sigma@usl.UUCP (Spyridon Triantafyllopoulos) (01/09/85)
here comes a simple math problem.....
Say, a new textbook is around 30 dollars. I buy it, and according to
an array of laws a certain percent goes to the publisher, etc
others, authors rights, etc etc. and the poor bookstore only a
few percent.
I pass the course (or any thing else )
I sell the book back, getting around 40% to 50% of my bucks. Say I
get 14 dollars.
A little later a guy or a gal buys my book for somewhere around 23-25
dollars. So the book made
$30 initial
less $14
-----------
first time $16
plus second $24
----------------
total: $40.
Who gets this (extra) profit?? does it stay in the bookstore completely
or some goes back to the (author, publisher, etc)???? In any case,
how legal is it?????
A little light would go a long way (ever paid $49.95 for Myer's Advanced
computer architecture???)
-- Spiros
Spiros Triantafyllopoulos <> USENET {ut-sally, akgua}!usl!sigma
Computer Science Dept, USL <> CSNet TriantafyllopoulosS%usl@csnet-relay.ARPA
"This file contains no opinions whatsoever" ron@brl-tgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (01/16/85)
> Say, a new textbook is around 30 dollars. I buy it, and according to > an array of laws a certain percent goes to the publisher, etc > others, authors rights, etc etc. and the poor bookstore only a > few percent. > > I pass the course (or any thing else ) > > I sell the book back, getting around 40% to 50% of my bucks. Say I > get 14 dollars. > > A little later a guy or a gal buys my book for somewhere around 23-25 > dollars. So the book made > > $30 initial > less $14 > ----------- > first time $16 > plus second $24 > ---------------- > total: $40. > The calculations are a little odd, but if you are trying to explain the extra $10 profit (not $40). What happens when the bookstore buys back the book is that it gets sold back to some one we can call a "used book dealer" who adds his profit/cost on to what the bookstore took out. When ordering time comes around the bookstore buys back some used books in addition to buying new books (at least this is how it worked at our small bookstore, larger universities may actually be able to stockpile the books themselves). The answer, the bookstore system keeps the money. It all seems very legal, the books were sold without any restriction on use. Student book exchanges make use of the same system but keep the middleman costs down What you neglect to point out is that the person who bought the used book could sell it for about the same as you sold your copy for ($14) and the bookstore would again sell it for $24. -Ron