The high prices and increasing number of new editions of textbooks have angered many students. While some blame the Penn Bookstore for these high prices and grudgingly buy their books, others look elsewhere to make their purchases.
Options range from the traditional on-campus outlets to a variety of online sources. Typically, purchasing used books online results in the best deal.
"Compared to buying [textbooks at the Penn Bookstore] on sticker price, I saved about $200 for three classes by buying them used on" Amazon.com, Wharton and Engineering junior Alexandra Ressler said.
Ressler went to the Penn Bookstore Web site to find the books she needed and then bought two management books and one systems engineering book online.
Some students, however, prefer to buy books at retail outlets.
"It's not safe to order books online. I'm worried about payment, and how can I refund my money if I'm not satisfied?" Wharton senior Winnie Hung said.
Students use a number of tactics to get their books more cheaply.
"Usually I buy books from Hong Kong [where I live]. The transportation cost is much more expensive than the book itself but less than half of the price of the accounting books," Hung said.
Some faculty members have also attempted to reduce the financial burden on students by posting course texts on Web sites.
"Two of my professors have put books online, so it's annoying to read -- but it's good financially," College sophomore Aliza Boim said.
Students also expressed discontent with the bookstore for charging high prices for new books, but offering much lower prices when buying back used books.
It was a "little irritating to me that the bookstore didn't have used books, so we had to buy the new ones, and then you could not sell [the books] for a significant amount of money," Ressler said.
Ressler bought the Corporate Finance 100 and Financial Accounting 101 textbooks -- each for over $100 -- but was offered substantially less when she went to sell the books back to the bookstore.
"The bookstore offered about $6.50 for the Finance 100 book last fall, and for the Accounting book, they offered about $12," Ressler said. "The people, however, were very nice about it when I decided not to sell the books."
The complaints and concerns of the students have caught the attention of the Penn Bookstore managers.
"The bookstore worked very hard with the faculty to get book orders in as early as possible," said Rhea Lewis, director of communications and special projects for Penn Business Services. "When we have orders in early, we can facilitate book buybacks and sell used books to the students."
This summer, Penn Bookstore sent flyers and notices to students to inform them about a service on the Web site that aimed to make buying books easier.
The new service allows students to order their books online and books could be picked up on campus or shipped home.
With this wide range of purchasing options available to students, the process of buying books is further complicated by the discrepancies in price.
"It's not always the case that the books online are cheaper than at the store. It can be, but sometimes [online book prices] are higher or at comparable prices, so it depends on the book and the market at that time," Lewis said.
This year, the Penn Bookstore not only received competition from popular Web sites Amazon.com and eBay, but also from a text brokerage site located on campus. Text-Xchange was launched by Wharton senior Naokimi Ushiroda.
"This is a service where all students can buy or sell books to each other," Ushiroda said. "I started this service last semester, but this semester is the first full launch. Last semester was a test run."
The Text-Xchange Web site allows students to post their used books online for sale. Interested buyers can buy the book online and then pick it up at the Text-Xchange booth located near Harnwell College House.
"The reason why I started this service was because I was mad at the bookstore," Ushiroda said. "I've been researching texts for a while, and some of the books sold at the bookstore are [priced] higher than the retail stores."
The Penn Bookstore has "a monopoly on textbooks on campus, and students don't have any choice other than to go online," he added.
Ushiroda noted that business had not taken off as much as he hoped. He gets a 20 to 30 percent cut on each transaction.
"One, we didn't market enough or early enough. Two, lots of new books [are needed], so the books we had in stock were outdated," Ushiroda said. "It's just the beginning right now, and we have 750 books posted. By keeping in touch with the users, next semester a lot more people will be aware of the service before they start buying books."
