Textbook exchange gives students a new place to make a sale
Students who got stuck with a stack of unwanted textbooks during the bookstore’s buy-back last semester have another chance to turn a profit this week.
Pi Kappa Phi, USU’s newest fraternity, is holding a book exchange in the Merrill-Cazier Library in Room 101 from Monday until Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For $1, students can leave a textbook at the sale along with a contract stating how much they are willing to sell the book for. If a book sells, the fraternity will take 10 percent of the proceeds, and the seller will take the rest. Any books that don’t sell will be returned to their owners at the end of the week, said Ryan Pooler, Pi Kappa Phi social chair.
“We basically got the idea when we saw the need on campus,” said Brad Larkin, a student who is not a member of the fraternity but is helping organize the event. “Students around campus wanted to have other options to the bookstore. Some said they felt ripped off by bookstore prices.”
Students who participate in the consignment sale will be able to set the price as high or low as they want, Larkin said, so they won’t be stuck with the price offered by the bookstore or alternative book buyers like Aggie Books.
“Students can even put a book out for free if they pay the dollar to leave it at the sale,” Larkin said.
Pi Kappa Phi’s book exchange is an opportunity to sell unsellable books or to try to get a better price on books that will be used in classes in an upcoming semester.
The USU bookstore will purchase books that will be used again, but new editions of texts are issued every few years, leaving old editions worthless. The bookstore buys used books for 50 percent of the price of the new text, but will only buy enough to fill faculty orders. Once the quota is filled, students must go elsewhere to sell their texts. Wholesalers also buy used books to ship to other schools, but only for 5 to 30 percent of the new price. Books that will not be used again or are in bad condition can’t be sold to the bookstore or wholesalers.
Larkin said the fraternity is looking to raise at least $600. Pooler said the fraternity is hoping the sale will generate up to $1,000 for Pi Kappa Phi, who will give the money to Push America, a national organization that raises funds and awareness for people with disabilities. Push America is supported by Pi Kappa Phi chapters across the country.
-ella@cc.usu.edu