Acceptable Item Qualities

Minimum condition requirements for Sellback items.

Items in used condition with these qualities (or better) will be accepted:

  • Covers: Can have curl and small creases. Moderate scuff marks or small cut OK.
  • Corners: Can have some damage, light (1-2 inches) peeling OK, some (25%) bend OK.
  • Pages: Minor highlighting (~20%) OK. Dog ear folds on page corners OK.
  • Water/Stains: No visible water/spill damage. Minimal stains OK.
  • Supplements: Can be missing/opened, unless the ISBN is a stand alone access card or a bundle edition (book with access code).
  • Personalization: Name written inside or library labels OK.
  • Binding: Moderate wear is OK, no loose pages.
  • Loose leafs should be wrapped or rubber banded together and all pages must be present.
Items with these qualities will exclude an item from being accepted for Sellback:
  • Cover: Cover not intact. Cuts going through the cover into multiple pages.
  • Page damage: Lines unreadable from highlighting. Page completely torn (part of page is missing) or major partial tear (high probability that normal wear and tear during next usage will result in part or all of page falling out).
  • Excessive writing/underlining/markings.
  • Water damage: Pages swollen, major wrinkling, excessive stains, major discoloration or moldy (foxing).
  • Stickers or Tape: Used deliberately to hide markings specific to instructor, international, and sample editions. These textbooks are not accepted for sellback. Read more about these items here.
  • Binding: Pages are separating from binding or have been fixed with tape.
  • Mismatch ISBN: Submitted ISBN does not match ISBN of what was received.
  • Counterfeit or fraudulent.
  • Rebound items.

What is a counterfeit book?

A counterfeit book is an unauthorized copy, imitation or replica of an original copyrighted book, produced by some source other than the identified and authorized publisher/copyright holder or licensee.

We take the issue of counterfeit textbooks very seriously.

For more information, please see http://stopcounterfeitbooks.com. By taking part in our programs you represent and warrant that any item sent to us is a legitimate copy, and acknowledge that we cannot issue payment or return any item that is determined to be counterfeit or fraudulent.

If we determine that an item sent to us exhibits characteristics that indicate it might be counterfeit, we will forward the item to the relevant publisher for further inspection. If the item is determined to be counterfeit, then it will be confiscated and destroyed and we may be required to provide source information to the publisher. If the publisher determines that the item is a legitimate copy, then we will notify you and issue the originally quoted payment or return the item free of charge. This process may take one to three months, we apologize for any inconvenience it may cause.

Common characteristics of a counterfeit include:

  1. Cheap or split binding
  2. No flyleaves - first page is title page
  3. Cover stock is heavier
  4. Corners are less rounded
  5. Color and dimensional discrepancies
  6. Monochromatic cover
  7. Black and white pictures 
  8. Poor paper quality
  9. Strong smell from cheap ink
  10. Images inside have poor resolution
  11. Doesn’t lay completely flat
  12. Spine has small sections that are not bound tightly together and visible to the naked eye

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