Like many students who hate to show up to the first day of class without the required textbooks, I like to buy my books online from the University Bookstore. Normally, this works for me. I buy them a couple weeks early through the Web site and pick them up the day before classes start, sauntering past rows of frantic students elbowing one another for the last copy of whichever book they absolutely have to have before tomorrow.

That didn’t work so well this time around. This semester, when I opened my bag of textbooks, I was shocked to find many of the books I’d bought used were actually falling apart.

For example, currently sitting forlornly in the corner of my room is a medium-sized paperback that I swear looks like tiny, literature-hating badgers chewed on it before the university found it God-knows-where and sold it back to me for the full used price.

I think at one point it was intended to be Vonnegut, but all I can see is “Vonne—” before the rest of the cover was obscured by a mysterious brown goo I’m not brave enough to investigate further.

I’m not alone. Walk into any class on campus this semester you’ll see students with books that have missing covers, pages ripped out and scribbles over all the text. These books aren’t “used.” These books are “demolished.”

This is a pretty low blow to students who take advantage of buying their textbooks online. When we buy them this way, we have to trust the used books the bookstores give us will be of decent quality. Otherwise, we might as well buy from some cheaper, but less dependable, seller.

However, as frustrating as it can be to get one of these poor-quality texts when you’re not expecting it, the bookstore shouldn’t necessarily retire them. After all, let’s face it: If we only need a book for a week or two, we’re not always too concerned with what it looks like.

We shouldn’t have to pay the same price as we would for a used book with all the pages.

If the university wants to resell us textbooks that should probably be left to retire with a little dignity, they need to implement a rating policy like those of eBay and Half.com. These companies require sellers to rate used books on a scale going from “like new” to “very used,” and then adjust the prices accordingly.

This is a much more honest policy than the bookstore’s simple choices of “new” and “used.” It would give students more control over the quality of the books they received and save everyone the trouble of returning and then replacing the same items over and over again.

With the addition of a simple rating system, students can keep the convenience and certainty of buying online from the university. Everyone wins and no one has to pay for the mystery goo — which may support life. However, I’m not peeking over to check.