I know, I know there is no such thing as “cheap college” these days or even cheaper however I want to address the subject of the subject of text books. Many people I know without question always by their textbook from their college book store. It makes sense right? It’s convenient and its right at your school…WRONG! College book stores are looking to make a profit, it is actually cheaper to go online and order your college text books online but their are risks. For example once I thought I ordered the text and received the study guide, you have to read the fine print and you have to trust the seller(review their seller ratings very closely), I have rarely deliberately been mislead. Some sites that are good to use are half.com, ebay, campus books. Recently everyone purchased a used math book from my college book store and they all paid $89.00, I paid $14.00 at half.com my book was listed as in poor condition but it was actually in very good condition. I didn’t care too much about the condition because I was paying rock bottom anyway, I could not beat that price. If a text book is not completely covered in writing the general shape of the book does not matter to much to me. This is a huge savings! Now you can not always get those kind of savings but there are a lot of deals out there that are 50% off even. Another idea to regain some of your losses is to sell your text books on line or you can sell it to your bookstore but you most likely won’t get close to your money back but you wont’ have to deal with shipping either. The next time you are out and about you might want to peak in to your local college bookstore to look at the prices but warning you will experience sticker shock of course sometimes it cannot be avoided the book you need is only available at the college book store that is why I try to save when I can!
10-08-2007
October 21st, 2007 at 4:15 pm
Oh, I wish the internet had been around back when I was in college! When I think of what I spent on books - 30 years ago, yet - I still cringe. My son went to a college where they were issued their texts at the beginning of the semester, and turned them in at the end of the term. But if he had gone to a college where he needed to purchase his books - as most colleges do - online sites would have been the way to go. Sounds like you’ve gotten some great deals!