Off-Campus Books

Off-Campus Books is the most prominent alternative to the campus bookstore. Their prices are almost always lower (usually $5-$15) than at the UC Davis Bookstore. Understandably, then, Off-Campus Books has a reputation for low-balling prices on your buybacks, frequently for drastically lower than available across the street at the campus bookstore! If you need a textbook for a class not offered that quarter, they're more likely to be able to help than the campus book store. However, sometimes their selection of texts for the current quarter leaves something to be desired.

Receipts from an online textbook reseller shipping from the same address are labeled "Davis Textbooks", and some people refer to the store as such.

To prevent stealing, they have a policy where you have to leave your bags by the door and sometimes even outside. Not all bookstores have this policy so if you'd rather hold on to your bag or keep it secure, you may want to patronize another business.

Off-Campus Books used to have one other store in Pleasant Hill, California. It closed down in the first few years of the 2000s.

See that little yellow booth? That's Downtown Phone 7!

See also Bookstores and the Cheap Textbook Guide.

Comments:

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I found that with buyback, the Campus book store offered me much more money for my books, but Off-Campus Books would sometimes buy back ones I could not sell to the regular bookstore. - NickCarrigan

This is the place to go if the on-campus tells you they will give you more money next quarter, during buyback, for some excuse or another, they are lying. The book really is just coming out on a new edition. The off campus tried to warn me, but I didn't believe them....believe! - KeIth

2005-08-19 19:36:20   The store has a policy where you must leave your backpack outside or behind a counter. —SimonFung

They have a policy where you have to leave your bags by the door and sometimes even outside. They do this to prevent stealing. Nonetheless, I left their store because I was NOT about to leave my bag filled with $300 worth of newly acquired textbooks outside just to find an $8 dollar book. The company should re-work its anti-theft policies, not assume everyone is a thief. — MichaelGiardina

I agree. Why should you trust a place that doesn't trust you? UCD Bookstore also requires you to leave your backpack outside.

However the UCD bookstore provides lockers for free that prevent your stuff from being stolen.MattHh

I'm pretty sure the people at this store scan out the same prices as when you go to the Campus Bookstore to sell your books. The only difference is, the people here don't tell you how much the books are individually worth, and they just give you one offer after they scan everything in. I believe that offer is NOT the total sum of what you should get from the sum on the computer, but it's their own ROUNDED estimate (that's rounded down, duh) from the total that shows up. — MM

2006-01-04 09:19:39   After finals, they sometimes have bins of cheap textbooks outside (probably those that are no longer used for classes). I was able to pick up some old textbooks on various subjects I'd always wanted to learn about (or to suppliment other texts) for extremely cheap. —AlexPomeranz

2006-03-28 02:10:39   This place is annoying if you are not buying a book for a ucd class, they will tell you "no, such and such class is using this other book" even though you told them the book you really want. They have no idea people would read a book for fun, or take a class outside of ucd. —NickSchmalenberger

2006-07-12 18:24:48   book prices sometimes $2-3 cheaper than UCD bookstore, but sometimes $2-3 MORE. ive had bad and shady experiences with them multiple times, and they're pretty mean if you ask them about buy-back prices to compare with the school store. —LindaSuh

Has anyone ever gotten more than a dollar for a book? Their service seemed like garbage, I took 5 books [2 textbooks, 2 novels and 1 guide for writing book], I thought I'd be able to buy myself dinner with whatever I got, but was wrong. The guy scans all the books, looks mysteriously at whatever comes up after each beep, then scans the next one. Occasionally he'll examine a select book, probably cause it's worth something. After scanning all of them, he counted them with his fingers and since there were five offered me five dollars. I went back a few days later with a book that's listed used online for 45 dollars [lowest price I found], again he offered me one dollar. Additionally my gf told me to sell books back at that place, as she usually does, I had previously aLways done so at the bookstore. She then recently sold her books to the bookstore and was like "I got so much money for my books" which didn't surprise me at all. I would not recommend selling books here unless you're a few dollars short on rent or something drastic like that. Business is business, but I don't like doing business that makes me feel scammed. Overall, its best to sell your books online, you get more money just for putting in 10 minutes of your time filling out stuff online. Or go to the bookstore during buyback. —JeffreyOropeza

• Here's another option besides selling online. You can always go to the UCD Bookstore's buyback and let them tell you how much they'll pay for your book. Then head on over to Off-Campus to compare the amount they'll give you. Then you'll know who is offering the highest price and you won't feel ripped off. However, some people may find it a hassle to lug heavy textbooks back and forth between the two bookstores and would rather accept the buyback price offered to them. - DYeung
  

2006-10-12 17:32:19   Yeah. I haven't bought from them since beginning of sophomore year. They are one of the rudest people I've met. I asked them if they had the newer edition of a textbook that the class last quarter used, and the guy told me to "buy or just leave" afterwards. I'd rather pay the premium at the bookstore than deal with these a$$holes. —JonasMari

2006-10-20 16:27:10   Agreed on how shady they are. I bought a txtbook from them and there's nothing that said that there's a WHOLE CHAPTER missing from it. I went back to try to exchange (since I still needed the book) or have a partial refund. All they said was that since the books are used, you should expect it to happen and since they're cheaper than the UCD bookstore, I shouldn't complain about it. Please! There's a new bookstore that just opened that has a price match and gives you a 10% discount from the matching price. DON'T deal with them! They are consistently rude unless you buy from them. BEWARE! —UnhappyStudent

2007-03-26 15:57:46   They exploit students. I hate that place. Instead, I'd go for the UCD book exchange or Amazon. It'll be fair! —MehdiKhan

2007-04-29 18:28:15   i came with a fat bag of textbooks, novels and solution manuals. All in good condition. This guy looked through all my stuff, then said, "40 bucks." Obviously, its my mistake for coming with a huge duffel bag of books, because thats asking to get ripped off, but seriously, come on. i walked two minutes to the MU and sold them all at the book exchange for one hundred seventy - five dollars. morons! —boristheblade

2007-05-01 16:09:59   haha, after reading all the negative comments + remembering what race of people runs the shop + remembering Russel Peter's joke about Indians......saaaad —JamesLi

2008-01-10 15:02:30   Watch out for their buyback program! I just got back from there, and I was trying to sell three books. They offered $40 for all three, $15 for two and $10 for the third. I thought this seemed a little low, given that i had paid $90 for one book and could clearly see they were still selling it, so I checked the on-campus buyback program, where they offered me between $65-70 for each of the $15 books. The people at Off-Campus Books are trying to rip you off!!! —JoePomidor

2008-01-12 12:18:49   I agree with what people said about these place. they are totally dishonest. —mamne

2008-02-01 14:44:57   I just ordered a textbook online at a very good price, and was highly amused when it was shipped from Davis Textbooks (the location of the seller was simply listed as "California"). I hadn't anticipated that they'd have that book, let alone at a very reasonable price, or I would have just gone there in the first place and saved the shipping cost :) —JessicaLuedtke

2008-04-02 20:50:58   I just bought a book from this place and it was pretty decent price. I noticed that the prices were about the same or a bit more than the ones I could find on Amazon.com. I have never seen so many used books before! Heh. —Aarolye

2008-04-16 00:41:17   I got my philosophy of religion book here for about 30 bucks cheaper than the campus book store. I say, if you aren't lazy, go on campus, spot the prices, check online, then go here (and find that it is cheapest here). —CodyDuncan

2008-04-16 23:52:22   I dropped by once just to check out what textbooks they had. My backpack would not fit in their little cubbyholes, and I didn't want to leave it where someone else could grab it. So I left without even seeing what they had. Too bad for them, making it too inconvenient to shop there... —IDoNotExist

2008-04-17 11:24:12   I hate that, "leave your bag at the door" policy. Look, we're not all thieves. I hate being treated like a criminal. Just because a few people steal, doesn't mean we all steal. Anyway, they might be cheaper, but if it's too inconvenient, I'll go ahead and pay a few more bucks elsewhere. The book may cost more, but at least you're treated with a modicum of respect as a customer. —CurlyGirl26

2008-09-02 14:28:13   This place was very rude to me when I went to go sell back my book. When I asked them if they could purchase my book, the guy cut me off when he saw the book in my hand and told me that the edition that I had was too old and they weren't purchasing it anymore. Unfortunately, even though it is one edition older, the UCD Bookstore buys the book back for $70.00. It's unfortunate that they are rude up front, I did not even say anything to provoke them. —IdealParadigm

2009-03-15 13:39:42   When I went to return a book I bought approximately for $100, they wrote me "store credit" for $95. They didn't add "tax paid" on the slip until I mentioned it to them. Although their prices are cheaper I'd rather pay the extra $5 just to get friendlier customer service at the other book stores. —eatsoupwithsticks

2009-06-10 23:25:35   I really dont like this place. I bought a book here (sold out at UCD bookstore) and I didn't notice there was black tape on the front/back where it blended in with the cover. I took it off two weeks later and it say "Free Copy for Instructors NOT FOR RESALE", SHADY! I paid full price and they weren't even supposed to sell it, and there were some appendices/chapters missing from it.

The most annoying thing is that they do treat everyone like criminals. Once I left my backpack, got the book and went back to get my backpack (AND WALLET) and the girl got on my case about it...even though I was just walking over with my backpack/wallet to stand in line and pay. Apparently its possible to steal a book on my way to the cashier...3 feet of space.

I am never going there again, it truly is ridiculous how rude they are. Not everyone is a thief! —sgent

2009-09-21 12:33:04   This place treats you like crap, and I got ripped off on my MAT 21A book here. —michellefong

2009-11-14 23:42:36   When i first visited this store, i also disliked their policy of leaving the backpack in the front but once i witnessed a shoplifter who was trying to put the book in the backpack w/o paying for it. They called the police to handover the guy , i didn't like that rather they d ve just warned him, however crime is crime. The prices are always way cheaper than bookstore and also they bought all my books that main bookstore rejected paying more than i expected. I'd absolutely recommend!!! —exoticdreamer