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How to Find Cheap Textbooks on the Internet
by Heather O’Connor
Prices on textbooks have continued to increase over the years, hitting students and their families hard in the wallet when it comes time to pay up. In the midst of the economy today, it is an important factor considering everyone wants to save their pennies. About 10 years ago when I finished college, I think my most expensive book at the time was $85. Today, that might be considered a fair bargain depending on the type of book.
Thanks to the Internet, it is much easier to purchase textbooks for a fraction of the price. There are a couple ways you can score a great deal on the textbooks you need online:
- Put a free ad up online requesting what you need
- Shop around on different sites
- Book rental
Before we begin, make a list of the books you will need to buy along with the edition and the author name. Let’s get started.
Advertise What You Want
Ask and you shall receive. Or that’s what they say anyway. There are plenty of online bulletin boards with WANTED sections on them. One of the most popular is Craigslist. Put your free ad up with this information:
- Name of the book
- Edition of the book
- Author
If you have a budget, write down what you are willing to pay. You just might get lucky.
Shop Around Online
There are so many options here. You should be able to find everything you are looking for if you shop around and visit all the sites online. Borders and Barnes and Noble now offer textbooks for sale, so make sure you check with them. Here is a list of other noteworthy sites:
- CampusBooks.com
- Textbooks.com
- CheapestTextBooks.com
- eCampus.com
- Cheap-TextBooks.com
- CollegeSwapShop.com
- Half.com
This is just a partial list. Make sure you do a web search for a complete listing of options.
CampusBooks.com and CheapestTextBooks.com both boast of a 95% reduced price on your textbooks, as well as offering book buyback. CampusBooks also offers price tweets so if you are on Twitter, be sure to use the app. Free shipping on both sites.
Textbooks.com offers a 90% reduction with free shipping for orders over $25. The site also offers eBook downloads, so if they carry the title and you need to get started before your book arrives, you’re covered.
Cheap-textbooks.com considers itself a comparison shopping site for your needed books, and that you will receive the lowest quote. You may want to go here last after shopping around to be sure you are getting the best deal. The book pricing includes the cost of shipping.
Ecampus.com has been around for over 10 years. They offer new and used books, as well as college t-shirts, sweatshirts, and the like.
Half.com offers new and used books in addition to book buyback. If you are a new customer to Half.com, be sure to get the coupon code on their site and receive $10 off your order.
CollegeSwapShop.com is a bit different and is a great site. You can comparison shop for your books, buy and sell, and look around their marketplace section. Here you can scour the ads for tickets, housing, furniture, and there is even a Wanted section.
For Rent
There are a few available sites for those of you who prefer to rent your textbooks. While I checked these sites out and there are some books you can get for a great deal, do your homework to see if you will save that much more money by renting. It might be cheaper to buy in some cases.
The two most common book rental sites are:
Chegg.com first started in 2003 as a classified directory and grew to become a book rental shop after realizing a need for books at lower prices. Chegg lets you rent, buy and sell and includes free UPS return shipping. For every book you rent, sell or buy through Chegg, they will plant a tree. Pretty cool huh? They guarantee quality, delivery date, and will give you a full refund up to 30 days after purchase.
BookRenter.com claims to be the first book rental site and works in conjunction with Amazon.com. They also state that their business carries over 3 million titles. If you are in the social media loop, be sure to become a fan on Facebook and a follower on Twitter. Bookrenter offers coupons, discounts, freebies and contests, so be sure to sign up.
Finding your required textbooks should not be a difficult process, considering all the information available on the web. If you do your homework and search with plenty of time ahead, you should be able to find everything you are looking for – at a bargain price.
See also:
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 at 4:02 pm and is filed under Books, Shopping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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