Okay, so the first thing upperclassmen tell freshmen is not to purchase your textbooks at the bookstore. I agree with that ... I ended saving hundreds by shopping carefully. But, sometimes it just makes sense to buy from the bookstore.
Convenience is a huge benefit. My bookstore lets you return a book during the first week of classes. Sometimes if you return a book online, you have to pay $3-4 shipping. So, if you would have to drop your class or change it for any reason, buying from the bookstore may be a better option.
Also, sometimes the books that you need just aren't available anywhere else or are more expensive than the bookstore.
One of my books this semester was $90 at the book store ... but $887.70 and $1000.00 on Amazon! Don't believe me? I took a screenshot for proof!
At my college, you have to go through the bookstore's website to get the ISBNs of the books that you need for classes. Sneaky, right? It would be so tempting just to purchase them from the bookstore, but I made a spreadsheet for my textbooks because I wanted to see how much money I could save.*
I have one for each semester ... the big numbers in the last row? Those are the totals!
Because I'm a nice person, I crunched the numbers for you. If I would have bought all of my books new I would have spent $1209. But let's say that I'm trying to be cheap, so I buy all the used books that are available ... that's still $1071.30. I ended up spending $760.98 ... for a total savings of $448.02 and $310.02. That's a lot of Ramen, or gas money, or loads of laundry, or peppermint mochas ... you get the picture :)
But how do you find the best deal on textbooks with all of the websites out there? I use cheapesttextbooks.com.** This site is super easy to use, and all you need to do is type in the ISBN number or title of your book.
Here's an example:
I also love that it shows you what you can get if you sell your book back.
If you scroll down the page, it shows you more details.
Tada! Isn't it marvelous? Again, you want to make sure that you really are getting a deal online. If you really want to be thrifty and save even more money you can quick search the name of the website you're purchasing the book + coupon code (Abebooks + coupon code) to see if you can get the price any cheaper! These stores are smart, and a lot of the time they run promotions with a % off or free shipping around the time that students are buying books. Shipping times vary from site to site, as well as return policies ... so it's always a good idea to check into that before you order.
And, if you want to save even more money you can get an Ebates account or Swagbucks account and receive a % cashback or points towards gift cards ... but that will have to be another post!
This is how I save money, I have a lot of friends that rent their books. That kind of scares me, because I have a feeling that my clumsy self will spill coffee or drop the book in a puddle. In which case, I would end up paying full price anyways. There's also a chance that you could need the book in a later class (this happens a lot in music classes, but we just might be special like that).
I also bought an international version of my psychology book because it was a lot cheaper. International versions are cheaper because they're printed for countries like India or China. The only difference is that they are typically printed on cheaper quality paper, have a different cover and ISBN number, and may be printed in black and white. Mine was in color, and the inside matched up exactly. You also can not sell back this textbook or find it easily. This is perfectly legal, and a good option if you are weigh all the factors.
There are also other sites like cheapesttextbooks.com that do the same thing ... so don't take my word for it! You need to figure out what works for you!
Happy saving!
Amanda
*Shout-out to my spreadsheet-loving father! :)
** Shout-out to Emily for telling me about this site ... and saving me hundreds!
I was not contacted by or given any money by Cheapesttextbooks.com
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