The St. Paul campus Bookstore will conduct its annual end-of-semester book buyback starting Wednesday, May 9. The buyback will run through Friday, May 18, outside the Bookstore on the lower level of Murray-Herrick Campus Center.
A UST ID is required for customers selling books back.
Hours this week:
- Noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, May 9-10
- Noon to 4 p.m. Friday, May 11
Hours for finals week:
- 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Thursday, May 14-17
- 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, May 18
The Minneapolis Bookstore will have similar hours and times.
About the buyback
Based on national demand, students wishing to sell their books back can receive up to 50 percent of the new cover price if the bookstores have received a firm book adoption for the next semester. Since the bookstores can purchase only limited quantities of some titles and the quotas are filled daily, the bookstores encourage students to sell their books daily after finishing their classes.
If the bookstores meet their quota on the quantities that are to be resold in the UST bookstores, the title most likely will have a wholesale value. In many cases, books not ordered for the next semester also will have a wholesale value. Books purchased wholesale will be shipped to a nationwide used-book distributor that will sell the books to other schools. Last year the UST bookstores purchased more than $650,000 worth of used textbooks back from students.
The UST bookstores also will buy back books that were not purchased at St. Thomas. The UST bookstores are interested in purchasing back all current and salable books for reuse in the UST bookstores.
As more and more books include CDs, books being sold back must have the CDs with them to receive the best price.
Rented textbooks
Students who rented textbooks must return them at the book buyback counter at the St. Paul Bookstore to avoid being charged for them. All rental books must be returned by 4 p.m. Friday, May 18. Rental books must have the rental stickers on them in order to be returned accurately.
Booksellers can assist charities
Each time students sell back their textbooks, they will receive a lottery ticket. The bookstore will have five ballot boxes, each representing a charity that is well-known on the St. Thomas campus. Students can deposit their lottery tickets in the box of their favorite charity. At the end of the book buyback, the Bookstore will award a cash prize of $500 to the charity that receives the most votes, with $300 going to the second-place charity and $200 to the third-place charity.
Books not being purchased by the Bookstores can be donated to Books for Africa. Donated books will be put to good use by students from other countries where even a used out-of-date textbook is a treasured commodity.
Check current wholesale book prices online
Visit the UST Bookstore website, scroll down to the menus at the bottom of the page, click on “Book Buyback $$ Info” and enter the ISBN located on the back of the book. An image of the book will appear along with the price the Bookstore is paying for that title. The prices change hourly once quotas are met, so don’t wait until the last day to sell back your books.
Buyback at the Anderson Student Center
This year, for the first time, the Bookstore also will buy textbooks in Room 237, Anderson Student Center:
- 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, May 15-17
- 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday, May 18
Rogue book buyers
Be aware of rogue book buyers who may be walking through the residence halls. The book buyers will pay only wholesale prices on books and not up to the 50 percent that the UST Bookstore might pay. Books sold by this method will go off campus to be sold at other locations, and UST students will not have the opportunity to purchase them in the UST bookstores at a used price.
Book thefts
The end of the semester is a time that book thefts increase substantially. Watch and mark your books so that you can identify them in case they are lost or stolen.
