College Textbooks

[SoarinMom]

Does anyone know where I can buy used College textbooks at a reasonable price?

 

[splash5]

I would say a College bookstore, or Amazon.

 

[ssawka]

Amazon. Do not, do not, do not go to the campus bookstore. That is usually the most expensive place to buy books.

 

[HM]

You can also rent books for 180 days from Chegg.com.

 

[otterpop]

half.com/ebay....

 

[gr8tdame]

We buy all our textbooks from Amazon and sell them back or find them on our local Craig's list.

 

[ssawka]

You can also rent books for 180 days from Chegg.com.

You can also buy them used on Amazon and sell them back on Amazon. Assuming the version does not change during that semester, you can usually get back what you paid for it, or close to.

 

[123Disney]

Another vote for Chegg. I have 3 in college and renting from them has saved us a bundle. Books are so expensive! Good Luck!

 

[reginaastralis]

We rent on chegg or buy on Amazon. We crunch the numbers over and over (both my bf and I are in school right now) to make sure it's the right price.

Another thing I do, and this only works as much as you want it to, but I do swagbucks to earn Amazon giftcards. If it makes sense to buy our book on Amazon, I do it with even less out of pocket. Then the next semester they might buy it back (usually) and the money is in Amazon credits. We're going to be in school for the next million years, so the money is just rolling over and over ... sigh.

For example, I just bought a book for semester B for summer (like three weeks ago, I think) and it was $12 out of pocket (including a few other things we needed off amazon, I think the book was $15) and amazon is quoting buying it back for $12 ... Technically out nothing for the book.

 

[AliceNWonderland]

We rent on chegg or buy on Amazon. We crunch the numbers over and over (both my bf and I are in school right now) to make sure it's the right price.

Another thing I do, and this only works as much as you want it to, but I do swagbucks to earn Amazon giftcards. If it makes sense to buy our book on Amazon, I do it with even less out of pocket. Then the next semester they might buy it back (usually) and the money is in Amazon credits. We're going to be in school for the next million years, so the money is just rolling over and over ... sigh.

For example, I just bought a book for semester B for summer (like three weeks ago, I think) and it was $12 out of pocket (including a few other things we needed off amazon, I think the book was $15) and amazon is quoting buying it back for $12 ... Technically out nothing for the book.

Thanks for the heads up about Amazon, didn't know they buy back books.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

For my master's I bought all my books from Amazon. DD is starting undergrad and I have just returned approximately $130 worth of books and video games that were just sitting around. This will be a credit towards the books she needs.

I second the "DO NOT" buy from the campus bookstore. Way overpriced.

I never tried Chegg, but I suppose that it would be fine since I don't write in my books, anyway.

 

[DisneyMommyx3]

Barnes and Noble lets you rent them also. You can choose from 30-130 days. I priced my bookstore which was $521 for all the books I needed. I then priced them on Barnes and Noble and it was $193! I'll be renting for sure!!

 

[clh2]

Does anyone know where I can buy used College textbooks at a reasonable price?

Have you looked at textbooks.com?

DD is starting college off with a 3rd semester calc class. (Thank you AP-BC calc). The book used at the book store was about $141, new it was over $188. a rental of this book from the bookstore would have been $87.50. I got it used throught textbooks.com at $36 including shipping and tax. It just came today, and is in GREAT shape- description on the website was "good". I ordered it last Wednesday - so - it came in 6 days. We also ordered the solutions manual for the Calc book - and it is coming from a different seller from textbooks.com. This book would have be $50.25 used or $67 new. I got this for $28 though the website (including taxes and shipping.)

I know that if DD tries to resell the calc book - she will get NOTHING for it, or pretty close to it - there is now a new version - so I doubt the bookstore will take this one back period.

Good Luck - and I am very curious what other booksellers you all are using - and would appreciate honest feedback (the good...the bad and the ugly!) Thanks!

 

[hanutedmansionmomma]

cautionary tale - I thought I was being slick and ordered DD's last summer, I even used the ISBN numbers. So many of them were WRONG. Many of them were not necessary after she went to first class and found out changes, etc.

She ended up getting the best deal when she rented the books.

If you order in advance, just make sure you're getting the right ones...

 

[pumpkinmomma]

cautionary tale - I thought I was being slick and ordered DD's last summer, I even used the ISBN numbers. So many of them were WRONG. Many of them were not necessary after she went to first class and found out changes, etc.

She ended up getting the best deal when she rented the books.

If you order in advance, just make sure you're getting the right ones...

This is a very good tip.

I teach math at a community college and our book has an online component that the students are required to purchase, so when you are budgeting for books, be aware of the potential for that added expense.

I actually don't require my students to have the textbook, just the license for the online version, which includes the e-text. It's a good idea to verify with the professor what you actually need to purchase.

 

[dontthrowsand]

I sell mine about 1/2 of new each year by posting online and putting up notices by the classes the book is for. Most profs will forward an email to the class if you have cheap books.

 

[mdsouth]

I like to use textbooksrus.com. The books can be bought or rented and they have comparable prices to Amazon. I sold several textbooks back to them and you can get a check or have the money put in your paypal account or take the credit on textbooksrus.

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

What I do is go to class the first week find out what exactly I need and either borrow from the library, friend or I've even been known to buy from the campus bookstore until I can order from either Amazon.com or Textbook.com I then return my borrowed book or return the book I got from the campus bookstore for a full refund. This way I know what I need and what my instructor requires from me. I have sold my books back on ebay and textbooks.com as well.

 

[bekiweki]

I've had luck with Amazon as well as half.com and Craigslist, but sometimes have had to buy my textbooks at the bookstore (they were specialized for my classes.)

Renting is a great option, and I also was able to get a few textbooks on my iPad through the Kindle app. Be aware, though: if you choose this option, the page numbers may not be the same.

My university aggregates the prices from their bookstore, Amazon, half.com and rentals so I can get a snapshot of how expensive it is and go from there. There is also a site (booksquad.com) that is really great. It aggregates all the prices as well for books so you can see the cheapest place to go (and it gives the new and used prices.) It includes the big name sites like Amazon as well as sites I didn't even know, like Book Valore Books and Abe Books.

I'd personally check out BookSquad, see which sites are the cheapest, and then buy from there.

 

[bekiweki]

Oh, and BookSquad also does BuyBacks. So you can see where you can save and get the most money on both ends. In the past, I've done Amazon and selling used books from other places back to my university bookstore.