Textbook ManiacReviews 42

I mailed three books out in great condition that were hardly used. I waited for almost a month with no response from textbook maniac. I checked the order on the website and the books were rejected. They did not give a reason why or even email me that had happened. They are unwilling to send by books back that were 100% real as they were brought from my university's bookstore. This company is a SCAM! Use any other buyback site but this one.

Wish I had seen these reviews. I mailed 6 batches of books out to various textbook buyback places. 4 paid me immediately. One said it would take about 3 weeks. This one no communication. Followed up and asked what the status"submitted" means. Well I got an answer that the books went to a mail recovery center because they were probably damaged and that this "is not uncommon". I should reach out to the post office and could file a claim with them if I insured the books. Well I used the company's preprinted label as this was the way I was instructed to do things and no extra insurance was purchased. I believe they are scammers and got the books and just won't pay. They merely said "I'm sorry" at the end. No help, no books, no money. Royal ripoff.

Despite my better judgement and the other reviews, I decided to send a textbook to this company. Based on the reviews I checked my book numerous times to ensure that it was not a teachers or international edition. But what to do you know just like every other review they email me and say they will not pay me for the book because it is an international edition... it is unbelievable that they steal people's money like this by out right lying. DO NOT send your books here. They will take your books, lie about them, and not pay you. This company is a fraud!

Use any other book buyback program. Seriously, do not use them. This company is not honest with its patrons. Like Mishel M on this review board, they said they only received half of the books I sent them even though I sent them in the same box (odd, and even more odd that it happened to multiple people). They blamed the whole thing on USPS. When I contacted USPS they had a picture of the box in the same condition that I sent it being delivered. Something isn't right here, and they don't seem to care about their patrons experiences, they are more interested in convincing ppl that they are not stealing and nothing questionable happened on their watch. Life is too short, hold on to your books or use someone else.

** it's the tail end of the holiday season, in our area you can request photo verification from USPS for packages over a certain weight limit.

I wish I could leave less than 1 star. I sent them my perfect condition textbook (that I originally bought from my university) and they claimed that my book was "counterfeit" and that they could not pay me for it but also could not send it back to me because it's "against their policy". Even after providing proof of purchase from the bookstore they still would not pay for or return my book. DO NOT SEND THEM YOUR BOOKS THEY ARE CROOKS AND THEIR "POLICY" IS STEALING FROM COLLEGE STUDENTS! WHAT A SCAM!

My book WAS NOT COUNTERFEIT! I know that you are going to respond and tell me "we have an obligation to the publisher." Please stop feeding people this BS. The publisher is using "in-authenticity" as a way to STEAL back the books that we legitimately buy and are legitimately trying to make a little bit of money back on. The text book industry is already defrauding college students of the little money they have by charging them $250+ for books that likely cost $10 to publish. I will NEVER use this company for anything! Beware... they are just a front for the text book publishing industry.

Here's how it works - you shop your used book online to sell and this company gives you an amount WAY better than anyone else (this should be your first red flag - too good to be true price for your book). You follow their instructions to ship your book and anxiously await your payment. A few weeks go by and amazingly, your book is damaged somehow and they won't pay you anything. And... if you want it back, you have to pay them to send it to you! If you don't, they'll "keep" it, which means they'll no doubt sell it at a lower price to someone, which amounts to them having basically stolen your book for the price of them paying media rate shipping. It the perfect scam... don't do business with these thiefs!

TAKE YOUR BUSINESS ELSEWHERE! I wish I'd read the reviews before doing business with this "company". I sent in 6 textbooks to these incompetent liars to which they told me I'd receive ~$140. I sent the books in using the postage they emailed me, and began to become suspicious after I tracked the package and saw it was delayed. I continued to track it and by this point the package was delayed about 3 weeks. It was documented that the package had arrived at the facility but still needed to be signed for. It remained in that status for days. I decided to read reviews for them and saw that people were not getting the money they were told they'd get due to "water damage" or "missing books". Low and behold when they FINALLY processed my order (a month after me sending them in) they say there were three books missing. LIE. You mean to tell me that hundreds of people all decided to just send in only HALF their order? Please. They also claimed the box was damaged causing the books to go missing. HOW TF DO ONLY THREE BOOKS GO MISSING IF THE BOX IS DAMAGED? I told them to send me photo evidence and they couldn't. You'd THINK, after soooo many people's packages have been damaged they'd be able to provide photo evidence right? Wrong. You can't provide evidence of something that never happened. These people are scammers, liars, incompetent, and deceitful. Find another more reputable and trustworthy place to sell your books back to!

I should have read all of the other reviews of this company, as they are clearly true. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM, THEY ARE NOT A LEGITIMATE COMPANY. They took my books and dropped the quoted price from $49 to $0 due to a claim of "water damage". They won't return my books unless I pay for shipping which is clearly just another scam to get more money out of me. If you have a similar experience, be sure to file an official complaint with the Better Business Bureau, let's get this scam shut down!

I entered my ISBN number from the books I wanted to sell, it gave a price, I shipped the books, then I received an email stating that they would not buy my books because they were instructor editions! They are NOT instructor editions... they are exactly what the ISBN number says they are... student editions. Then, I had to pay for shipping to get my books returned! Total scam company... don't bother doing business with them... they SUCK!

Pay attention to the overwhelmingly negative reviews. There is a reason! This company is not operating in good faith. Clearly they find reasons to not adhere to the original quotes given for books. As a business owner myself, I understand you are in the business to make money but you don't rip off your clients as a standard operating procedure. There are too many people, including myself, with a similar experience, where they are informed that they will be getting less than quoted for a book because of some bogus excuse. They count on the fact that clients won't want to deal with having to pay to have the book shipped back and will just take the substantially lesser amount. I will not do business with them anymore and I hope their business does not last since they operate dishonestly.

Theyll steal your books and say theyre severely damaged then hold them hostage for a $4 shipping charge. Dont sell here, youll just lose your stuff or your money.

Reply from Textbook Manic (AKA Textbook Crooks): "Maybe it was damaged in transit." The book was packed in a sturdy box with bubble wrap and sent off in good condition. Yet somehow it arrived with "severe damage with staining and water wrinkling." Either TM needs to find themselves a better shipper that won't leave packages out in the rain or they are crooks who stole my book, got out of paying me $50, & got to re-sell the book for a hefty markup. Burn your old textbooks before you let these people steal yours for a profit.

I don't recommend selling to them. The shipping label they send is for Media Mail, which is notoriously unreliable. They quoted me an unbelievably high payout, so I picked them over other options. Well, Media Mail made it all the way to Huntsville AL, which is where Textbook Maniac is located and then... stopped updating tracking. I'm pretty sure the package was delivered without being scanned, but Textbook Maniac told me they never got it. I emailed them several times and got contradictory responses.