3 Great Sites for Buying Cheap Textbooks besides Amazon

Posted on July 16, 2010 at 6:25 am

As the office supply store sales ads will attest, back-to-school time is quickly approaching. For college students, this means shelling out hundreds of dollars on textbooks that will only be used for one semester.

While some students keep textbooks for their personal libraries, most are glad to resell them for a fraction of the original cost when finals are over.

These days, there are many options for obtaining textbooks. Many publishers are releasing electronic text editions. Some Web sites rent textbooks. Others offer perks like free shipping and guaranteed buy back.

This is one time where it pays to use your tech-prowess to save money. While Amazon and Half.com often have the lowest prices on texts, this is not always the case. It pays to shop around. Here are a few sites all college students should try before buying their books:

1. Chegg.com

chegg

Chegg.com is the most popular textbook rental Web site on the internet. Instead of purchasing a book, you simply rent it for the time period needed. For example, the current edition of the Little Brown Handbook (necessary for most Composition classes) retails for $81 ($56.35 new at Amazon).

Chegg rents this same book for $38 for the entire semester, with the option to rent per quarter or 60-day period instead. This $38 price is close to the buy back value of the book, rather than the used value of the book, thus saving about $20-30 over buying the book used. Extra days may be added to any rental for an extension fee.

Chegg allows students to return books for a full refund (minus shipping) within 30 days, no questions asked. So, if you decide to drop a class, you are not out anything on the textbook. Plus, Chegg guarantees if the textbook you receive is not in prime condition, they will send another textbook to you by the quickest method possible.

2. CampusBookRentals.com

campus book rentals

Like Chegg, CampusBookRentals.com rents textbooks per semester or quarter, but CampusBookRentals gives a 15-day grace period to return the book before any fees are charged. Books arrive to your door with a return shipping envelope, postage-paid and ready for when the semester ends (Chegg requires students to print a shipping label to return books).

For the same Little Brown Handbook, CampusBookRentals.com charges $34 for the entire semester, with free shipping. The same 30-day return policy applies at CampusBookRentals, but they allow students to highlight in their textbooks, so expect texts to have marking from other students.

Re-renting a textbook is allowed for 30% less than the original rental price paid—so if you flunk a class, at least the book will be cheaper the next semester.

3. Textbooks.com

textbooks

This one might seem obvious, but Textbooks.com is one of the biggest textbook sellers on the internet. With used and new textbooks, plus a marketplace full of sellers, the selection is very comparable to Amazon for textbooks. Free, immediate shipping is included for every order over $25 bought directly from Textbooks.com.

Besides traditional new and used copies, Textbooks.com offers eBooks from publishers that allow e-versions. Prices on eBooks vary, but are generally 25-50% cheaper than buying the bound copy of the textbook, with the added bonuses of using an e-reader or mobile phone to read the book.

The Bottom Line

Not every online text buying method is right for every student. Some students will flourish with e-based textbooks, while others will struggle to find the correct page in class.

Used textbooks can turn from being a great deal for the price to nearly as much as a new textbook if the publisher requires new Web access codes to be purchased. New textbooks are always nice, but are usually not cost effective.

Compare prices at several sites before making a decision. Sites like AllBookStores.com and BigWords.com give comparisons of several book selling Web sites at the same time. Be aware: many sellers listed with Amazon also sell on Half.com and the other marketplaces. Some list the same book for different prices on each site.

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