"We won't buyback your book, but we'll accept a donation!"

[Rageaholic]

I was told this twice when I tried to sell my used textbook. They checked the book on the computer system, determined they didn't need it, but said that if I wanted to donate it, they'd welcome it.

Donate it? DONATE IT? It's bad enough they charge up the ass for these textbooks, but now they expect me to essentially give it back for free? Fuck that! If anything, I'm keeping the book out of spite (and doing what I should have done long ago, by the books online).

[HYHYBT]

How generous of them.

[fireheart17]

Why not sell them online?

[Rageaholic]

Why not sell them online?

That's what I'm going to do.

[mikoyan29]

God I hated this. Would buy a book at the beginning of the semester, find out that the professor only really used one or two pages of it. Try to sell it back..."Nope sorry...we are moving to the next edition". Although I can't complain too much...got huge value out of my Calculus and PHysics books. Used my Calc book for 3 semsters and PHysics book for 2.

[RedRoseSpiral]

This is the type of situation where I would tell the book store to go fuck themself.

[Ginger Tea]

Donate the book after it has been liberally doused in bodily fluids and used as TP.

The guy that moved out a few months back used to use paperbacks as TP, I made a note to never loan him a book, unless he stole the books (wouldn't put it past him) the cheap brand TP is better, hell the 'tracing paper' that UK schools used to use would be better.

[Rageaholic]

This is the type of situation where I would tell the book store to go fuck themself.

It was very very tempting.

Donate the book after it has been liberally doused in bodily fluids and used as TP.

Also tempting.

[Hyena Dandy]

I don't understand the rage here. Were they really trying to hard-sell you on donating? Because otherwise, saying "You can donate it, but we don't need to buy any" seems like a fair answer. Because it's a TRUE answer. It's pretty much the exact same answer as "No, we can't buy it" with the addition of "If you really need to get rid of it, we can take it, but we don't need it."

Unless they were really pushing you on it, I don't get why you're upset in the vein of "Piss on the book before you give it to them."

Edit: Unless they approached you. If you approached them, I don't get what's wrong with it. It doesn't sound like they're EXPECTING you to give it to them for free, just saying you CAN, but they can't pay for it.

[s_stabeler]

thing is, in the US, textbook prices are massively inflated, with at least some of the excuse being that students can sell it back to the store to recoup some of the money spent on no-longer-nessecary books during "buyback"- Rageaholic is cross because they basically said " we won't buy the book back, but we'll take it for free instead" I'm sorry, but if they don't need the book back at whatever the buyback price was, then they don't need it back at all. Had they said they weren't doing buyback on the specific book, the Rageaholic would have accepted that, albeit possibly with some grumbling.

[Ginger Tea]

Bear in mind this is also a book that might have cost an awful amount but was only needed for maybe 4 pages of text.

A recent not always learning post had a student not buy a book as it was not clear on her syllabus how much she would need it for and truth be told it was a few pages.
The other books she needed cover to cover, but one book costing say a months rent, for 4 pages of text, hardly an essential buy.
having the book sit on the shelf for months of the course waiting for it to be needed would keep it mint and in the end you only physically touch 4 pages there is nothing much to stop it being sold as new by the shop, as how many book shops do you go to where people sit down as if it was a library, worse was the boarders starbucks, you could literally put the book in your bag and walk out acting like you came into the shop with it and only went there for a coffee.

I rarely bought a book if it was the only copy just so I could compare its wear and tear of a flipped through book to a I sat down and read the damn thing instead of buying it version.

[Sarah Valentine]

I didn't go to college mostly because I could never afford it, are there any places that you could rent books for what you might need? I highly doubt local library's carry what you'll need, but are there any speciality places that cater to college students?

[Rageaholic]

thing is, in the US, textbook prices are massively inflated, with at least some of the excuse being that students can sell it back to the store to recoup some of the money spent on no-longer-nessecary books during "buyback"- Rageaholic is cross because they basically said " we won't buy the book back, but we'll take it for free instead" I'm sorry, but if they don't need the book back at whatever the buyback price was, then they don't need it back at all. Had they said they weren't doing buyback on the specific book, the Rageaholic would have accepted that, albeit possibly with some grumbling.

Exactly.

Donating is just a nicer way of saying "give it to us for free". Since the charge you up the ass for their textbooks, you'd figure the least they could do is give you some money back for it (they'd still profit), but no. Asking if I wanted to donate it was just the straw that broke the camels back.

And just to clarify, I wasn't an ass to the store clerk or anything. I just kept the book without making a scene. I'm not as angry and ranty IRL as I come across online.

[Hyena Dandy]

Donating is just a nicer way of saying "give it to us for free".

So, like, did they call you or something?

Otherwise it sounds less like "Give it to us" and more like "You can, if you want, since you seem to be trying to get rid of it." Which seems to me slightly better than "We can't do anything." Because there is one more option. Admittedly, it's an option that you're not likely to take, but I don't see how it's functionally any different from saying "No buybacks."

I REALLY don't get the rage here. It makes no sense to me.

[Andara Bledin]

My question is whether or not the book in question will even be useable next term. Because if it's an old edition, they might not have any use for it, and are only offering because they might get some tiny credit from the publisher for taking it out of circulation, but that isn't enough to actually share with its previous owner.

But, yeah, if they were going to turn around and sell it for more than a few bucks, that's just not cool.