Discounted College Text Books - Help

[Soulsearching]

With two in college buying their books has become outrageous! My daughter said her Math book will cost $140.00!!!! I looked up the wholesale price of this book and it was only $80.00. The colleges are making a mint.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone could give me some sites to pass along to my children so that they can purchase their books at lower prices.

All help will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[breathinforluck]

Half.com

I just bought an 80 dollar textbook for 12 bucks.

 

[Soulsearching]

Half.com

I just bought an 80 dollar textbook for 12 bucks.

Thanks for the site.

I just went on there and they didn't carry this Math Book. I guess I'm going to need several sites to buy from.

Do you have any others I can check?

 

[figaromeetsmarie]

My daughter had to buy her math book for $143.00+7% tax

 

[Soulsearching]

My daughter had to buy her math book for $143.00+7% tax

Where my daughter is going the tax is 8.5% !!

 

[EthansMom]

Amazon has a textbook section.

 

[buckler]

Try this book pricing search engine
http://www.addall.com/

 

[breathinforluck]

amazon.com
alibris.com

 

[Kim in SPR]

I'm checking back often here. I have a daughter just going to college this year and know we're in for a heckuva hit with books! I know about half.com but would also love other suggestions.

 

[JanB]

These are all websites that will search multiple textbook (new & used) sites and will then show you what it has found. I don't believe that you purchase directly from these sites. Rather, they will give you links to the other websites within the results list.

http://www.bigword.com/

http://www.textbookland.com/

http://www.getcheapbooks.com/

 

[eduk8r26]

Another alternative is renting textbooks. Chegg.com seems to have the cheapest prices.

 

[branv]

Also abebooks is a good spot. While in school from about 2005-2007, I found that I could sometimes buy for very very cheap the same textbook, but the ones released in the UK. I did read that it's not recommended for math or science books (aside from the obvious measurement diffs, pages can be a little changed up so you may not be doing the same math questions assigned in class), but in my case I purchased at least 3 psych books that cost $30 new vs. the $100 US version (used!) I want to say I found these on either alibris or abebooks. The only difference I found was soft rather than hardcover, black and white vs. color, and in only one instance, a paragraph with a term I needed was missing (no problem, just looked it up for the test).

I can say I don't know if the publisher's have found a way around this yet in the year since I graduated. I know they were working on it, but third parties had found a way to legally purchase and resell these books in the U.S. I hope for student's sake it's still available to them. The textbook industry is a racket, bordering on unethical...so many times I bought an older edition only to find that when compared to "new" editions, there were miniscule differences of ZERO importance. Just another way to keep people paying new book prices.

Although I will give you this tip for your daughter: DO NOT let her resell her book to the campus bookstore until she has checked to see what others are selling it for on Amazon marketplace as used. Whenever I was forced to buy a rather new edition, I so often made a surprising amount back using Amazon...and ALWAYS at least 50% to twice over what the bookstore wanted to pay me.

 

[D&D's Mom]

We ALWAYS get the best prices at valorebooks.com. Do a search for a promo code, there is always one out there, & get an extra 5% off or 5% back if selling. Good luck!

 

[vellamint]

This is great information......

I always thought that the college books were unbelievably expensive and still dont understand how they are allowed to charge what they do...

 

[Soulsearching]

Thanks everyone!!!!!

Uhmmmm, renting books, I never thought that was possible. This is something I really need to look into.


Now to get the ISBN#s of these books. Any ideas????? They are not listed on her schedule, just the names.

 

[brekin67]

Ebay and Half.com are great places to start. Type in "What is the ISBN number for (insert the name and year of the book here)? You should be able to get to it pretty easily. Amazon sells used books. If you have trouble finding a good price, let me know the name of the book, and I will search for you. I just finished my Masters at University of Oklahoma, and surprisingly I found several books at Goodwill. A couple were previous editions, but the professor said that was fine. I also just made copies of what was needed from friends books. The professors let me borrow books from them, when they were just too expensive and I could not find a reasonable rate. Good Luck!

 

[eduk8r26]

The college bookstar should have the ISBN #'s of the books needed for class. That's how my godson got the ones he needed to check prices.

 

[Soulsearching]

Ebay and Half.com are great places to start. Type in "What is the ISBN number for (insert the name and year of the book here)? You should be able to get to it pretty easily. Amazon sells used books. If you have trouble finding a good price, let me know the name of the book, and I will search for you. I just finished my Masters at University of Oklahoma, and surprisingly I found several books at Goodwill. A couple were previous editions, but the professor said that was fine. I also just made copies of what was needed from friends books. The professors let me borrow books from them, when they were just too expensive and I could not find a reasonable rate. Good Luck!

Thank you so much for all your help!

 

[hapandpam]

Thanks everyone!!!!!

Uhmmmm, renting books, I never thought that was possible. This is something I really need to look into.


Now to get the ISBN#s of these books. Any ideas????? They are not listed on her schedule, just the names.

DD had the same problem. I had her call the college bookstore but they wouldn't give the info over the phone so she emailed them, only to get a response back that she had to give more information. So glad I came across this thread because I don't know if she heard back, and she is leaving August 21. Hopefully, once she understands the system, things will go more smoothly.

 

[mom2grace]

I am a college instructor and really like ecampus.com.

You will probably have to go to the bookstore physically to get the isbn if the search doesn't work.

For some texts, an earlier edition won't matter, I have found this to be particularly true for anatomy, maybe physiology.

Textbooks only have to be updated 20% to have a new edition.

Also, don't open any texts that are shrink wrapped until after the first class, that will insure you can get all of your $$ back.

I recommend not even getting the books until after you have been to class the first time, but this can cause stress and you might not have access to as many used books. But, you might not need all of the books that the bookstore has for your course.

I teach at a major university, we start in 1 1/2 weeks, and the bookstore lists are not complete yet.