How to Buy Textbooks on the Cheap

So you have your course schedule and now need to purchase supplies including those insanely expensive textbooks. What to do? Do you really want to spend $300 dollars for that Chemistry book? The school bookstore will no doubt offer all of the required texts on your list, but do you really want to fork over hundreds of dollars for a few books? Well you’re in luck, the school bookstore offers used textbooks for a cheaper price, but is this really you’re only choice to save some money? When it comes to getting your textbooks this semester there are a few options at your disposal that allow you to come away with a few hundred dollars left in your pocket. By utilizing the methods in this ible it is likely you could save somewhere in the thousands of dollars on school books alone during your four (or more) years in college education.  And if you're entered into the back to school contest, it's likely you will save enough money this semester alone to purchase the grand prize for this contest!

Step 1: Don't buy from the Bookstore

The first thing you’ll want to do is identify the book you will need. This can be done by finding the ISBN number.  With this number you can look up your book almost anywhere. The first place you might want to look is on Amazon. From here you can shop around and compare prices. Check Ebay, and do a Google search for other online stores. You’ll quickly find that your book will be offered from these online retailers at a significantly lower price than your school does.

If you’re school doesn’t provide the ISBN number (sneaky sneaky) they’ve caught on to the game and are attempting to curve the dissenters. Not to worry, they no doubt provide the title of the text and hopefully the author and even better the cover image. If you’re looking up your books online and you still can’t find any of these things you may need to go to the school itself to get this information. Once you have found a little information on your textbooks you can then do some research on the internet. Amazon is a great resource for identifying your required textbooks. Once found you can then begin your shopping around.

Comments

[Kiteman]

The "used" option is the most frequent option - many universities in the UK have shops on campus that buy old course books at the end of one year (or at the end of term, if funds are low), then sell them on during the next.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Yes this is a very nice option. I've done this with a few of the books I didn't want to keep (English Composition, Psychology). This was my first semester. I've since bought online and have sold those books I didn't want to keep for nearly the same price I paid for them (my philosophy book). Others I have kept for future reference (all my math and physics books).