This week I would like to give you advice on how to save money when purchasing textbooks. Textbook prices are often outrageously expensive and overpriced. If you are like me, when I was a first-year student in college, I went to the campus bookstore to buy all the required and recommended books for my classes. At the bookstore, they only tend to offer the newest edition of each text to rent or buy. After my first semester, I learned about some helpful tips and tricks on how to save money and still be prepared for class.
Now, most college students will suggest to others to wait until you have the first week of classes to check to see if you need the textbook. However, I do not feel comfortable waiting that long to have all my course materials; especially, since the cheaper deals are often found online and require time for shipping.
The first step I would recommend all students to take is to email your professors before the semester starts and ask them if an older edition of the textbook is acceptable. Oftentimes there is no real difference between editions. Most of the time, the pictures, page numbers, chapter order, or examples are the changes between each edition. However, the price tag difference is huge. Therefore, after your professor tells you which editions of the textbook are acceptable, then you can begin your textbook search.
There are various websites you can find deals for while shopping for textbooks. Some of the obvious options include amazon.com and chegg.com. Both of these websites allow for the option to buy and rent textbooks. However, I have noticed the price does not stray far from what the bookstore offers for the most recent edition. Amazon and Chegg are good options, especially, when trying to rent or buy an older edition of the textbook. Other websites students may not consider include ebay.com and thriftbooks.com. At the end of the semester students try to sell their old textbooks on eBay, instead of selling them to the bookstore to gain more of their investment back. I have been able to find textbooks I needed for a class using these websites for under $10.
A secret I discovered during my sophomore year in college opens up a much wider range to help you find the best deal for your textbooks. This website will comb through the Internet to find the lowest price for textbooks and separate it based on used or new textbooks. Remembering the name of this website is not difficult, as the name reflects what you are trying to do, bookfinder.com. Through Bookfinder some of the usual places I am directed to include abebooks.com, biblio.com, and ecampus.com. These are websites I would not have seen or known about without searching on Bookfinder. If you are questioning if these methods work, look down below for a table I made showing how much I would pay if I were to buy the textbooks at each perspective site. Sometimes the cheapest option does come from Amazon or eBay, but it is still always good to double-check and verify you are not missing out on a better deal. As a college student on a budget, I always look for a way to save and I hope you use these tips and find success with them.
Please like, comment, and subscribe to my blog to get notifications when I release new content each week. I would love to hear about your savings using these tips, or if you have other suggestions on how to save on textbooks please add them to the comment section. Also, if you have any specific topics you would like me to write about please add them to the comments below. Talk to you next week. Happy savings!