. But straight off the shelves, without coupons or deals, that difference doesn’t work in Gotused’s favor. On average, The Book Center’s prices tend to be cheaper on both new and used editions. The difference between purchasing the new editions of the eight books listed at The Book Center, as compared to all eight at Gotused, is a savings of $20.50 at The Book Center ‘mdash; that’s an average savings of roughly $2.56 per book. But, that savings only applies to the shopper who uses no coupons, promotional codes or discounts ‘mdash; something Gotused leads the Oakland market in. ‘We always have coupons,’ said Jessica Larson, a manager at Gotused. ‘We put them in the newspaper, on the backs of ticket stubs, we hand them out. They’re everywhere.’ Posters line the wall along the steps down to Gotused’s stacks, advertising different deals students can utilize to offset the cost of books. Spending $150 or more on books gets the receipt bearer a free entree and drink at Qdoba restaurant. Texting ‘PITTSAVE’ to MSGME gets you a text message with a promotional code redeemable for $10 off your textbook purchase. Plus, as a first-time promotion this year, Gotused is also accepting financial aid. ‘It’s something new we’re doing for students,’ said Larson. ‘Students who receive financial aid can put down a $10 deposit, and we’ll take down their credit card, check or Pitt funds info. That way if they’re expecting financial aid to come in and something gets held up and they don’t receive that money until after school starts, with the deposit they can still buy their books early, while the cheaper used versions are still in stock.’ If the coupons and deals are not enough to convince students to buy locally, the Internet is another popular ‘mdash; and thrifty ‘mdash; choice. One site, recommended by several Pitt professors to their classes, is Abebooks.com. The site exclusively sells used books from different locations across the country, but nearly every book that was searched returned a starting price of $1.00 before shipping. With shipping costs hitting around the $4 mark, shopping online can bring quite a deal. Similarly, the ever-popular Amazon.com is a financially savvy choice, but, as is the case with any online shopping, planning ahead is key so as not to be stuck without books for the first three weeks of class. The marriage between convenience and cost comes through at Pitt in the many students who take matters into their own hands and sell their books to others themselves. ‘It makes me crazy [how little I get for my books at the end of the semester],’ said Paul Gromek, a senior history and political science major who put up fliers around campus, advertising bargain prices on his books from prior semesters. ‘The first time I took my books to buy-backs, when I heard how little they would buy them back for, I took them back from the guy ‘mdash; I wouldn’t even sell them, just on principle,’ said Gromek. ‘I’d rather one of my friends get them for free or another student get them discounted than have to give back a book for so little,’ he said. Gromek has been selling his own books for the last three semesters and, overall, he feels the venture has been successful. ‘If I do it myself, everyone wins ‘mdash; the student gets a discounted book, and I get a little more back than I would if I sold them back to the University,’ said Gromek. ‘It’s only a fraction of what I paid for them. I’m not looking to make any money off of it,’ he said. ‘If I bought a book for $60, I’ll sell it for $20 ‘mdash; I just want to get a little more than a few dollars and help out other students in the process.’ Gromek’s displeasure with the buy-back process is something both Michnowski and Larson understand. Each offered tips to students trying to get the most money for their books at the end of the semester. ‘When you’re done with a book, you should sell it back right away,’ said Larson. ‘A lot of students wait until it’s too late, and once we hit our quota, we buy back for a wholesale price.’ The quota to which Larson refers is the number of a particular book the bookstores plan to buy back as determined by whether it’s listed on a professor’s syllabus for the next semester. Michnowski said getting the most for your buy-backs is all about timing. ‘Two weeks to one week before the semester ends is the best time to sell back,’ she said. ‘If a student waits longer than that, and the buyer’s quota is met, sometime’s it’s worth it for the student to hold onto [the book] until the next semester,’ said Michnowski.