Ask Us

How do I find out which books I need for class?
There are several ways you can access this information. This is the way we think is easiest:

• Go to myOswego (https://www.oswego.edu/myoswego/)
• Login
• Using the search window, type “week”. When the results come up, select “week at a glance schedule”
• Click on the class for which you like course materials info
• Click on the 5 digit CRN (Course Reference Number)
• Text info appears
• You may also go from our website and follow the textbooks links.

College Store

We take orders for course materials on-line beginning with registration through the semester’s end.

Dare to Compare is the College Stores program to help you save money on textbooks. Many people assume because we are the on-campus bookstore, we will be higher priced than our competitors. That’s why we ask you to Dare to Compare! We believe if you compare our prices with other booksellers, you will choose us. We have great prices, convenient location and extended hours, plus there is NEVER sales tax on required course materials!

If ordering online, we accept American Express, Discover, MC, and Visa. You may also create a Flex Plan.

Flex Plan

Yes, but it must be done by setting up a Flex Plan before the end of the first week of classes. Beyond the first week, the creation of a Flex Plan is only available to those students whose financial aid has not been disbursed.

A Flex Plan is a convenient way to pay for things in our 3 on-campus College Stores locations. Funds are accessed through the student id card, so it’s convenient cashless payment without the need to carry around another card! For complete information:

Flex Plan

No. This would violate our compliance with the PCI DSS (payment card industry data security standard). For in store transactions, each customer needs to have her / his own card for sales and refunds. The card must be signed by the customer. We will compare the signature on the back of the card to the signature on the receipt and they must match.

We do not charge your card until we prepare your order for pick up or shipment.

You are not charged until we have the book available to send to you or for you to pick up.

For customers who ask to have their books shipped, we do our best to send back orders as they arrive in our store. For customers who ask to pick up their books in Hewitt, we may fill back orders up to the point at which an order is picked up. If you are missing a book from your order, you should not have been charged. Please check your receipt in your box to verify.

We begin to process on-line orders 3 weeks before the beginning of a semester. Delivery orders begin to be shipped from that point. Pick up orders are also processed and boxed for pick up. They are available for pick up beginning on the Thursday before the first day of classes. That is also the date when in-store shopping may begin.

If you selected pick up in store, they will be available for the first week at a location in the southeast corner of Hewitt Union. After that, they will be available in Bookland on the main level of Hewitt.

We are not able to deliver books directly to your room, so please check at the front desk of your residence hall to see whether you have a package.

The books in Bookland are arranged alphabetically by author’s last name. Additionally, we have staff members in the aisles to help you locate the correct books.

Some of our course materials come in electronic format. We work with instructors to have in stock the course materials in the format with which they would like to use their chosen materials. That can include an etext, homework software, test banks, workbooks, custom course packs as well as traditional textbooks. If we do not stock the information in your preferred format, we can order it for you.

We will take the book back for a full refund providing the following conditions are met:

• You have the receipt
• It is in the same condition in which you purchased it. 

For example:

• Shrink wrapped books are still shrink wrapped
• There is not writing or highlighting in the book
• Access codes are intact and unopened.
• The book is clean and free from stains and / or water damage
• It is before the deadline noted on your receipt

Yes, unless an instructor specifically asks for an old edition to be used.

There is a place on the order form where you can indicate whether you would like us to substitute with a new copy at the new price. If you say no, do not substitute, you will not receive the book(s) if we are out of the used version even if we have it in stock in new. If you say yes, please substitute, you will receive a new book with the price adjusted to the new price. It works the same way if you order a new copy and we only have used.

There are several possibilities why we may not have used books. If an instructor has chosen a textbook that has a new edition, there would only be new available. If the instructor has chosen a book that comes with access codes, we would usually only have new. If an instructor has chosen an e-text and / or homework access code, that would only be available new. We are not always able to have enough copies of used books and when they are gone, we then have only new available.

Our textbook management system automatically shows a new and used price for all texts. For those course materials which we will never sell used, we turn off the used price, but if there is a chance we will have a used version we leave it. Also, at this point, our web site is not on real time with our inventory.

Unfortunately, our web site is not real time with our inventory.

We would love to buy your books back at the end of the semester. Here’s how it works:

• If your instructor has told us that he / she will be using the same material for the following semester, we generally pay half of the CS selling price.
• If we have heard nothing from the instructor, or if we have heard and different materials will be used and it is a current edition, we look to see which of our wholesalers will offer the best price and we pay that price for them. That can be up to about a third of the selling price.
• If we have no order and it is still a current edition, but the wholesalers are not buying, we suggest you hang on to it for another semester. There are some classes that are only taught once a year, so for example, a text used in a fall class may be used again the following fall. We would buyback books for the fall semester in May, not December.
• If it is an old edition, we pay $1.00 for hard covers and $.50 for paperbacks that we then donate to charity.

Yes! The only thing we need for you to sell back books is ID – either a SUNY Oswego id or NYS drivers license.

There are several factors to consider when making this decision.

• Will I have any use for this book in the future? Some books are used for 2 semesters of a course. If a book needs to be rented for 2 semesters, purchasing the book just once plus the ability to sell back may make purchasing less money in the long run.
• Will you pay attention to the details of returning the book? Each site is different, but if you incur fees for late return or non-return of the book, it may save you to buy the book over rent.
• When comparing costs, look at when the book was published. Recent editions will have greater likelihood of being bought back by us or resold by you. This means the true cost of buying is purchase – buyback = net vs rental costs.
• Will your class use an on-line homework component connected with the text? Don’t hesitate to ask your instructors questions before classes begin. Also ask how much of the book will be used and for what period of the class – the entire semester, the first half or just a week or two – some sites will rent for periods shorter than a semester and this could save money for you.

There are different reasons a title may not be available. Some are:

• The book is a custom edition designed by your instructor with the publisher and is unique to the SUNY Oswego campus.
• The course utilizes on-line access codes that must be purchased new each semester.
• The title is not in wide use.