BookByte, a new textbook program, guarantees students will get cash back.
With classes starting, students are filling Temple’s bookstore, aiming to rent or buy used and new textbooks. While the green digits on the bookstore’s register may have some students’ eyes bulging, BookByte may have found a solution that will leave students’ wallets heavier.
The Salem, Ore.-based website, which has offered textbooks at a discount since 1999, introduced its “Guaranteed Buyback” program. This program is the first of its kind that ensures the company will buy back its textbooks from students regardless of their condition.
“Textbook rental programs typically charge students significant fees for late, damaged or lost books. In addition to the low upfront price typically found with rental, with ‘Guaranteed Buyback’ students also receive a cash rebate when they return the book to Bookbyte,” Andres Montgomery, the company’s chief strategy officer, said.
This cash rebate is 10 percent of the books’ purchase price. While students can return books in any condition, Montgomery said a book “must be returned in the same general condition as it was originally received by the student” for the student to earn the rebate.
“Bookbyte’s definition of a damaged book is one that may contain excessive writing, cover wear, staining, mold or torn pages,” Montgomery said. “Bookbyte does not accept any books that are damaged or that have torn or missing pages.”
The program was designed to bring more students to the website and to increase the number of used books in the company’s store. Research conducted by BookByte prior to the implementation of this buyback program showed students prefer used books, 2-to-1.
Montgomery said the hope is the company’s new program “will encourage students to return books at the end of the term, thereby increasing the breadth and depth of Bookbyte’s inventory of used books.”
Rosella LaFevre can be reached at rosella.lafevre@temple.edu.
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