No matter how many local bookstores students visit in search of the best buy on textbooks this semester, they are likely find very similar price tags.

Because publishers charge the three major textbook stores in State College — Penn State Bookstore, Student Book Store, 330 E. College Ave., and University Book Centre, 206 E. College Ave. — the same price, the bookstores themselves often charge students prices identical to their competitors.

The similarity of the stores' prices has prompted students such as Theresa Olivo (sophomore-public relations) to shop around only if a store is out of used copies.

"The only difference in price is if you can find it used, then you can find it cheaper," she said.

If the three stores would collectively decide to charge a set price for a book, the stores would then be price fixing, which is against the law, said Arvind Rangaswamy, professor of business administration. But Rangaswamy doubts price fixing is behind the similar prices.

Because students are given little or no choice in textbook selection, publishers tend to set prices uncompetitively, Rangaswamy said.

"If you had a choice between this textbook or this one, then somebody would say I'm going to reduce the price," he said. "Basically the problem you are facing is that there is no direct competition for textbooks in the State College market."

Managers of the three major bookstores said although their prices may be similar to their competitors', other factors such as location, how many used books they stock and how long customers have to wait in line help draw customers to their stores.

The store managers said there is a standard in the industry to mark-up books about 25 percent, leaving little profit to cover rent, employee expenses and other store costs.

For used books, the standard is 25 percent off the new price, they said.

All this means that there is little variation in price among the three major bookstores in town.

"(The price) is dictated to us," said Norm Brown, manager at the Student Book Store. "The publisher sets the prices and we all buy from the same places."

Publishers suggesting a retail price is not considered a monopoly, Rangaswamy said. However, stores have no reason not to offer the books at the price the manufacturer suggests.

For example, if a publisher suggested a book should cost $40, stores could still choose to charge less, but if other bookstores also charge $40, there is not an incentive to cut the price. Rangaswamy described the market for textbooks in State College as "price insensitive."

"The store is not going to lose by not charging you $40 because you have no place else to go," he said.

While students can go online to buy their books, Mike Shal (sophomore-computer science) said it is too late for him to order online because he needs his books now.

"They're ripping me off anyway, you know?" he said. "I figured they would be the same (price). If they were cheaper, you would have heard about it."

The university has a contract for the Penn State Bookstore, which is owned by Barnes & Noble, that specifies preset percentages of a textbook's cost that the store can charge.

This preset percentage is at about 25 percent, the basic minimum needed to make a profit, said Tom Fankhauser, assistant store manager.

"If we go below that margin, we'll go out of business," he said. "That margin is extremely low."

Steve Morris, manager of the University Book Centre, added that for every dollar his store sells in textbooks, less than two cents of it will be profit.

For some students, the fact that prices for new and used books are often the same means that they simply have to scramble to buy up any used copies they can find.

"I'm not surprised they are the same price," said Courtney Mandryk (senior-art). "But, I was surprised that one book store could have all of the used books, and one could have none."