I have completed my school and college
education in several years ago, but I still remember that days, when I had no
money, but need many things to buy. One of such things was most important for
my college education – college textbooks. I always searched for a way to buy cheapest
textbooks as it possible. I will tell you some advices and tips that you can
use to defray the costs.
You can buy used college textbooks
online, rent textbooks, buy it from previous students or buy it in bookstore.
Discuss all of these methods separately.
Buy used college textbooks online. You
can just put some description of searched textbook like ISBN, title or author into
Google and see the result. It will be hundreds of offers for buying this book. The
most popular of such vendors is Amazon.com and Half.com. Amazon, for example, contain
section with used books with discount. Often a book with discount is up to 80
percent cheaper then new one. But aware of overrated prices. Sometimes used textbooks
sells almost for a same price as a new with minimal discount. In this case is
better to buy it new rather then used because often it is pleasant to hold a new
book than used J
Rent textbooks. If you won`t buy
textbook, you can simply rent it for a semester. There are several web service,
that give such service for you. One of them is Chegg.com. On this service you
can rent a book for 60 days, a semester or a quarter. The price of rented book
is about form 60 to 90 percent of price of the new one. So if you know exactly
that you will not use this book after class, you can rent it and save some of your
money.
Buy from previous students. It looks
like the easiest way to get cheap textbooks is to buy it from a previous
student who end the class. Pay attention to edition of textbook and be sure
that this edition will be used again your semester. The better way to ensure is
check edition with your professor. You can find willing sellers in bulletin
boards in the department building. When you find a student, who sells the
textbook you need, try to negotiate a little to knock a few dollars off the
price. The advantage of buying in person is that you can take the book right
now and not worry about delivery delay and costs.
Buy in bookstore. As far as I know this
is the most expensive method for buying used textbooks. Some times people
buyback their books to bookstore and we can be the new owner of them. Now many
college bookstores have rejected returns unless you bring corroboration you
dropped the class. Some bookstores also have a sale period, when you can buy
book cheaper. Ask seller about such action.
I believe that this article will help
you to save some money on used textbooks. Stay tuned!
