Book Condition Guide
The condition you list a book under decides its price and shapes what the buyer expects when it arrives. Be honest — most rejections happen because a book turned up in worse condition than the listing said.
At a glance
| Condition | Allowed | Not allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Excellent | Very light handling; clean pages; tight binding; small surface marks at most | Writing, highlighting, dog-eared pages, missing pages, water damage, meaningful cover or spine wear |
| Good | Normal used-textbook wear; light highlighting or pencil notes; minor creases; cover wear | Missing pages, unreadable text, severe water damage, mould, detached or broken binding |
| Acceptable | Heavy wear; notes/highlighting throughout; dog-eared pages; faded or scuffed cover | Missing pages, unreadable text, mould, broken binding that can't be used to study, wrong ISBN/edition |
Very clean and lightly used. The cover is intact with no meaningful wear, the spine is uncreased, and pages are clean and crisp. No writing, highlighting, dog-eared pages, water damage, or missing pages.
Normal wear from being used through a semester. Light highlighting, small pencil notes, minor creases, and a worn cover are all fine — as long as the text is fully readable and nothing is missing.
Heavy wear is fine, but the book must still be complete, readable, and usable for study. Heavy notes, highlighting throughout, dog-eared pages, and a faded cover are all acceptable at this tier.
Not accepted
Whatever the tier, we may reject books with:
- Missing pages or unreadable text
- Mould or significant water damage
- Detached covers or broken binding that makes the book impractical to study from
- Wrong ISBN or edition
- Counterfeit, instructor-only, or unauthorised copies
- Undisclosed major damage that isn't visible in the photos
Access codes and supplements
Many modern textbooks ship with one-time online access codes, such as MyLab, Connect, MindTap, or WileyPLUS, or supplementary CDs/DVDs. You must state in the listing whether any included code has been redeemed and whether any supplements are included.
Listing a book as having an unused code when the code has already been redeemed is treated as a serious violation and may result in account suspension. The same goes for listing supplements that aren't actually in the box.
What photos to include
- Front cover, back cover, and spine
- The ISBN/edition page
- A few inside pages
- Any highlighting, notes, damage, tears, water marks, or cover wear
- The access-code area, showing whether the code is intact, scratched off, or removed
For buyers — what's in scope for a rejection
Compare the delivered book against the listed condition and photos.
Reasonable grounds for reporting a problem:
- Wrong ISBN or edition
- Missing pages or unreadable text
- Materially worse condition than listed, such as listed Excellent and arrived as Acceptable
- Undisclosed major damage
- Access code listed as unused but actually redeemed
- Missing supplements that were listed as included
Not, on their own, grounds for rejection:
- Minor wear that's already covered by the selected condition
- Changed your mind
- Found a cheaper copy elsewhere
If you're unsure, report it through your dashboard with photos and we'll investigate.