Textbook Maniac has a rating of 1.9 stars from 40 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Textbook Maniac ranks 117th among Textbooks sites.
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I had to wait nearly three weeks for the payment for the book I sold to them, and the USPS tracking page never updated to reflect that they received it. I did not learn of the negative reviews until after I had dropped my book off (I automatically trusted Textbook Maniac because it was listed as a book buyer on BookScouter), and then only reason I did not request that USPS return my package was because I did not have enough at the time to pay for the interception. Thank you Textbook Maniac.
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.
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.
I was doing some spring cleaning when I noticed that I had some old textbooks. I decided to sell them to make a little money on the side. I sent them to Textbook Maniac and they quoted him for about 60 dollars. I mailed them the package. The tracking number said it was delivered, but Textbook Maniac claims that it was damaged in transit and there was nothing they could do. They didn't send me back my books or refunded me for the price of shipment. Very dishonest and disappointing.
I've dealt with them multiple times and never had any issue regarding pricing or quality of product being used to lower pricing. If you send them books in good shape you will get exactly the price quoted to you. This company even stresses these points ahead of time in black in white about questionable quality etc.
Offered $55 only to get the textbook and say that they can't pay because it's labeled "international"? Then why offer money in the first place? Don't sell to this company there are much more trustworthy ones.
A horrible company. Don' t send them your books unless you want to lose your books and not get paid. I sent them my book about 3 weeks ago which was in near perfect condition. They sent me a message 2 days ago saying they discarded my book because it was spiralbound. Nowhere on the quote did it state no spiral bound would be accepted. So they are not sending me a check & discarded my book. I bet they sold it. They are con artists.
Tip for consumers:
Do not use this company.
This company just does whatever they want... They received my order a week ago and apparently it's just sitting in n their warehouse and they'll get to it when they get to it. I will never sell my books to them agian. I've used several buyback companies and never have a single issue. I shouldn't have to wait weeks once they received it. Get your act together Textbook Maniac! Read what your customers are saying in these reviews. Clearly you need to revaluate how things are ran at your warehouse...!
Tip for consumers:
Don't use them!!!!
Sent book in and was supposed to get $120.00. Used their shipping label showing 5lb. Package weight. Company is claiming they received an opened package with only the packing slip from USPS. Give me a break so the postal service stole our book and they just accepted an opened package! Unbelievable! Don't use this company. They are just a fraud!
They held my books for over two weeks with no update. After contacting their customer service team, their response was rude and unhelpful. I would never recommend doing business with them.
Zero stars rating. This company is a scam. This company rips me off. I mailed by books to them and never got paid. Tracking numbers shows delivered, but not scanned. I wrote them and they gave a excuse that it takes 7 days to processed. It was already delivered. I reported them to BBB.
I used other buyback companies by media mail and got paid my money week later without problems.
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!
I sent in 6 books and got a quote for $67.95. The day after I sent the books out with the label they provided me (which wasn't even enough to cover shipping the books so I ended up having to pay $3.50 for shipping even though it was supposed to be free) they hanged my quote down to $0.47. They have no phone number so I contacted them through email. They said I didn't send the books and they only got 1 book. How does 1 book woeful over 15lbs!?!? Nothing I can do about it since the only proof I have is the original quote they provided me. Anyway DO NOT USE THEM! Oh and they never even paid me the $0.44 either.
Textbookmanic is a fraud and a total scam. I send used books worth $800 to them. They got it and never paid. I keep contacting them and they keep telling me nonsense. They are scam don't ever send your used books to them. They are thief, gullible and there license need to be revoke.
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.
This company is a scam they never paid me for the book I purchased. Deal Number *******. Do not use this company.
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.
After reading the reviews, I had some concerns. But they were the only site that were offering any decent money for the particular textbook that I had. So even if they scammed me, I didn't have any other selling options. So in that scenario it seemed worth the gamble. It's been about 3 weeks, and they put money into my PayPal account. Was it the full quoted amount? I don't remember. But it's something. So I can testify for sure that they are not a total scam.
I mailed all of my barely used books back in excellent condition about 6 weeks ago. They received it a couple weeks ago. I just got an email today saying that two of my books were missing and that they were reducing my payment. I called to dispute this and the person I spoke to was completely rude, called me a Karen for complaining that they would not provide proof (like a picture) that the box came with two less books than were sent. I asked to speak to a manager she wouldn't allow that, said she was the manager. Said I need to take it up with the shipper and that this happens all the time and there is nothing they can do. DO NOT USE.
Great company! Payment is prompt and fast! I'm very much satisfied. I have sold 4-5 books to them under different orders. Every order was completely processed with prompt payment.
I sold them my textbook and they never paid me! I contacted them many times and they did not answer me!
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!
Megan, I am so sorry for this experience. We have a system we go by to determine whether a book is counterfeit or not, and if a book follows under those guidelines, we have an obligation to the publisher not to allow the book to continue in circulation. We have this stated on our website that it is a possibility.
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!
I'm sorry you weren't happy with the service. An instructor edition can look almost exactly like a student copy. It will just say instructor edition or do not sell on it. A lot of companies will print student isbn stickers and place them over the info that shows it's an instructor copy. We only ask that you pay for return shipping if you send us one, because we lost on the shipping getting the wrong book here. Thanks
Textbook Maniac purchased my book through another site, book deals.com. After reading reviews here, I honestly got a little worried. I took photos of my book prior to shipping, and made sure I indicated the correct condition of my book before finalizing my deal. It was not an international or instructor edition, which was clearly indicated would not be accepted. I carefully removed all stickers and sticker residue from my book, then packaged it surrounded by bubble wrap to ensure it wouldn't shift in the box during transport. It took a couple weeks once shipped, but I saw that my deal status updated to "awaiting payment" about a week and a half after shipping. A couple days later, I had payment in full to my account via zelle. Textbook maniac paid me exactly what they said they would based on my described condition of the book. If you are honest with your book's condition and make sure you follow the rules as to what the accept, then there's no reason you shouldn't get what you were offered. I would use them again. Thank you for paying me close to $90 for my textbook. I had it listed on FB marketplace for about a month at $35 and got zero interest from people about buying it.
I had no issues at all. I was paid the exact prices my books were quoted. I received payment very quickly. I would recommend for sure!
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.
We do offer an upgraded shipping method to include insurance. Media mail is free, however. If the book would have arrived, it would have been in our inventory. It was not, so we couldn't have received it.
Mia, I tried finding your order to see what happened, but do not have any of your information. Seeing as the Post Office doesn't take photos of packages, I don't know how you received one. We don't steal people's books, or we wouldn't stay in business. I am sorry you had a bad experience, but the majority of our customers are repeats because we treat them right.