The three most popular local booksellers break down how they figure costs of textbooks and how sellback prices are determined.  Some figures stay consistent, while others vary by semester or demand. All three, though, compete to be the best caterer to Towson students’ needs and wallets.

Towson Book Exchange

The chance of selling a textbook is based on whether that book is going to be required for an upcoming semester.

“If it is going to be used again, normally we’ll buy it back for about half of the new price, depending on the book,” Phil Robling, Towson Book Exchange’s manager, said.

Towson Book Exchange sells used books at 70 percent of the new price, so they make 20 percent of the commission.

For example, if the book is $100, they will buy it for $50 and sell it for $70, according to Robling.

If the book won’t be used at the University, Towson Book Exchange has wholesalers that give lists of what they would pay for that book. Robling said they choose from five different wholesalers to see who would pay the highest.

If they sell it to one of these wholesalers, Towson Book Exchange still gets 20 percent of the commission, which is used to rent the space they have on York Road and to pay employees.

Towson University, University Store

Pricing is a changing thing – meaning textbook prices change every semester, according to University Store Director Stacy Elofir.

There is no hard and fast rule and no steady commission rate. The pricing depends on what makes sense at the time.

“We want to make sure we make enough money to pay our students and that we’re not put out of business and we can offer money back to the University … just enough to keep us running, but also to offer the best prices to the students,” Elofir said.

The store, unlike Towson Book Exchange, is required by the University and by law to have every textbook available to students, regardless of whether they’ll make money from it, according to Elofir.

BookHolders

Whether BookHolders carries certain textbooks and how they’re priced is based on the local market, which includes the demand of a book and if certain classes are being offered for a particular semester, according to Ryna Luckert, marketing manager of BookHolders.

Selling books back is based on national market prices.

Though Luckert said that since BookHolders doesn’t have to deal with quotas or answer to other markets, they can buy books back from students at a higher price than local competitors.

BookHolders also has an advantage program, where students can determine the buyback price of their book.

They can either take a lower amount up front or put their textbook online and wait for it to sell for a determined higher amount. When their book is sold through BookHolders, they get a check for the amount it was sold for.