April 05, 2006

Barnes & Noble launches used-book buyback program

Barnes & Noble has launched an online used book buyback program.

Type an ISBN into the site, and B&N will say how much they're willing to pay for the book. If you accept the offer, you can print a postage-paid mailing label, and get paid in about three weeks with a check.

The program might be worth investigating for certain recent books. For example, B&N will pay $2 for a paperback copy of "Reading Lolita in Tehran" even though copies are selling on Amazon Marketplace for only $1.70.

To take another example, however, B&N won't pay a cent for paperback copies of "The Da Vinci Code." But this book is selling for double the price ($4.78) on Amazon. One more example: the current blockbuster "A Million Little Pieces" is selling for $2 on Amazon Marketplace; B&N will pay $1 for it.

B&N says it quotes its prices based on "future demand for the book and current stock availability." The company won't buy out-of-print books, book club editions, or books that have new editions each year, such as travel guides.

A number of similar textbook buyback services have popped up in recent months for students who want cash for their used books but don't want to bother with selling them individually.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Stan said...

In my area Hastings, with stores in 20 states, has launched a book buyback program. I recently took them 20 books and they bought 9 for $42.20. Most of the books they accepted were trade paperbacks. They pay either with cash or in-store credit but in-store credit is double the cash amount. I'm thinking of using the credit to buy new books I can sell quickly.

4/08/2006  

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