1. art and entertainment
2. books and literature
3. textbooks

JMU Bookstore Comprehensive Used Book Program
Through your cooperative effort, and our comprehensive used textbook program, we are happy to
report the following results for the 2008 summer and fall semester.
4/1/08 - 9/30/08 4/1/07 - 9/30/07 $ Variance
% Variance
Books Bought Back from JMU Students
$760,687
$663,574
$97,113
14.63%
USED textbook savings **
$518,235
$516,599
$1,636
0.32%
$1,278,922
$1,180,173
$98,749
8.37%
Total Used/Buyback Program Savings
** Buying used versus new
Because of your commitment to helping JMU students save money on their course material purchases, JMU students saved more
than $1.2 million selling their textbooks through our comprehensive used textbook program. We hope you’ll agree that we’ve
accomplished this without sacrificing your academic freedom to choose the best materials for your students.
Getting your adoptions in as soon as possible, helps your students in several ways.
๏ Timing is everything! Submitting your textbook adoptions to the JMU bookstore on-time is one of the best ways to help reduce your
students’ textbook investment. Meeting the deadline directly influences our ability to buy back books from your students as we can pay
the maximum price – up to 50% of the textbook purchase price - but only when we have an adoption for a textbook processed in our
system before buyback.
๏ Meeting the adoption deadline is also important because it allows us to conduct a search for used copies from national sources. The
demand for used copies always greatly exceeds the supply, so the search is competitive. However, the JMU Bookstore has made
providing used books a priority to reduce student costs.
๏ Textbook packages – commonly called “bundles” - may not be the “deal” that you are seeking. Before adopting a package, please be
confident that your students need every component for the course. Unused components decrease the package’s value and have a
tendency to increase student cynicism. In addition, in most cases, package components cannot be bought back or sold used. This
substantially increases the student’s textbook costs both when buying and selling back books.
๏ Publisher initiated edition changes are minimal at best. When practical, readopting textbooks for the next semester means we can buy
them back from current students (50% of the textbook purchase price) and provide used copies for future students to purchase (saving
them 25%). The following model shows that students can save up to 45% on their overall textbook expense.
Textbook Cost (same textbook READOPTED twice)
Fall 08
Best deal for
students...
Spring 09
Total
Textbook
$90.00
$67.50
$157.50
Buyback (1/2 of purchase)
$45.00
$34.00
$79.00
Net price
$45.00
$33.50
$78.50
Savings of
45%
Textbook Cost (new edition or post buyback re-adoption)
Increased
Textbook costs!
Fall 08
$90.00
Spring 09
$90.00
total
$180.00
Buyback (wholesale only)**
$18.00
$18.00
$36.00
Net price
$72.00
$72.00
$144.00
Textbook Selling Price
** assumes maximum 20% wholesale value.
You do not have to assemble all course materials before sending them to us. Send us a title at a time if that suits you. Our staff will
keep all of your course material orders organized and will send periodic booklists to the academic departments for your review.
We are here to help. If you need assistance with your textbook adoption, are interested in readopting current textbooks, or have
other course material questions, please feel free to call, email or visit us.
Thank you for helping us better serve the JMU community.
JMU BOOKSTORE | 540.568.3995 | [email protected] | fax: 540.568.7107