The Thrifty Student: Finding Cheap Textbooks

We'll start off with the cheapest possible route... FREE! Free books are not always available, but when they are, you should really consider taking advantage of them. It doesn't matter if they have a little writing or highlighting...those markings may even help you in your classes. So where can you go to get free paper books?

Local Classifieds -

Not always available, but worth looking into. Visit the website of your local news channel and/or newspaper. Many of these sites have classified sections where people can post things that they are looking to unload. Oftentimes, there is a FREE or WANTED section...check it out and see if you have this option. You can also check sites that compile various classified sections such as oodle.com or others.

Freecycle -

Freecycle.org is a great place to find and unload things for free. The community is made up of people who just want to get rid of their stuff by giving it to someone who wants it. You sign up for the group (or groups) in your geographical area and people are free to post things that they are "offering" or "wanting." You can try here to see if anyone has your textbook that they are willing to part with.

School Library -

This is probably the most reliable way for you to get a copy of your book. Once you register for your classes, try to find the class website. It is oftentimes under the professors name who is offering the class. If no such site exists, write your professor directly. Try to find out what books you need for the class. If there is a site, look on the syllabus; if you have to e-mail the professor, cordially ask what books are required. Once you know, book it over to the library and reserve them. I've done this with two classes and it works great. If you can't seem to find the book at your school library, you may still be able to find it at a library in the area. Worldcat.org is a great site that searches all the library catalogs in your local area. You might find your book at another library by searching for it on this site.

Borrow from another student -

When I say borrow... I mean BORROW. That means, you give it back when you're done. I don't think I'll ever get my Algebra-Based Statistics book back, but hey, if you are taking a class that you don't think requires you to keep the book for the rest of your life - why not borrow from a friend or some other student. Some campuses (or off campus clubs) offer book exchanges. See if there are some at your college.

Though free books and ebooks are a great way to go...they just don't always exist. And so...we move on to actually buying your books. Comparison sites are where I end up finding most of my textbooks. They are like online open air markets. You go in, peruse the merchandise, decide which seller you want to buy from and buy. These sites go out and scan the web for your product on multiple sites that sell textbooks. They often search for other products too, but that will be another lens in the Thrifty Student series (Inexpensive Products). So let's get down to it...my favorite (and most used) textbook comparison sites.

Dealoz.com

Dealoz.com is by far my favorite site for finding my text books. I typically consult all of the sites below before I make my final decision of where to buy, but I usually choose my book from the list this site provides. You can choose to sign up and create wishlists of various products. You can set these wishlists to e-mail you when your product dips below a threshold that you set. Dealoz does not send spam e-mails. The easiest way to use this site is to find the ISBN number from the book that you want to buy. This can be done by going to the bookstore and writing it down, or by getting it from the syllabus of a class. Once you input the ISBN, do a search in the "books" category. Push search and Viola, a list of books from sites such as half.com, amazon.com, and alibris.com appear. This site also has labels showing which is the "best new", "best used", and "best rental."

Swoopthat.com

Swoopthat was brought to my attention by one of the comments in my guestbook, so I checked it out. This is also an amazing site. I think that the coolest feature about this site is that for many schools, you can have the site link into your school, and list the books required for your specific classes (down to the section number of each class). Unfortunately, that feature is not offered for my school. The provides a thorough list of books to buy from multiple sellers as well. It sorts them in order of lowest price, but it doesn't seem to list whether these books are new or used. Overall, I think that this site may have become my second favorite for textbook searches.

Booksprice

Booksprice is a good website, albeit a little slow for my liking. This site also shows you the best deal that you can get, but it only shows a single deal. Unlike Dealoz which shows you the best new, used, and rental, this site just finds the cheapest of the three.

Cheapesttextbooks.com

Cheapesttextbooks.com/ is also a good site. A few of my friends use this site exclusively to find books. This is probably the fastest of the three and is good at sorting books by price, but the user interface isn't as inviting and to me...it seems to draw from less sources.

Other Comparison Sites

There are probably hundreds of other comparison sites out there. These are the ones that I use, but if you would like more, just try searching for some online. Here is a list of some of the others that I either don't use, or that I find are a little too broad in their scope:
Google Products
Usedtextbooks.net
Bookfinder.com
Cheap-textbooks.com
Allbookstores.com
Addall.com

Note:This section is the only place where I talk about rentals. I've never rented a book; I don't know how it works, and I don't really like the idea anyway, but if that is what you like to do, and if you've had success doing it...write a lens about it.

Fortunately, the above Comparison Sites section will link you to most of the Multiple Seller Sites, so I won't spend much time on them, but it is good to have some of them written down so that you know what they are. I consider multiple seller sites to be sites like ebay and/or amazon, where you have a lot of different people around the world all logging on to sell their products.

Half.com

ebay is a great site for buying and selling your textbooks, but the ebay portal (in my opinion) is not the optimal way to go. In fact, ebay seems to have discovered this, and so they created the site - Half.com . This site is not at all an auction site, but rather a site where sellers post their products for a set price. It is a lot like the "Buy It Now" option of ebay, but without the other options. I used this exclusively until I discovered comparison site shopping.

Amazon.com

Amazon.com is a leader online marketing in a lot of ways. For example...as a student you get a free Amazon Prime account for 1 year. This means that you will get free 2-day shipping for that year with the option of 1-day shipping for $3.99. That's a pretty sweet deal, especially if class has already started and you need the book NOW.

Abebooks.com

I love Abebooks.com because I love Abe. Comparable to half.com and amazon, this site is a multi-seller site for books.

Other Favorites

Alibris.com
Textbooksrus.com
Powells

There are, again, hundreds of others. If you want to find them, I suggest using a comparison site to look into them.

In most college towns, there are a few entrepreneurs out there who try to get in on the racket of book selling and book buy-back. They are often cheaper than the college bookstore and offer books that were used the previous semester. Professors don't change the books that they use all that often, and so, you are likely to find your book at a better price than if you were to buy from the bookstore. Look around, see what you can find. They are often close to campus, so go take a walk. Explore the area around your campus. Besides finding cheap textbooks, you will likely find stores and restaurants that you will like.

So my advice. Get out of your car, take the mp3 earbuds out of your ears, and explore the businesses around your campus. Enjoy yourself.

I really mean, when all else fails. The bookstore will gouge you, but sometimes (very rarely) you have no other options. This may occur when the professor recommends a book that is hot off the presses or so specialized that there were only a small number printed. I've bought from the bookstore before, but not anymore -- if I can help it. If you're in a bind for time, amazon offers a free 1 year prime membership to students. That means free 2 day shipping. That's something to consider before settling for the bookstore.

If buying from the bookstore I suggest:
Buy used - look for the used book in the best physical condition (binding, cover, pages) - I like finding books that have already been highlighted.
Don't sell back - you can make more selling them yourself
The bookstore is for buying notebooks, T-shirts, and other relatively inexpensive items with your college logo on it. So stock up on your college spirit by buying these items and not your textbooks.