How much do used books cost bookstores?
Whether the book is bought from a student, or from a national used book wholesaler, most stores pay 50% of the new retail price for a used copy of a textbook adopted for the next term. Almost all stores sell used textbooks for 80% of the new price. As a student, I don’t remember ever getting 50% of the new price for a used book. We hear this frequently, yet college stores pay students millions of dollars for used books at the end of each term, a significant percentage of which are bought at 50% of the new price. Unfortunately people tend to remember the $40 book that was sold back for $5, rather than those for which 50% was paid. Are used books more profitable for stores to sell? The numbers may seem to make used books more profitable to sell than new ones. However, the cost of acquiring used books is much more expensive for stores than simply ordering new copies from the publisher. In addition, the actual amount of money a store makes is about the same since the retail price on used b
