Buy and Trade College Textbooks on the Web
Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:30PM EDT
See Comments (3)
Right about now, college students and parents are looking for just about any way they can save some money on college expenses. Hefty tuition bills have been paid, room and board plunked down, and a list of tech must-haves that didn't exist 20 years ago acquired.
So it's no wonder students are finding ways to save on books, no longer the monopoly of the campus bookstore. A 2005 Government Accounting Office report found that textbook prices nearly tripled from 1986 to the end of 2004. Luckily, the Internet is helping students fight this one rising tide.
These are some of the most widely used sites for discount books sales:
Amazon.com
Half.com (an eBay site)
Ecampus.com
Abebooks.com
Bigwords.com
Campusbooks.com
Alibris.com
Bookbyte.com
But there are some other options, as well. Textbookrevolution.org is a student-run web site which posts textbooks, lecture notes, and other undergraduate educational materials in e-book and PDF file form. No worries about copyright infringement. The materials on the site have been approved to be there by the copyright owners. Some other similar sites include:
Freeloadpress.com
Safariu.com
Lulu.com
Students also need to check online when they get to campus. Some student governments and student associations offer online book-trading/buying web sites, where students can post books they have and ones they want and then trade with each other or sell.
That's a start. Now let's hear from students and parents about the sites they have had the most success with buying or trading expensive collegiate tomes.
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2 Posted by bjones_y on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:08PM EDT Report Abuse
Buying textbooks online is a great way to find cheap textbook prices but be careful of the shipping method. Media Mail is cheap but can take up to 4 weeks if the the textbook is coming cross country! I like the price comparison tool at www.Cheap-Textbooks.com
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3 Posted by mjavaherchi on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:22PM EDT Report Abuse
The best way students can save money is when they buy and sell from eachother. Another student run website which has been around since 2004 is Monstertrade.com. I'm pretty sure they have no affiliation with Monster. Students can buy/sell anything from eachother like class notes, laptops, etc...
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1 Posted by shavongeorge on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:17PM EDT Report Abuse
It is true that the school bookstore textbooks cost a lot more than buying them online. I am a college student and I buy more textbooks online. I save 50% to 80% everytime I purchase my textbooks online. Anybody can a lot of money if they buy textbooks online. It also saves you a lot of time too, than standing in line at the school bookstore. I also sell my textbooks online too. You can make more money off of selling your textbooks online, then selling them back to the school bookstore. If you sell your textbooks to the school bookstore you get less money. The school bookstore will turn around and sell it for more money than they brought it for.