By
Maya Schechter
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Students get money back when competitors price matched
Students can receive cash back from the UofA Bookstore when they find campus-area bookstores that sell the textbook at a cheaper price.
The bookstore will offer double the difference between their textbooks and a bookstore near the university in an effort to prevent students from buying off-campus. The offer lasts until the end of the semester.
For example, if a UA student found a Spanish book for $40 at a campus-area bookstore and the UofA Bookstore sold it for $50, then the student would receive $20 back.
The bookstore's guarantee match includes Antigone Books, 411 N. 4th Ave.; Arizona Book Store, 815 N. Park Ave.; Rother's Bookstore, 501 N. Park Ave.; and Scholar's Bookstore, 2644 E. Speedway Blvd.
Cindy Hawk, UofA Bookstore assistant director, said the store usually offers the same prices as other bookstores, but a few students asked for a price match.
"Most of the students buy their books after classes begin, and they do not know about our new guarantee, so we expect to be much busier next week," Hawk said.
Rother's Bookstore, 501 N. Park Ave., has always offered the "lowest price guarantee," and will continue to compete with other bookstores in the UA area, said Dustin Kalman, the store's site manager.
"It will probably not be worth the students time to go back and forth between book stores to find the differences in prices," Kalman said.
Rother's doesn't expect to lose any business, Kalman added.
While the UofA Bookstore is trying to help students, the guarentee has a few conditions.
Customers have seven days from date of purchase on the receipt to apply for the guarantee, and Order Textbooks Electronically customers have seven days from date of pick-up to apply for the guarantee.
The guarantee does not include Internet textbook sellers and incidental sources of books, such as flea markets and garage sales, or any other discounted textbooks or booksellers. Class or lecture notes do not apply, and the original receipt must be presented to the cashier.
"There are many advantages to buying books at our bookstore," Hawk said. "Students pay no sales tax, and the bookstore returns funds to campus to support clubs and programs."
