Frequently Asked Questions

As of September 2020, we no longer offer rentals for printed textbooks, however many of our digital materials are still offered as rentals.

The Bookstore requires clothing vendors it does business with to sign a ‘Code of Conduct’ letter confirming that it does not use sweatshop labour. The letter must confirm that the vendor has adopted ethical practices that meet or exceed those contained in the Vendor Code of Conduct outlined in this policy.

Canvas refers to materials that are integrated into your course site. If a course material includes “Canvas” in the name, this indicates that there is a digital component accessible within Canvas that is included with your purchase. Your instructor will give you more instructions in class.

Detailed instructions on how to return online purchases is included in our return policy.

Staples Business Advantage and Staples.Ca are two separate divisions of Staples. UBC’s contract for supplies and copy paper, with Staples Business Advantage, includes special services like

Environmentally friendly delivery with smaller Campus Mail trucks, reducing greenhouse gases and carbon taxes for UBC.

Streamlined Workday/EWAY procurement processes.

Special UBC reporting to meet regulatory requirements. 

These special services, included in the price of the Workday items, help UBC to save money, time and the environment.

Faculty regalia for the Fall graduation ceremonies may be rented in advance online from Thursday, October 5 to Tuesday, November 14 at 11:59 pm (PST) through the Faculty Rental Form.

The deadline to rent regalia online is Nov 14th for faculty members.

After the Nov 14th deadline, regalia can also be rented on-site on the day of the ceremony:

• Please arrive 45-60 minutes before the ceremony at the Robing Room.
• Acceptable payment methods include cash, credit card, debit card or Open Account Worktag (UBC Bookstore account) information.

Staples Business Advantage (SBA) is the commercial division of Staples providing a higher level of business solutions, like Workday integration to EWAY, custom reporting and customized delivery solutions, for large complex accounts like UBC. Staples retail and Staples.ca are not part of the UBC agreement.

Gowns can also be rented on-site on the day of your ceremony. Please arrive a minimum of 45-60 minutes prior to the ceremony to ensure you leave adequate time to pick up your regalia from the Bookstore staff at the Robing Room. You can pay cash, credit, debit or with your Open Account Worktag (UBC Bookstore account).

On-site registration locations are: 

Vancouver – The Robing Room for faculty is located in the Royal Bank Cinema at the Chan Centre. Access via the Royal Bank Cinema entrance off of Crescent Road.

Okanagan – The UBC Okanagan Bookstore

Vancouver – The Robing Room for faculty is the Royal Bank Cinema at the Chan Centre. Access via the Royal Bank Cinema entrance off of Crescent Road.

Okanagan – The Robing Room for faculty is the DVC Boardroom located in the Administration Building.

Faculty must check in at the Robing Room at least 30 minutes before the ceremony, so please plan to arrive a minimum of 45-60 minutes prior to your ceremony start time to ensure you leave adequate time to pick up your regalia from the Bookstore staff.

STUDENTS
Gowns must be picked up 1.5 hours prior to your ceremony start time. Please ensure you have your gown order number with you when you arrive, and a piece of photo ID.
Vancouver – Pick up is located in Block B of the Buchanan building (1866 Main Mall, Vancouver BC, V6T 1Z1)
Okanagan – Pick up is located in the Upper Fitz Hall of The Commons Building (3297 University Way, Kelowna BC)

FACULTY
Gowns should be picked up 45-60 minutes prior to your ceremony start time.
Vancouver – The Robing Room for faculty is the Royal Bank Cinema at the Chan Centre. Access via the Royal Bank Cinema entrance off of Crescent Road.
Okanagan – The pick up and drop off location for faculty is Studio 2 in The Hanger (gym).

Some publishers place printing and time restrictions on eBooks. When this is the case, generally, the minimum is 180 days and the maximum is 360 days. For further information on your specific digital materials purchase, complete the form here and a Bookstore team member will assist you.

All office supplies that were ordered from Staples in the past will be available through the Workday catalogue.

Your lovely professors/instructors choose your Required textbooks. Required textbooks contain the basis of the course and will be referred to frequently. Alternative textbooks are variations of the required textbook that deliver the same content but in a different format.

For example, your instructor may have selected an eBook and access code as the Required Textbook. However they are also giving you an alternate option of the physical package of the book, which contains the print version of your textbook and digital access code as a package. If you'd prefer having the physical book rather than an eBook, you can select the print package as an alternate option. Alternate options provide students options for purchasing the course materials that best fit their learning needs and their budgets. Important note: you only need to buy ONE of either the Required textbook or its alternates, as either option is acceptable for your course.

If you want to be a boss, you can also read the optional textbooks, which are for additional reading on a particular subject. Optional textbooks aren't required for your course, these are normally supplementary course materials that are recommended by your instructors.

In our warehouse we recycle all of our cardboard in a compactor.  We also recycle packaging (paper, foam chips and plastic) and reuse it wherever possible for our outgoing shipments including packages to customers and returns to vendors. Wooden pallets are also recycled.

We recycle printer ribbons and cartridges, batteries and pens.  The collection container is at the back of the store.

All metal fixtures are taken to a recycling centre.

We also encourage re-use of textbooks through used books, buybacks and rental books.

Vancouver – The drop off location has changed! Gowns must be returned to the UBC Bookstore, located at 6200 University Blvd, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 no later than one hour after your ceremony concludes.

Okanagan – Regalia must be returned to the UBC Okanagan Bookstore.

Please return your gown no later than 1 hour after your ceremony concludes.

Vancouver – The Robing Room for faculty is the Royal Bank Cinema at the Chan Centre. Access via the Royal Bank Cinema entrance off of Crescent Road.

Okanagan – The Robing Room for faculty is the DVC Boardroom located in the Administration Building.

Faculty must check in at the Robing Room at least 30 minutes before the ceremony, so please plan to arrive a minimum of 45-60 minutes prior to your ceremony start time to ensure you leave adequate time to pick up your regalia from the Bookstore staff.

Faculty regalia for the Fall graduation ceremonies may be rented in advance online from Thursday, October 5 to Tuesday, November 14 at 11:59 pm (PST) through the Faculty Rental Form.

The deadline to rent regalia online is Nov 14th for faculty members.

After the Nov 14th deadline, regalia can also be rented on-site on the day of the ceremony:

• Please arrive 45-60 minutes before the ceremony at the Robing Room.
• Acceptable payment methods include cash, credit card, debit card or Open Account Worktag (UBC Bookstore account) information.

Gowns can also be rented on-site on the day of your ceremony. Please arrive a minimum of 45-60 minutes prior to the ceremony to ensure you leave adequate time to pick up your regalia from the Bookstore staff at the Robing Room. You can pay cash, credit, debit or with your Open Account Worktag (UBC Bookstore account).

On-site registration locations are: 

Vancouver – The Robing Room for faculty is located in the Royal Bank Cinema at the Chan Centre. Access via the Royal Bank Cinema entrance off of Crescent Road.

Okanagan – The UBC Okanagan Bookstore

Faculty gowns can be rented online via the Grad Gown Rentals page by submitting the Faculty Gown Rental Form for your campus.

The textbook buyback program is not available at the moment.

Firstly, we commend you on your organizational skills! There are many reasons why your textbook is not available on your first day: the publisher may be out of stock or impacted by shipping delays, your department or professor may have submitted a late request for your book, enrolment may have increased or classes added. These are just some of the most common reasons. When there is a delay, we make every effort to get the books to the store as quickly as possible.

If you are currently outside of BC and are planning on being on Campus for your first day of class, we strongly advise that you select the option to pick up your books in-store, rather than having them shipped to you out of province. This will ensure you receive your books are quickly as possible. Order your course materials here.

UBC Vancouver and UBC Okanagan, you have two options:

• You can order your textbooks online. If ordering online and you’re living on or close to campus, please choose the Pick-Up option to pick up your books when you’re back on campus. Please ensure you bring your order number and your student ID. 
• If you want to shop in-store, come into the store and print out your personalized book list. Our staff will help you find your books. Before visiting, ensure you check our back-to-school opening hours - we offer extended hours during the start of term. Aiming to arrive at the store either before 11:30am or after 2:30pm will help you avoid our busiest times.

Other tips:

• Shop early. Many required textbooks are available up to two weeks before classes start.
• International students: If you will be taking classes remotely this term, allow AMPLE time to receive your books and other supplies to your country otherwise you may not have what you need on the first day of class. If you are travelling from an international location to campus for classes, we advise you to choose the Pick-Up option so your textbooks will be ready for you to pick up at the store when you arrive on campus.

Textbooks are different from general books because of the information they contain and the limited market they serve. Publishers set a price and the bookstore tries to keep our retail as close to that price as possible. We try to offer as many economical options as we can; including, new, used, rentals and ebooks.

Your lovely professors/instructors choose your Required textbooks. Required textbooks contain the basis of the course and will be referred to frequently. Alternative textbooks are variations of the required textbook that deliver the same content but in a different format.

For example, your instructor may have selected an eBook and access code as the Required Textbook. However they are also giving you an alternate option of the physical package of the book, which contains the print version of your textbook and digital access code as a package. If you'd prefer having the physical book rather than an eBook, you can select the print package as an alternate option. Alternate options provide students options for purchasing the course materials that best fit their learning needs and their budgets. Important note: you only need to buy ONE of either the Required textbook or its alternates, as either option is acceptable for your course.

If you want to be a boss, you can also read the optional textbooks, which are for additional reading on a particular subject. Optional textbooks aren't required for your course, these are normally supplementary course materials that are recommended by your instructors.

Our textbooks area is located in the back of the UBC Bookstore. Use your personalized booklist, located here,  and then find your books on the shelves which are organized in alphabetical order by Author.

There are a few common reasons why you may be encountering an error message at checkout. 

If you are ordering from an international location (other than the US) and you need your order shipped to you: Our address form has line-character limits. if you have a long address, try adding the second optional Address Line to space out your address onto two lines. In the Postal Code panel, enter 000000 (six zeros) instead of your actual postal code (don’t worry, your parcel will still find you).

If you are ordering for pick-up in store: to collect your purchase in store, please complete your billing address first. Once this has been added, please select the option for picking up in store. Your shipping address will automatically match your billing address, but this does not mean your items will be shipped to you if you have selected to pick up in store.

Ensure you are using an accepted method of payment: our ecommerce site accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards and UBC Bookstore gift cards only. We do not currently accept Visa or Mastercard debit, American Express, WeChat or AliPay.

Check carefully to ensure your billing information is correct: your billing address must match exactly what is shown on your credit card statement. 

If you are still having problems placing your online order, please submit a support request using this webform and we will do everything we can to assist you.

Unfortunately, we do not! To help us prepare for the next semester, we return all overstock to the publishers. This allows us to have shelf space ready for next terms books. If you need textbooks, it is advisable to purchase them at the beginning of the semester.

We wish we had more, too! The number of used textbooks we offer is determined by how many textbooks are being reused for each course and are returned to us each term. After a brief hiatus, we are pleased to announce that our used textbook purchase and resale program will be returning for the 2023 fall term. Please check back later for more details!

No, a credit card or UBC Bookstore Gift Card is required to place an online order. We currently accept Visa and Mastercard online.

Each custom course pack has been handpicked and given hours of dedication to put together. As such (and to comply with Copyright law), we ask that you don’t photocopy, scan or reproduce these for use other than for yourself. Please and thank you.

Submit a support request with the UBC Learning Technology Hub.

We use three different distributors in order to make as many digital course materials available to students as we possibly can. The downside to this is that redeeming your digital course materials can seem...complicated. We get it. We hope these step-by-step instructions will help.

1. Determine whether you have purchased a Campus E-Bookstore, Vitalsource or Canvas Digital product. In your online order Status Update email, find the shipment for the item you wish to activate. It should tell you which type of course material you have purchased and provide instructions on what to do next, but if you are unsure:

• Campus E-Bookstore: Below the item name, you should see a 12-character redemption code in red, separated by dashes (combination of letters and numbers).
• Vitalsource:  Below the item name, you should see a 20-character access code (combination of letters and numbers).
• Canvas Digital: the item you have purchased will be named “Canvas Digital: [publication title]” or Canvas Print: [publication title]”

2. Visit the link that corresponds with your purchase and follow the on-screen instructions:

• For Campus E-Bookstore purchases, click here for step-by-step redemption instructions
• For Vitalsource purchases, click here for step-by-step redemption instructions..
• For Canvas Access Codes, click here for step-by-step redemption instructions.

More details can be found on our Digital Course Materials page.

The free trial is 14 days. After that time you must either purchase your course materials online or purchase them from the bookstore. Activate your purchase in Canvas using your receipt number.

Canvas refers to materials that are integrated into your course site. If a course material includes “Canvas” in the name, this indicates that there is a digital component accessible within Canvas that is included with your purchase. Your instructor will give you more instructions in class.

In our warehouse we recycle all of our cardboard in a compactor.  We also recycle packaging (paper, foam chips and plastic) and reuse it wherever possible for our outgoing shipments including packages to customers and returns to vendors. Wooden pallets are also recycled.

We recycle printer ribbons and cartridges, batteries and pens.  The collection container is at the back of the store.

All metal fixtures are taken to a recycling centre.

We also encourage re-use of textbooks through used books, buybacks and rental books.

At the UBC Bookstore we are committed to implementing sustainable practices for the benefit of our customers, our community and our planet.

Selling reusable bags, reusing and recycling packaging, recycling batteries, making campus deliveries on behalf of our vendors, promoting the use of reusable drinkware, selling used textbooks, offering a course materials rental program, offering electronic course materials, selling a wide range of products made from eco-friendly materials, using biodegradable plastic bags, and actively seeking out locally-made or Canadian-made products to reduce our carbon footprint are just some of the ways we demonstrate our commitment to sustainability.

We offer a number of products throughout the store made from recycled or eco-friendly resources. We actively seek out and purchase locally-made or Canadian-made products to reduce our carbon footprint. In the Corner Store, we have sourced sandwiches and salads from small, local businesses.

You're welcome to purchase course materials using your sponsorship account either in person or by using our Sponsored Students Order Form.

Have questions or need assistance? Please contact our Special Orders desk for assistance: special.orders@ubc.ca or 604-822-4749.

You are welcome to come and shop in person or you can order your books online using our Sponsored Students Order Form: https://bookstore.ubc.ca/sponsored-students/

Click here to read our return policy.

Detailed instructions on how to return online purchases is included in our return policy.

We accept both Visa and Mastercard credit cards and UBC Bookstore Gift Cards for online orders. We cannot accept American Express or debit cards for online orders.

There are a few common reasons why you may be encountering an error message at checkout. 

If you are ordering from an international location (other than the US) and you need your order shipped to you: Our address form has line-character limits. if you have a long address, try adding the second optional Address Line to space out your address onto two lines. In the Postal Code panel, enter 000000 (six zeros) instead of your actual postal code (don’t worry, your parcel will still find you).

If you are ordering for pick-up in store: to collect your purchase in store, please complete your billing address first. Once this has been added, please select the option for picking up in store. Your shipping address will automatically match your billing address, but this does not mean your items will be shipped to you if you have selected to pick up in store.

Ensure you are using an accepted method of payment: our ecommerce site accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards and UBC Bookstore gift cards only. We do not currently accept Visa or Mastercard debit, American Express, WeChat or AliPay.

Check carefully to ensure your billing information is correct: your billing address must match exactly what is shown on your credit card statement. 

If you are still having problems placing your online order, please submit a support request using this webform and we will do everything we can to assist you.

No, a credit card or UBC Bookstore Gift Card is required to place an online order. We currently accept Visa and Mastercard online.

There are a few reasons why you received this declined order notification: 

-          Your billing address does not match your credit card’s address. Your billing address must match exactly what is shown on your credit card statement

-          The address you’ve entered is incorrect and/or our system doesn’t recognize the address

-          The credit card has been reported stolen or lost

-          The credit card limit has been reached

-          Also note, our website cannot process debit cards (VISA or M/C debit)

Finally, this can sometimes be a system issue on our end that will resolve itself within 24 hours. Please check all of the factors above first. If after 24 hours you are still having problems with your online order, please contact us using the link below and we will do everything we can to assist you.

Please contact us by email.