Online Textbook Sellers See Spike In Sales

As college textbook prices continue to skyrocket, students are turning to online textbook retailers for cheaper books, fueling a budding industry that has seen record-high sales in the past year.

According to a report released earlier this month by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress that studies how the government spends taxpayer funds, college textbooks have increased in price at twice the rate of inflation in the last 20 years, at an average 6 percent per year.

The cost of textbooks and supplies at a four-year public institution like UC Berkeley has risen 26 percent, according to the report.

Online textbook sellers are seeing a surge in sales. A leading online textbook retailer, abebooks.com, expects to sell more books this back-to-school season than any other, according to site spokesperson Richard Davies.

"Each time there is a back-to-school session more students go online," Davies said. "We expect this back-to-school season to be the biggest ever."

In January, the Web site sold used and new books worth $5 million, a sales increase of 400 percent, with two-thirds for used books, Davies said.

"I bought some of my books at Ned's today, but I am probably going to buy the rest of them on Amazon.com because there is such a huge price difference," said

sophomore mass communications major Pauline Sze. "When you think about tuition and rent, it's already too much money that students have to spend."

Book sales at abebooks.com support the fact that students are becoming budget conscious as more money is poured into textbooks only good for a semester.

Some books are far less expensive online. "Chemical Principles, Fifth Edition" by Steven Zumdahl, used for UC Berkeley's Chemistry 1A class, costs $109.75 used or $146.25 new at the campus bookstore and $101.15 used or $141.65 new at Ned's Books. The same book on abebooks.com costs $84.00 new.

One reason textbooks are so much cheaper online is because they are international editions, Davies said.

Retailers sometimes purchase textbooks from Canada and the United Kingdom and sell them back to U.S. consumers at cheaper prices while still making a profit, he said.

"The books are identical in all respects, but what they are is a brand new edition, just dramatically cheaper at about half the listed price," he said.

Online textbook sellers like abebooks.com and amazon.com offer deals like free shipping at certain order levels, free returns within a certain amount of days, and guarantees on books students are purchasing.

Other Web sites like ComeGetUsed.com, created and operated by students, allow students to post books for sale at a price of their own choosing and sell to whomever they choose.

But while the Internet is an efficient way to search for bargains on textbooks, some students say the there are drawbacks to buying online.

"I haven't bought my books yet, but I will buy them at the bookstore because a lot of my textbooks require CDs and are special packaged," said senior mechanical engineering student Robert Chan.

Chan also points to a lack of experience with online buying and the longer time required to find the right books. Not being able to see exactly what you are buying is disconcerting, Chan said.

Online retailers say that it is still too early to rule out the role of a campus bookstore, who Davies said are not to blame for the high prices students have to pay for books.

"Campus bookstores have one advantage," Davies said. "Every fall a brand new crop of freshmen come who go to the college bookstore because they don't know any better."

But 12 months later they become wiser and learn to search for the bargains, he said.

"The days where (the campus bookstore) had a mini-monopoly are coming to an end," Davies said.

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