Thursday, February 3, 2011

Pros and Cons of Buying College Textbooks Online

So I do have a topic in mind for today that may or may not be interesting.
College Textbooks! Pros and cons of buying textbooks from sites like half, cheap textbooks, etc. I am only an upper junior in college, though I’ve been in college for almost five years due to changing majors; I have spent a decent amount on textbooks. I have only once bought from my college store. This is because it was my first semester at CUNY rather than at a community college and I did not want the wrong books. See, professors at community colleges are easier to get in contact with and ask about ordering different editions. In my experience, they did not mind if you wanted to save money by ordering an older edition. Transferring to CUNY, which is completely online, I have had trouble finding professor’s emails and was forced to buy the full priced books.
Now that I am in my second semester of CUNY I feel that I can go back to buying online and have created a chart based on my findings. And trust me; I search high and low for deals before buying!
ProsCons
  • Cheaper!
  • More choices
  • International and US editions
  • Instructor’s edition (rare to find but sometimes…)
  • Buyback option

  • Condition
  • May or May not include…
  • Wrong edition
  • International Edition






So there is it. My chart! I should probably explain some things though,
  • Cheaper – College textbooks are outrageously overpriced. This semester I have a book that costs me $200 alone! This also happens to be for a class in which I am not confident I will pass. (Calculus for all those interested) So I have taken the liberty of searching online. I bought a book that would have cost me $125 through the CUNY bookstore but atTextbooksrus it was only $70! (For the instructor’s edition at that! Yes, yes. Don’t lecture…)
  • Instructor’s Edition – I got lucky in finding the cheapest price for my book was an instructor’s edition. They are hard to find but include additional notes for those who have trouble. I will use it to learn, not cheat, as some people might think/do. I promise!
  • Buyback option. Both buying online and in a bookstore have a buyback option. I found that selling books online gives you a far better price than in a college bookstore! Put them up at the right time, a month or so before college starts, and you could make almost as much as you bought it for!
Cons
  • Condition – The condition might not be what you’d like. People lie. What someone else thinks is perfect, you might not. So be wary.
  • May or may not include – This is HUGE. HUGE. Make sure you do not need anything but the book before you buy! Otherwise you could lose money. Some classes require access codes or infotrac. Access codes can be bought separately but infotrac is hard to find. So please be careful! Also, if you are a seller, specify what is/is not included! It will up your sales!
  • Wrong/International Edition – I grouped this together because I believe they are the same thing. I have read that the only thing different about international books is the cover and ISBN. I DO NOT trust this. They are defiantly cheaper, so if you want to risk it, go ahead. Not me.
Here are some things that you might want to check out.

2 comments:

  1. Hey, great post. I couldn't agree more about shopping for your textbooks online. The only downside to this that you didn't list is that it can be quite a daunting task, because there are literally hundreds of sites online offering discount books. That's why I now use http://www.bigwords.com It will make the process way easier for you. They are a textbook search engine that searches all the online retailers and rental site to find you the best prices, on one or all of your textbooks at once. They also automatically calculate shipping costs, promotions and coupon codes - virtually guaranteeing the lowest possible prices. It's pretty cool actually.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I didn't list it but I did add a link to a textbook search engine at the end of my post. I used www.dealoz.com for my textbook purchases and it does pretty much the same thing!

    Thanks !

    ReplyDelete

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Thursday, February 3, 2011

Pros and Cons of Buying College Textbooks Online

So I do have a topic in mind for today that may or may not be interesting.
College Textbooks! Pros and cons of buying textbooks from sites like half, cheap textbooks, etc. I am only an upper junior in college, though I’ve been in college for almost five years due to changing majors; I have spent a decent amount on textbooks. I have only once bought from my college store. This is because it was my first semester at CUNY rather than at a community college and I did not want the wrong books. See, professors at community colleges are easier to get in contact with and ask about ordering different editions. In my experience, they did not mind if you wanted to save money by ordering an older edition. Transferring to CUNY, which is completely online, I have had trouble finding professor’s emails and was forced to buy the full priced books.
Now that I am in my second semester of CUNY I feel that I can go back to buying online and have created a chart based on my findings. And trust me; I search high and low for deals before buying!
ProsCons
  • Cheaper!
  • More choices
  • International and US editions
  • Instructor’s edition (rare to find but sometimes…)
  • Buyback option

  • Condition
  • May or May not include…
  • Wrong edition
  • International Edition






So there is it. My chart! I should probably explain some things though,
  • Cheaper – College textbooks are outrageously overpriced. This semester I have a book that costs me $200 alone! This also happens to be for a class in which I am not confident I will pass. (Calculus for all those interested) So I have taken the liberty of searching online. I bought a book that would have cost me $125 through the CUNY bookstore but atTextbooksrus it was only $70! (For the instructor’s edition at that! Yes, yes. Don’t lecture…)
  • Instructor’s Edition – I got lucky in finding the cheapest price for my book was an instructor’s edition. They are hard to find but include additional notes for those who have trouble. I will use it to learn, not cheat, as some people might think/do. I promise!
  • Buyback option. Both buying online and in a bookstore have a buyback option. I found that selling books online gives you a far better price than in a college bookstore! Put them up at the right time, a month or so before college starts, and you could make almost as much as you bought it for!
Cons
  • Condition – The condition might not be what you’d like. People lie. What someone else thinks is perfect, you might not. So be wary.
  • May or may not include – This is HUGE. HUGE. Make sure you do not need anything but the book before you buy! Otherwise you could lose money. Some classes require access codes or infotrac. Access codes can be bought separately but infotrac is hard to find. So please be careful! Also, if you are a seller, specify what is/is not included! It will up your sales!
  • Wrong/International Edition – I grouped this together because I believe they are the same thing. I have read that the only thing different about international books is the cover and ISBN. I DO NOT trust this. They are defiantly cheaper, so if you want to risk it, go ahead. Not me.
Here are some things that you might want to check out.

2 comments:

  1. Hey, great post. I couldn't agree more about shopping for your textbooks online. The only downside to this that you didn't list is that it can be quite a daunting task, because there are literally hundreds of sites online offering discount books. That's why I now use http://www.bigwords.com It will make the process way easier for you. They are a textbook search engine that searches all the online retailers and rental site to find you the best prices, on one or all of your textbooks at once. They also automatically calculate shipping costs, promotions and coupon codes - virtually guaranteeing the lowest possible prices. It's pretty cool actually.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I didn't list it but I did add a link to a textbook search engine at the end of my post. I used www.dealoz.com for my textbook purchases and it does pretty much the same thing!

    Thanks !

    ReplyDelete