How to Buy and Sell Textbooks - Part 1 - Buying 'em Books
Part 2
May 12, 2005
Cap -@- StopBuyingCrap.com
Textbooks are expensive and at times ridiculously1 expensive. Sometimes they’re so expensive, you'll consider NOT buying the
required book. You’ll just try to
wing it through the class by annoying your classmates, constantly asking them if
you can borrow their books.
So buy them books, don’t be cheap like me. I thought
I was some super genius that could pass a class without buying the required
text. Imagine how surprised I was when I found out I was NOT a genius.
At the end, it's
pretty silly to fail a class for not buying a book, seeing as how the class
usually cost A LOT more
than the book.
Why are textbooks so expensive? It's sort of obvious
if you think about it. Most textbooks will not be in circulations for
long. Once you’ve taken (and pass) the course, will you need the textbook
again? Usually you don't, unless its one of those major core textbook,
that you need for millions of classes to come. They’re not
exactly something the general public will buy just to read with. Some
textbooks get outdated fast (especially in fast pace fields), which makes
them less useful and at times completely worthless. Prices these
days are getting a bit silly though. Newer editions seem to be more about the
publishers making more money, and less about updated information and revision
within the textbooks.
Anyways, here are some tips on buying textbooks
that should be helpful.
Shop ahead of time! Most colleges and universities will have a source
where you can find out what the required textbook for the courses are. This
gives you more time to shop around and more time to find the best prices. I’m
not telling you to spend days shopping for the best price, but sometimes getting
the cheapest book may require the longest time, which I will explain later.
It’s a given that when you have to buy something at the last minute, the thing
you think about less is the price. So if your college/university does not provide that
information, ask the professor directly! If you don’t know who is teaching the
class, go and find out! Generally, a visit to the campus bookstore will do
the trick.
Be wary of campus bookstores. It’s not that they’re trying to rip
you off, it’s just they charge ridiculously high retail prices. Okay,
they’re probably trying to rip you off, but it can’t be helped. They're
quite useful for finding out what books you'll need for what class though.
Check for local college bookstores near your campus.
Generally most college and university has a local bookstore just a block away,
selling the textbook your specific school uses at much cheaper prices. Some
of their prices could be quite competitive, and even beat those you may find
online. It’s
simple business, if you have a large enough school, there is usually a small
chain lurking around somewhere nearby. Just ask amongst your fellow
schoolmates, someone should know if they're available or not.
Buy the non-hardcover edition, if they’re available. Many
books, especially history books have non hardcover editions now. For example,
an $80 history book that has 600 pages (300 of which you don’t need for your
specific class), may now have a two part paperback edition. Part 1 covers pages
1-300, and part two covers 301-600. They can still be expensive at maybe $50,
but you’re still saving money. So check to see if there are alternatives. The
professors are usually aware of what’s available for their particular courses,
so ask them nicely. J
Search online for some of the best deals. This isn’t
really new to most people, but I’m still surprised by the amount of people I see
going into the campus bookstores, or people paying full retail price for a
book. They’re most likely last minute buyers, since they can’t wait for the
book to arrive in the mail. This is why you should shop ahead of time!
Some great sites to search for books are:
www.campusi.com - This is a great place to search for textbooks from some of
the major online textbook retailers, small business bookstores, and private seller listings. Type in the
author, book title, or the ISBN to find the book you’re looking for. Some of
the results will show major online textbook retailer such as:
www.textbookx.com
www.half.com - This is a marketplace for sellers to list their books online
(and many other things).
You can usually find good prices, because competition is huge, and lots of
competition is always good for the consumer. You’ll find a wide selection of
new to used books, and you’ll also see many different prices.
www.amazon.com - Amazon has a Marketplace that’s like half.com where anyone
can list their books for sale. Because of Amazon’s large web presence, a lot of
competitions are also on this site, which results in good prices.
www.ebay.com - You can always check ebay for the books you need. I prefer
half.com over ebay, because it’s a lot easier to find what you need, plus making
payment is generally easier too. You also have quite a lot more protection, if
something goes wrong, than if you would at ebay.com, since half.com/amazon.com
themselves are the middleman, they’re the one that takes your money, and pays
the seller... so if there’s fraud involved, they’ll make more of an effort to
resolve the issue (usually by promptly refunding your money).
WAIT! Don’t go running off purchasing books just yet! If
you’re buying online, you should be aware of a few things.
Make sure you know who
you’re buying from. Take www.textbookx.com for example, they’ve been online for
awhile, and are a legitimate business that sells textbook online. You should
realize that they have a marketplace just like amazon.com and half.com, so if
you’re buying something from textbookx.com or similar, make sure you can tell
the difference between buying from THEM, and buying from some other student across the
country.
As mentioned, listings like half.com and Amazon’s
marketplace have lots of individual sellers, students like you and me. They
probably just finished their course, and want to get rid of their book and get
as much money back as possible. Like everything out there, there are honest,
prompt sellers, and there are crappy ones. Check the feedback of a seller
before you purchase the book to determine what type of seller this person is.
Although its no complete guaranteed, it’s a better safety measure than just
giving money to a complete stranger, hoping they’ll send you the book promptly,
and that the books are as described.
Another thing to be take note of is that there are also a
lot of businesses that sell on these listings too. You can generally tell
right away by the amount of feedback or transactions they’ve completed.
You can also tell a lot more from their feedback, as they have a lot more from
users and buyers. Anyone under 90% positive rating should be wary of, and
even if they have over 95% positive feedback, you should look into it. It
doesn’t hurt to pay a bit more from a reputable seller, to ensure that you get
what you pay for, delivered at a prompt time.
Be aware of shipping time and shipping location.
This is why you should shop early, because sometimes the best price you found from the best
seller, can only be shipped via USPS media mail, which sometimes can be VERY SLOW (3-4
weeks)! USPS media mail is dirt cheap, and is meant for shipping books,
CDs, video tapes, etc; hence “media” mail. At times media mail can be fast
if its from the same state, at times it may take longer than necessary. It
all depends on postal volume, and sometimes how lucky you are.
If you need the book fast, you should consider paying more
for the faster shipping option. You can check the feedback of a seller to
see if they’re a prompt shipper or not. Taking a look at when the purchase
was made, and when the feedback was left can give you an idea of the usually time it
takes for someone to receive their books. If they’re swarmed with a lot of
“slow shipping” feedbacks (even if it’s not the sellers fault) you should be
stay away if class is starting soon.
Make sure you know the condition of the book. Yes, saving
$20 on a book is nice, but buying a book covered with coffee stains, and other
unknown stains can be a bit disgusting. It’s especially worse if you
can’t even read the text. Although sometimes buying used is still the best way to go.
Who cares if the cover is messed up, as long as the pages inside are nice and
clean? A lot of us don’t take care of our books... so they can be damaged
easily, but the pages inside are still in perfectly good condition. If you
plan to resell the book however, you may want to shop carefully.
Check the description of the book! Don’t accept vague
terms. Some sellers list books massively, and put stuff like “book is between
very good, and acceptable condition” – what happens if they ship you whatever
they have in whatever predetermined category policy they’ve set. They may have
a stack of used books, and just send you whatever is available, or best
available. Sometimes you get a good book, sometimes you don’t.
See if they mention estimated shipping time! Half.com and
Amazon.com requires a seller to ship within a specific timeframe, depending on
the shipping option you choose. But it’s not like they can force a seller off
his butt to go and ship your book. If someone says they ship within 1-2 days,
books will arrive within a week, and they have the feedback to back it up; then it’s a lot better than buying from someone with little to no feedbacks,
saying vague stuff like “will send fast!”
I hope these tips will help you save some money on buying
textbooks (or any books). If you're curious how you can sell your
textbooks online, check out Part Two!
If you have any additional suggestions, comments, or tips; let me know!
I’ll update this and add them in the article. Credit will be given of
course. Thanks!