Amazon.com today announced a new textbook trade-in program, which gives students Amazon gift cards if they mail in their used books. The move poses a major challenge to college bookstores, which have long been the main site of book trade-ins for many students.
Amazon says the program will give students good prices for their books and help them avoid the hassle of waiting in line to trade them in at a campus bookstore. Amazon already has trade-in programs for DVD’s and video games, which the company says have been successful.
Students and other textbook owners can visit the trade-in site to see if their books are eligible. If they are, a student can print shipping labels and mail the texts off to a third-party business. The value of gift card is then placed in the person’s Amazon.com account, which can go towards textbooks, DVD’s, CD’s, or anything else for sale on the site. Definitely beats regifting an edition of The Norton Anthology of English Literature, no offense to John Milton.
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2 Responses to Amazon.com Starts Textbook Trade-In Program
bobsw - December 4, 2009 at 8:54 am
Wait! So instead of waiting in line at the bookstore and leaving with money in my hand for anything I want, I can wait in line at the post office and get an Amazon credit? (To say nothing of mailing envelopes, boxes, etc., etc.)
ais23 - December 7, 2009 at 8:44 am
Maybe Amazon will give more money for the books? There’s nothing like spending $125+ on a brand-new textbook only to receive $5 from the bookstore. Riiiiiipoooooooff. After wisening up, I never sold back to the bookstore–it was all Half.com for me. I’d ship items media mail to students around the country who needed that exact book, instead of getting shafted by the bookstore.