How to Get Cheap Books for Online Classes!

Posted by Jennifer Buchholz on February 24th, 2009

I think the most suprising cost of a college education is the cost of textbooks! 90% of the classes I took required a textbook purchase. I had to come up with a method for finding books at a reasonable price. Here’s my secret..

1) Register early: I made sure to register for classes in advance so I had plenty of time to find out the books that were needed for the class.

2) Use the school bookstore: I always made sure I was looking for the same book the bookstore carried. Sometimes instructors will use editions that are newer or older than those carried in the bookstore - it’s best for all students to use the same material.

3) Use the internet: Once I was sure of the books that were needed, I started Googling the book/ISBN. There were some sites like AMAZON, BN.com, EBAY, or HALF.com that were good starting points. Also if you just look for used or cheap textbooks, you will find other sites.

4) Comparison shop: I generally bought different books from different sites, trying to get the best price. There was not one consistently best site to buy from.

5) Purchase wisely: Make sure you consider shipping costs when making the final comparison. Also review the return policy - in case you drop the class, you’ll want to be able to return the book. There’s no guarantee that same book would be used for a future class.

6) Sell books back: Once the course has ended, you may want to re-sell the book. Consider starting with the same place you bought the book from.

If you shop wisely, you can buy books for less than half the cost than if you bought from the school bookstore.