Turn Books into Bucks

Hayley Alaniz, Staff Reporter

Hayley_Alaniz@csumb.edu

May 8, 2008

The end of the semester promises

students the chance for a little extra

cash before their summer adventures.

Selling back books may only net, at

most, half of what students originally

paid at CSU Monterey Bay’s

(CSUMB) Bookstore. However, there

are still other ways for students to get

rid of those books they used during the

past semesters.

A very common way for students

to get rid of books themselves is to

visit the campus bookstore and receive

money for their books. Megan Ross,

freshman and Collaborative Health

and Human Services (CHHS) major,

feels that selling books back to the

bookstore is all about convenience.

Ross stated that a benefit to selling

books back to the bookstore is that

each sale helps to make used books

cheaper the following year.

Through the First Class system,

CSUMB students are able to sell books

in the textbook exchange conference.

Senior and Kinesiology major Elizabeth

Wehman emphasized how textbook

exchange differs from the bookstore,

“Usually there are the [books] the

bookstore doesn’t take back or the ones

they will only give a small percentage

back on.” Wehman stated that the

exchange is easier than selling them

online since you do not have to pay for

shipping to send it.

Since the bookstore does not always

accept every book back, students can

use other means of selling used books.

BookBuyers, located at 600 Lighthouse

Avenue in Monterey, is one store

that specializes in buying and selling

used books. Jeffrey Parks, manager

of BookBuyers, said that their process

involves the in-store buyer looking

over the books, including the condition,

and deciding whether the store can sell

it either in the store or online. Parks

said that when they buy books from the

seller it would either be in the form of

cash or store credit.

Whether students go to the bookstore,

local shops, or sell their books online,

students have the chance to get rid of

those unwanted book stacks collecting

dust in return for extra money.