Where Do You Buy Your Books?

[DFWgal]

Originally Posted by ATLBound09

The school I attend has been forced to rent books because they were losing so much money. In the next 10 years, most textbooks will be online and available for download... the need for hardcopy books will drastically decrease

Same here, but renting the books is still more expensive than amazon or other websites.

I've seen classmates taking the same courses together and renting in groups to divide the costs.

[opsec]

Originally Posted by DFWgal

craigslist, amazon, abebooks. it depends. if it's the exact book and the last edition, the college bookstore will buy it for almost nothing.

Great idea. For whatever reason, Craigslist never even occurred to me.

Originally Posted by emerald_octane

For resell, Amazon hands down. They give you higher prices even though its in amazon dollars (which are spent on more books, so essentially like cash for me) with free shipping.

For procurement, I do the following :
A) Google search "______ + pdf"
B) Bookstore (they have been cheaper on two occasions)
C) Half.com
D) Amazon

I wasn't aware Amazon had a buy-back program. Thank you for pointing this out. Using their trade-in website, you can quickly determine what they will offer. Appears to be decent, about 60% or so, assuming good condition.

Direct link for others that are curious: Amazon.com: Sell Your Books

Also, fantastic idea on the PDF search option. Already found one book I needed that way. Thanks!

Originally Posted by joe from dayton

Amazon, ebay and the college bookstore. I'm in grad school and I keep all of my books. When I was an undergrad, I believe they gave you pennies on the dollar when you sold them back, if they bought them back at all.

I looked up the school's bookstore buy-back policy. Looks like best case scenario is 50% refund, if they NEED the book and it is in good enough condition for them. Otherwise, you get wholesale price, which I read as pennies on the dollar.

Campus Stores Buyback Policy
The Campus Stores will conduct a course book buyback on each campus at the end of each semester. The buyback is presented as a service to the **** student. It is an opportunity afforded to the student to reap some benefit from the sale of those course books no longer wanted or needed.

The policy is as follows:

• The buyback will be held the last five days of finals during the Fall and Spring semesters and the last two days of finals during the Summer semester.
• The student will receive up to fifty percent (50%) of the established **** new book price for any book the College Stores need.
• Books not needed by the **** Campus Stores that are of marketable value may be sold at a price established by the wholesale book company performing the buyback.

Originally Posted by ATLBound09

The school I attend has been forced to rent books because they were losing so much money. In the next 10 years, most textbooks will be online and available for download... the need for hardcopy books will drastically decrease

I really don't understand why downloaded PDF/eBooks aren't already supported by all colleges. Especially for those taking online classes. It just makes sense. If a person prefers not to use an iPad, Kindle, etc. they can always print & bind the book for a fraction of the cost of buying a pre-printed book.

I've seen a few places where you can purchase the PDF version from the publisher. Seems to me, a group of students would pool their money and pursue this option and then share the file.

[marie5v]

Originally Posted by opsec

Great idea. For whatever reason, Craigslist never even occurred to me.





I wasn't aware Amazon had a buy-back program. Thank you for pointing this out. Using their trade-in website, you can quickly determine what they will offer. Appears to be decent, about 60% or so, assuming good condition.

Direct link for others that are curious: Amazon.com: Sell Your Books

Also, fantastic idea on the PDF search option. Already found one book I needed that way. Thanks!




I looked up the school's bookstore buy-back policy. Looks like best case scenario is 50% refund, if they NEED the book and it is in good enough condition for them. Otherwise, you get wholesale price, which I read as pennies on the dollar.






I really don't understand why downloaded PDF/eBooks aren't already supported by all colleges. Especially for those taking online classes. It just makes sense. If a person prefers not to use an iPad, Kindle, etc. they can always print & bind the book for a fraction of the cost of buying a pre-printed book.

I've seen a few places where you can purchase the PDF version from the publisher. Seems to me, a group of students would pool their money and pursue this option and then share the file.

you can't always print the book - at my school ebooks come with limits on the printing. you can only print ten pages and then it doesn't let you print any more. also, some of the e versions are not the same - don't come with cd's or other extra materials that may be necessary for the class, for example. finally, for my latest class, the ebook the school bookstore sells is more expensive than the hard copy on amazon.

[SonySegaTendo617]

Originally Posted by Megadell

Amazon. Way cheaper than any school bookstore. They are like Gamestop. Buy a book back from you for pennies on the dollar, then turn around and sell it for 90% of the cost of a new book, and god forbid all they have left is the copy that looks like it barely survived a hurricane. Because they won't give you a discount, and if you try and sell it back, they will be like oh no we're not taking it, even though that's the condition you bought it in.

Racket.

Haha, funny you mention GameStop. They are indeed such a ripoff, when it comes to reselling used video games, after they rip you off on its real used value purchasing your used games. And you are right about Amazon....

[BuckeyeAtHeart]

Our daughter used a variety -- Amazon (new & used), plus campusbookrentals (for the expensive ones and she had no plans to keep them).