College text books ???

[busy mom]

Any sites out there to get discounts on college text books?

 

[magik]

I can generally get my grad school text books from amazon.com for at least $20 less than the cost from the book store at school. If i select a used copy through there, sometimes even more discounted.

 

[megsters]

i use half.com and amazon for my textbooks!! saved a ton of money over the bookstores. the only time i have ever purchased from the college bookstore if it was something that was printed on campus or if they do packages.

good luck!

 

[LMC]

Check for bulleting boards at the school somewhere near the bookstore. The two schools I am enrolled in allow students to post messages for textbook sales. I find the notices in break rooms, or taped to windows, etc. OR, if you know someone who just finished a year and they have the same books maybe they would sell you theirs. I was able to purchase some of my books from friends and paid them more than the bookstore would have paid them.

 

[HsvTeacher]

For the summer semester, my DH used chegg.com to rent his textbooks. (Thanks to the DISers who recommended them!) We were able to rent two books for $69. The same two books would have cost almost $300 (used) at the college bookstore.

 

[CoP Luv]

I used half.com for all of my books, and resold many of them there as well! It was really easy.

Just one tip: make sure you list your price in the 5 lowest price points. That way it will show up on the first "page" of listings and you will have a better chance of selling your book faster.

I also signed up for ebates.com and was able to get more cash back on half.com purchases!

 

[MN_Gal]

Another fan of using chegg.com to rent textbooks. This has saved us a ton of money on books that my son will not be keeping for future use. So easy and you only pay shipping to you-return shipping is free by printing return UPS labels from the site.

 

[KodakFigment]

If you use Amazon don't be afraid to buy from the "used" sellers list. We consistently received brand new or sample books for the cost of used. Just make sure to check the feedback on the vendors. We tried to order form locations close to us to save on shipping time.

 

[Plantlady]

The college's library should have all of the text books.

Some of them are on a special shelf, where they can't leave the library, some you can just check out. DH always checked there first. He was able to check out 80% of his text books every semester.

THEN.. see which edition the professor is using. Go to amazon, and buy an older edition. DH spent $3 on some of his books this way. The page numbers will not be the same, and it takes a *bit* of effort to correspond with the professor's notes. But not much. His professors always had no problem at all with this.

 

[tinachris]

When I was in grad school and undergrad I used bigwords.com. They compare sites for you. I've also used amazon. The best thing I did was if I knew it was a book I wouldn't want to keep for future reference (like biology) then I just requested it from the library. Most public universities have copies of their textbooks in the library you can check out and the smaller private college I did my undergrad in, participated in intra-library loans. Sometimes I would be without a textbook for a week or two, but I just made friends with classmates and we would study together. Worked great, especially since I don't like to highlight. And saved a lot of money over the years.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

i use half.com and amazon for my textbooks!! saved a ton of money over the bookstores. the only time i have ever purchased from the college bookstore if it was something that was printed on campus or if they do packages.

good luck!

ditto here... for my DD's text books...

 

[DISdreamin']

While I think it is pretty common to have texts on reserve in the library, I think it is becoming somewhat less common to have copies of the text that can be checked out. I know at our local community college and one of our local universities, texts are only on reserve in the library, so you can go to use them on-site, but cannot check them out.

As for older editions, check with the prof. Usually it's just a reorganization of material, but for some courses (computer and IT come to mind) it may be different material altogether, even though it is an edition change. For Bio, Chem, Math, etc, the changes may be less drastic.

As for renting, this is great only if you won't ever need the text as a reference source. For courses in your major where you might need the book down the road, I'd suggest purchasing it rather than renting. Of course, you could always rent and the purchase down the road if you needed it I suppose.

 

[NHWX]

www.addall.com is pretty good for comparing prices. Recently I've been finding good prices at abebooks.com.

NHWX

 

[MrsPete]

Are any textbooks showing up in Kindle format yet?

 

[angeladisney]

You just need the ISBN # and you can rent them for the quarter or semester.
chegg.com. I hope that helps. I finishing up my BS degree in Education and this is the cheapest way I found. You can also buy the books here to.

 

[jlima]

Try www.gettextbooks.com

 

[gymboqueenkaylee]

I get mine off half.com and always save a TON of money. I save almost half of what the bookstore wants for the used copy. I hightly recommend them. I've checked most of the other sites and not hotten as good of a deal as on half.

 

[My3kiddos]

I've gotten all of mine (except for Estate Planning) off of Ebay and saved a ton of money! I usually sell them on Ebay or to Textbooksrus.com

 

[Teacher03]

For the summer semester, my DH used chegg.com to rent his textbooks. (Thanks to the DISers who recommended them!) We were able to rent two books for $69. The same two books would have cost almost $300 (used) at the college bookstore.

ITA! I have two kids in college along with myself so we would spend at least a thousand on books before we found Chegg. I highly recommend them. It's very easy to return the books, and they plant a tree for every book that is rented.

 

[zeke11]

I'd be almost afraid to rent textbooks for my daughter. What happens if the book is lost/stolen/damaged? What are the fines? Do you have to buy a brand new book to replace it?

I've been buying all her textbooks at half.com. EASY, quick and above all, darn cheap!!

Kris