If you are a college student, buying textbooks directly on campus can be a nightmare because they are so expensive and you don't get much back from returning them when the semester is over. Many college students are turning to alternative sources online to help them save money. Instead of purchasing the book at full cost, they can simply rent it and return it for cheaper when they are done. Websites like BookByte help college students this way, but is the process as effective as it claims or is it a major pain in the butt? Let's take a look.
What is BookByte?
BookByte.com is a website focusing on buying, selling, and renting textbooks. The website began in 1999 and is owned by Rentu.com LLC. The company's headquarters are in Salem, Oregon. The website features 28 book categories with thousands of titles to choose from.
How Does BookByte Work?
All of the services on the website are completely free to use. The company offers information on how much textbooks you have may be worth as well as when the best time to sell them. You can rent and buy books from them as well. The company will show you how much a textbook will be worth based on the condition it is in. BookBytes provides a 10% loyalty fee for customers who sell back a textbook they purchased from the company.
BookByte Features
Buying Textbooks: Under the Buy Textbooks tab, you can look for the textbook you need through the search bar on the website. All you have to do is enter the title, the author's name, or the ISBN number. You then select if you want either a new or used option, add the book to your online shopping cart, and click on Check Out.
Selling Textbooks: To sell a textbook you own, visit the company's website and click on Sell Textbooks. Enter the ISBN number or tile in the search bar, and then you will be shown a picture of the book and how much BookByte is offering. If you like the amount offer, you can click on Continue Sale and get a free shipping label to print out. It takes approximately 4-14 days to arrive to the company. You will then receive your payment by your choice of either check or PayPal.
Renting Textbooks: You can search for the textbook you need and choose how long you want to rent the book. Terms are for 30, 60, 90, or 10 days. The company will send you email reminders before the book is due back. When your rental time is up, you can ship the book back to the company at no cost or choose to extend your rental time.
What We Like About BookByte
Excellent BBB Rating: Whether or not the BBB is a reputable source, many people rely on what they have to say about a company. At the time of this review, the company has an A+ rating and full accreditation.
Free Shipping: While not guaranteed with every order, BookByte does offer free shipping with textbook rentals, textbook sales to the company, and any purchase over $49. This is a complete money saver, as shipping costs for heavy items like books can be quite expensive.
Money Back Guarantee: The company will refund you all your money back if you return the textbook with 14 days of receiving it.
7-Day Grace Period: You don't have to worry is you miss returning a book on time. The company will give you an extra seven days to return the book without a late fee.
BookByte Complaints
Hurry Up Returns: Many companies give you 30 days to return a product. BookBytes only gives you a 14-day window to return your textbooks for a refund.
Good Luck Getting Your Cash: There are many online complaints in actually getting the cash promised by the company for selling textbooks. At times, the company offers one price on its website but customers then receive much less. Doesn't sound like fair business practices to me.
Lost in the Mail: Packages sent to the company have been reported as “being lost” according to customer service representatives. This results in the customer being out of luck on payment for their textbooks with no other recourse. Be sure to keep a careful eye on any packages sent to the company. Make sure you keep your tracking number to report any issues.
So Is BookByte A Scam or Not?
BookByte appears to be a reputable website for buying, selling, and renting textbooks. You can see how much the textbook is worth and get a quote upfront if you wish to sell. The company also offers a 14-day money back guarantee and a 7-day grace period on returns. However, the cash customers actually received for selling their books was sometimes much lower than what they were told on the website. Packaging sometimes never arrives as well.
You can save and get money with textbooks. However, the experience itself may be more of a hassle than it's worth. I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences with BookByte. So please leave a comment down below. I’d love to hear from you!
Until next time,
Eddy with a y
BookByte Review
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Bookbyte seems like a legitimate way to buy and sell used textbooks. However based on some of the complaints you may not always get the amount of money quoted for your books.
Hey Eddy another great review man, and i agree BookByte is not a scam in the typical sense, and if you really need to buy or sell some textbooks its an ok option. But seriously anything which doesn’t do what it says on the tin just annoys me really.
The fact that you can sometimes get a quote, and then get much less cash then you what was stated to you is pretty underhanded so i will personally be staying clear, would you use this?
Anyway thanks for informing on this bro!
Hey Marley,
I don’t like the idea that I may get less than I expected. Again I don’t think they do this all the time. But there are a few complaints online that this has happened. I would still probably give it a shot. Maybe I’d test out a few books first to see how it works out.
It’s unfortunate that people aren’t getting back something for the return of the textbooks. The idea of their service sounds great and makes a lot of sense for a cash strapped student. If Bookbyte kept to their word and are genuine about helping students out then it might be alright.
They don’t alway engage in the complaint listed there. But there have been a few people that have had that complaint. But it’s not the norm from what I can tell.
Oh wow! To be honest I was really excited about this option to earn some cash for those books that I have sitting in my house but after reading they do not pay what they say in the beginning based on the customer complaints. So, I do not think I could make any business with a company that is not serious with their customers.
Again, I don’t think the practice is common place. Some people have complained about it. But it doesn’t mean it happens all the time. You may want to try sending off one text book to see if you have the same experience or not.
This is fascinating. I may look at trying this out sometime. I think this could be helpful considering I will be going to college this next winter. Thanks for the post and the honesty. I hope your next posts are just a helpful as this one was to me. Thanks again for the information. I will deeply consider what has been said.
You’re very welcome Aden. I’m glad it helped.
Since you aren’t necessarily recommending that we use this company to sell our books, do you have any recommendations that are not going to be a waste of my time? I’m getting ready to start college this fall and it seems like something like this can save me quite a bit of money.
This company may still be worth a shot. But I’ll look at others soon.
What a great review, I remember back in my day you could return your text books, but only if they were in good condition and also only if the teacher was going to use that text book next semester. And if that happened you only got back 1/3 of the price that you originally paid.
I like the idea of renting the text books. This way you not stuck with a book that you no longer need or want. I am a little discouraged of reports that books go missing in route, and that people report getting less then what they were offered.
Is bookbyte the only company out there that does this kind of service or have you come across other companies that offer these services?
I like there is a company out there that is helping out with this. Most people who go on to high education have a tough time with the cost of some of these text books and this company seems to help with recouping some of the cost.
Hey Russ,
Thanks for sharing your experience. I really appreciate it. There are definitely other companies like BookByte and I plan to review in the future.