Whether you’re a freshman in college or in your last year of grad school, chances are your heart nearly stopped when you saw the price of your course textbooks. But thanks to technological advances in today’s society, the options students have today compared to 10+ years ago when I was in school provide many ways to significantly reduce textbook expenses.
Below, you will find three ways to save big on textbooks and peruse a handful of websites you can check out. I checked their Better Business Bureau records and looked at online complaint boards, and I feel comfortable sharing them with you. I could not find a textbook company that was free from BBB complaints – they all had some. I looked at the volume and nature of complaints in order to make a decision about whether I’d share the brand with you. But as always, you should do your own due diligence.
#1: Buy Physical Books Online
This is probably the first idea that comes to mind for many of you, but you can indeed save considerably by purchasing your physical books online versus paying the high list price often seen in bookstores.
Furthermore, going this route often allows you to shop through cash back sites, such as Mr. Rebates and Ebates, to earn a percentage of your purchase back. You can also use search engines like Google to search for discount coupon codes which are frequently available, especially around the start of a new semester.
The best way to be sure you’re getting the exact book you need is find out the ISBN, or International Standard Book Number, for each book on the book list. When Laura was in college, she would go to the campus bookstore a month or so before the semester started and write down the ISBN of each book she needed to purchase, then look those numbers up online to find the exact edition required. Since she was an English major and often had to purchase 20+ novels each semester, this was a great way to save.
Amazon.com & Free Shipping
The web’s top online retailer, Amazon.com, sells new or used textbooks. You can find steep discounts on textbooks, plus, when you are finished with a textbook, Amazon will buy it back, giving you up to 60% back along with free return shipping. You will be paid the value you are owed back via an Amazon gift card.
Plus, purchase $25 or more in qualifying new textbooks by September 30, 2012 and you’ll get $5 in Amazon MP3 credit. You’ll receive the MP3 code via email once your order has shipped, limit 1 promotional code per customer.
You can save on shipping costs, both for textbooks and anything else you buy from Amazon, by signing up for a free Amazon Student account. With it you get six free months of Amazon Prime shipping benefits. This includes unlimited free two-day shipping on textbooks and millions of other items with no minimum purchase required. All you need to do is provide the name of your school and your major at sign up; you’ll need to use your .edu email address for verification.
Half.com
Some people also have success with using Half.com (from eBay) to purchase textbooks. It’s easy to find your textbooks initially by searching by ISBN, then list and sell them back once you’re done.
#2: Rent Your Textbooks
Textbook rental is a particularly beneficial way to save on textbooks for some as you don’t have to worry about selling your textbooks when you are finished with them. Plus, shipping is often (if not always) free both ways – the books will be shipped to you free and you can return the books for free using a prepaid shipping label. You can save as much as 70-90% on your textbooks by renting them.
Below are a few websites you can check out that offer textbook rentals. I mention multiple sites because you may want to price compare a particular title between them to ensure you get the best value:
Sites like these allow you to choose how many days you would like to rent the book, most commonly using a period of 60, 90 or 130 days, though other durations may be available depending on the site.
#3: Use e-Textbooks
With the growing popularity of eBooks and electronic reading devices, a couple of popular companies have begun to offer electronic versions of textbooks, which you can download and read on your Kindle or even an iPhone or iPod Touch.
Amazon
Amazon has recently hopped on the bandwagon by offering almost 30,000 eTextbooks in its Kindle Store. The selection isn’t as broad as Barnes & Noble, but I anticipate it will expand in the near future. Though the books in the Kindle Store are intended to be read on a Kindle, you can download one of Amazon’s free kindle reading apps to read them on your iPhone, Windows PC, Mac, BlackBerry, iPad or Android.
Barnes & Noble
Last year, Barnes & Noble launched a free NOOKstudy app for PCs and Macs, which allows you to view eTextbook downloads on your computer. There are over 2.5 million eBooks and eTextbooks for you to choose from along with 1 million free eBooks. Plus, you can get a free 7-day trial of an eTextbook to see if this method is for you.
CengageBrain
In addition to renting physical textbooks, CengageBrain has a selection of eTextbooks as well. The eBooks are read in their proprietary reader and, unless you are reading on an iPad, you have to be connected to the internet to read your book; their reading app for the iPad alllows for offline reading.
CourseSmart
CourseSmart is an eTextbook rental service. You look up the title or ISBN of a book you want, then it gets added to your online bookshelf for the duration of your rental. You can read online using your computer or they have free apps for Android and Apple products; you can download books for offline reading as well. You can try this service before purchasing using their free trial, which is a one chapter preview, for any title.
Also, in some cases college bookstores sell eTextbooks and students via CourseSmart.com with a redemption code to gain access to the book.
#4: Share Textbooks
If you happen to know someone who is studying in the same field as you, consider sharing textbooks with that person. It helps to find someone who is slightly ahead of you in school to ensure that you both don’t need the same textbook during the same term. You can even pay that person a discounted rate for his/her textbooks once he/she is finished and then pass them on to someone else or resell them when you’re finished.
It also can’t hurt to check the library (the campus library or even the local library) for other books you might need. They probably won’t have the standard classroom textbooks available to check out, but they may have novels and other texts you might need. Campus libraries often have free inter-library loan programs that will enable you to check out a book from a partner library, as well.
Textbook Sites to Avoid
The websites I shared above with you are only the ones I recommend for you to check out. But while researching a plethora of textbook sites, I found very poor online reviews and/or a huge number of Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaints – one of these companies had 373 BBB complaints in the last 3 years. Some are A+ rated by the BBB even with 85+ complaints, but I wouldn’t personally want to do business with a company that has so many registered complaints. I am only including the following list of websites so you know which ones I checked out, but would avoid:
- BookByte.com
- Chegg.com
- CollegeBookRenter.com
- eCampus.com
- Textbooks.com
Your turn: What other textbook saving tricks do you have up your sleeve?
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About Carrie Rocha
I am surprised about Chegg.com. It was recommended by students where my daughter is going to college and she hasn't had any problems. Since its a widely used company they are going to have more complaints, its just like on ebay when you look at feedback. If someone has more transactions they are bound to have more complaints. I was disappointed that the BBB website didn't display the complaint details or maybe I just couldn't figure out how to view them. I was curious to see what issues people had.
I have used Amazon (buying both new and used), Half.com and Barnes & Noble. With Barnes & Noble, I was able to use a 15% discount, which made the book cheaper than Amazon and then when I was done, sold it back to Amazon and was only "out" $24.00 or so. The book was originally listed for $125. It has been a great savings for me. The one area I would caution you on is that if you need online access to a website and you buy the book used, you will not get the access code you need and may need to spend more money to again access to that site. Also, some of the access codes allow you to use the online textbook. I just finished a Statistics class, which I only bought the access code for and saved somewhere around $75.00. It worked out great! I did just purchase another book I needed for fall semester from Barnes & Noble's online marketplace which was listed in very good condition (I would say it was in good condition) but it only cost me $0.05, yes that is 5 cents, plus tax and shipping and the book was originally an $88 dollar book! More people need to buy their books this way, you save a TON of money!! Thanks for sharing this info!
Also remember that at least some of these sites will buy back the books when you are done with them. I received 124.00 for an accounting book that I sold to Amazon as opposed to the 25.00 the school would have given.
Good reminder Lori. If you aren't in too big of a hurry to sell them back you can keep an eye on the buy back price. When I started looking into it, one of my books could be bought back for $62, but I wasn't quite done with it and then a few weeks later they were "paying" $74. I checked again today out of curiosity and they are only paying $64 now. Keep your eyes on the buy back prices and you can have less out of pocket expenses.
I was also surprised about Chegg as my son has used them for two years and they have been very accommodating to work with and resolved any book issues quickly . I, too, would be interested to see the complaints against this company.
Another great way to save money on textbooks is to use the international editions of textbooks. They have the exact same content as the US versions, and are as much as 75% cheaper. Try AbeBooks.com to find these money savers.
This site has always helped me find the lowest price, and I never had any issues with Textbooks.com:
http://www.directtextbook.com/used-textbooks.php
I just used Chegg for the first time for the summer semester. I just sent my book back Friday and they have already received it. I also sold back another textbook I had from a previous semester and they had the best cash buyback price I could find. They have already sent the payment to my PayPal account . I would use them again.
They also have discount codes listed out on the internet for additional savings.
I've had only good experiences with both Chegg and eCampus, they both usually have the best rates for rentals and their customer service is great. Another deal finder for textbooks that is awesome is bigwords.com, you just enter in the isbn numbers and it finds the best prices for them.
I just discovered BigWords – LOVE it!!!
I too am a big fan of Chegg.com. I have been using them for the last two years and I have never had any problems or complaints about their company. They also send out coupons for %'s off and you can shop through ebates to get additional $ back.
I have used Chegg, Amazon, & Bookrenter (thru the college) with no issues for rentals and purchases of books I know I'll want to keep. Never pay for shipping either way. Ive saved well over 50% of the cost of books from the campus bookstore. Also, the campus website may show a list price for used books, however they may not have it used when you get there, so you may be stuck purchasing new.
Dear Ms. Rocha, I realize the point of your opinion piece is saving money on textbooks, but you seem overly concerned about perpetuating the common misperception that buying textbooks online is always better and always cheaper. That’s just not true.
Did you know that almost all of our more than 3,000 member college stores offer the options of buying new, used, renting, or buying a digital version of the textbook (which is often like renting due to impermanence) in the store or on its website?
The rental option offered by college stores alone can save a student between 45-66% off the new price of a print textbook, while used is typically 25% cheaper and e-textbooks 35-40% less.
So please realize that your online suggestions aren’t the only places to find savings. I’m not saying that in all cases the college bookstore is cheaper, but neither is it always more expensive, as your article seems to intimate. In fact, a study a few years ago by the state of Florida found that students purchasing new college textbooks online saved an average of only $2.15 per item. In fact, online prices were HIGHER for 27% of the textbooks examined by the study.
When it comes to getting the best value for your textbook buying/renting dollar, don't discount your local college store.
Sincerely,
Charlie Schmidt, Dir. of PR
National Assn. of College Stores
Charlie – Thanks for jumping into this conversation. I welcome your input and perspective. I hear you that rental and digital options at a college bookstore are cheaper than buying new. That's exactly what we'd all hope and expect. Can I ask – generally (knowing prices at any one bookstore are different than any other) how do rental and digital textbook prices found inside college bookstores compare to prices for similar products found online? I think it's a valid and fair point to mention bookstores as an option as long as we keep it apples to apples – digital versus digital, rental versus rental. Also, any other benefits, besides price, of renting or buying digital from a college bookstore itself versus an online retailer?
Again, thanks for sharing your point of view.
–Carrie
I know this is old, but I just discovered this website and am scrolling through the blogs. I love telling other people not to buy from the campus bookstores as much as possible and thought I would share my thoughts. I just finished college last May and am proud to say that only for three books did I buy from the bookstore. I knew going into college that buying from the bookstore was not a good idea, so I did not even consider it – especially after affirming that the bookstore's prices were too much.
Here are some other options I didn't see above. I used the library several times – I was able to get actual textbooks sometimes. One website I like is called campusbooks.com, I think it is similar to bigwords (mentioned in the comments), you type in the isbn and it shows you all the places you can buy it from. Another option is to buy either an older edition or the international version – the downsides to these is they are a lot harder to sell back later. Which is why I don't like renting – I can't turn around and sell it at the end of the semester. My brother used the AmazonStudent option. His first semester he bought his books at the bookstore, then at the end of the semester he sold them to Amazon, and they gave him credit for them which he then used to buy the next semester's books off of Amazon, and so for the second semester he only payed $8. This works best if you are dealing with brand new books.