Hard text facts for cold cash

Frank Farias, director of the University of Arizona Associated Students Bookstore, said students are often upset about the low prices they get from the buyback program.

But Farias said the bookstore is not solely responsible for setting the often confusing buyback prices.

"We (the ASUA Bookstore) don't necessarily buy the book when you get only a fraction of the price," he said. "We deal with a company that pays the students."

The ASUA Bookstore's buyback program is run jointly with Nebraska Book Company Inc., an independent used book wholesaler.

Farias said that it is "economically to our advantage" to use the Lincoln, Neb.-based company to process buybacks.

"We're in the business of selling books, not buying books," he said. "We only do so when we have a confirmation that the book will be used - we can't make decisions that are going to be financially disastrous."

Although the ASUA Bookstore will purchase from students only those books which an instructor has guaranteed will be used in a course the following semester, the Nebraska Book Company will take books defunct on the UA campus.

"The issue of whether we buy back is a matter of the professor turning in an order for it," said Justin Keyston, director of the UA's used book program.

That is the reason some books will be bought back for as high as 50 percent of the original cost, while others resell for a much lower price, Farias said.

When a text is bought back at a very low percentage of the original price, it is being purchased by the wholesaler rather than the ASUA Bookstore.

The buyback program would be very expensive for the bookstore to run alone, Keyston said.

"There are costs associated with buybacks - the bulk of it is payroll and staffing," he said. "The company brings in their own staff of 12 to 13, and the company that comes in pays for their payroll."

Although the ASUA Bookstore refuses buy back some textbooks, students don't have to add The Insect Reproduction Field Guide to their personal library.

There are a number of bookstores in the Tucson area that buy books back, including Bookman's Used Books, Music & Software. Cas Bezanson, head of Bookman's pricing department, said that the store usually buys back textbooks for about $15 in trade.

"We go by the condition of the book, and whether we buy it is based on our need," Bezanson said.

She said Bookman's buys and sells used fictional works, as well as many "hard science texts" and UA first-year composition books.

But Keyston said students are more attracted to dollar bills than credit slips.

He said while many stores give store credit for used books, "we give out physical cash."

In addition to the buyback program, there is a Web site at www.bookstore.arizona.edu/index.asp?textbooks where students can post announcements about books they wish to buy or sell.

Farias said the site is an alternative for students who dislike the price offered through the buyback program.

"This is independent of the bookstore," he said. "It's just between students."

Sarah A. Perry can be reached via e-mail at Sarah.A.Perry@wildcat.arizona.edu.