textbooks

[redhotswami]

Where do ya'll order your textbooks online? Last year I used half.com, and that seemed to work out pretty well. I haven't done any comparison shopping. The only difficult thing is that when you order your textbooks from different sellers, the shipping charges add up and then you end up paying what you would have in the bookstore.

Any tips are much appreciated!

 

[anitram]

I have ordered some legal materials directly from the publisher and usually got them for less than the bookstore or got free shipping.

But most my books really aren't online anyway and I just use the bookstore or buy used.

 

[Babydoll]

Half.com and ebay. I sell mine there too

 

[randhail]

amazon and superbookdeals.com - this site can be hit or miss, but some of the prices are really great. The selection is surprisingly good too.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

I checked out a good portion of my textbooks through my university library and if they did not carry them, I would do an interlibrary loan. It saved me tons of money!

 

[Liesje]

half.com, ebay, and this book buying/selling database our computer geek club setup for all the students at my school. It was pretty awesome b/c you can see everyone else's prices and try to undercut them. Or, if everyone buys a book at the outrageous price from the school bookstore and tries to re-sell it, you can buy it cheaper on half.com, undercut all of the competition and still make a lot back. I sold an $8 book for $65.

 

[the tourist]

I bought mine all on amazon used. I saved about $160 on the 6 books I had to buy (Only spent $140, instead of $300--and that's INCLUDING shipping).

 

[GibsonGirl]

I buy mine from my university's bookshop for a small fortune. I can never find second-hand books.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

me either. last semester, the book i needed was actually a cd-rom. i'm not sure if the cd can be used or not (it holds the music files associated with the class - it was a music class, obviously) because you needed info on it to register for the site for class. but when i was digging everywhere this past summer for it, i couldn't find it used.

 

[GibsonGirl]

Those ones that require you to buy CD-ROMS usually need to be bought new anyway. In my intro German class, one guy bought a used copy of the CD accompanying the book, and he was unable to register online with it, as it was in the other student's name.

Another thing that pisses me off is trying to SELL textbooks. People will contact you saying that they'd like to buy your books, and then when you email them back, they'll say they've already bought the books from someone else. I had to sell some of my books back to the university bookshop today because I couldn't find anyone else to buy them. I only got $1 back for each Shakespeare play I sold to them. The plays originally cost $10 each, and I bought five of them. In other words, I made $5 on books that originally cost $50. They were practically brand fucking new, too.

 

[Liesje]

^^ Our textbook buy-backs are a rip-off as well. We also have a Student Senate book sale, but they take a big cut of your earnings and donate it to charity. Not that I'm against charity, but.....

 

[A_Wanderer]

abebooks.com and amazon.com (they have a good secondhand service), my postage is international but it is still a great way to get rare textbooks and first editions. I got an out of print book on Volcanic Successions for 120 bucks and the cheapest I have seen it since was 400.