In my years in college, I’ve done as best as I could to avoid buying textbooks from the bookstore. Initially, I’ve used Amazon and eCampus. There are some classes that teachers push getting the books right away, so I have no choice but to go to the bookstore.
Then, Lifehacker asks the readers about this problem, and there’s a lot of comments. I’ll list the ones I think are promising, then if you’d like, you can look at the Lifehacker post.
- BigWords.com
- BooksOnCampus
- BestBookDeal
- Books-A-Million
- Book Burro (a Greasemonkey script for Firefox or Flock)
BooksOnCampus looks really appealing because you can just meet in person to exchange the book(s) for cash. BigWords is searches a bunch of websites for the lowest prices (and not just textbooks, either).
One of the commenters suggested to email the professor a few weeks before class starts to request the syllabus. I think that’s a great idea!
Anyway, pass this information on. I think it’s necessary for college students everywhere to understand that there’s alternatives [to the campus bookstore]. (My apologies to James – he works at a campus bookstore.)
Ah, but I sell computers, software, iPods, and other technology accessories at my campus bookstore, not textbooks. And, since we (the bookstore’s computer department) offer all of our products at academic prices with all applicable discounts, you’ll be able to purchase your next computer, portable audio player, or major application suite from us for far less than you would from an outside retailer.
Thanks for the BooksOnCampus plug!
Let me know if you have any questions about the site.
BooksOnCampus.com for sure. Thanks!
I’ve found a lot of the books I’ve been looking for at collegebookservice.com. My biggest problem is getting a list of the books I need ahead of time.