textbooks

[tanch]

Again, it's time to buy textbooks. You may not want to buy it at the school ripoff bookstore, unless you run out of time, buy it online!
Here is my favorite book price comparison site:

addall.com

 

[Jeomite]

Not time yet... still got two week left before Spring starts...

But thanks, I'm going to keep this link handy...

 

[RedlineSys]

Yeah, I've used addall.com before and they are great. Bigshot Deals has a good list of bookstores and coupons to use:

- Textbooks Thread - links, coupons, etc.

 

[nebula]

I like CampusI It searches over 50 bookstores and shows coupons too. Are these others better if you've tried CampusI? Saved about 50% and ordered from amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk, I think that's funny!

 

[bolomite]

yeah, addall rocks. gotta love the quotes it displays while it searches

 

[habib89]

addall is great.. i haven't tried campusi.. i'll have to try that

 

[coolVariable]

I will have to check it out sometime

 

[SuperShaz]

I was burned several times in the past when I tried to look for the best deals on each text book. I ended up not receiving some of my books until 3+ weeks into the semester. Ecampus.com was especially bad about this. In fact, last year I ordered a full two weeks ahead of time from ecampus.com and they still hadn't shipped anything a week and a half after the semester started (thats 3.5 weeks after I ordered them), so I cancelled that order and ordered from barnesandnoble.com. Since I also used some barnesandnoble coupons, my books ended up being cheaper from them AND they arrived the NEXT DAY. I vowed then to never buy from ecampus again and I always order by books from B&N now. I get 7% cashback from B&N through discovercard.com

So in summary, my experience shows that

Ecampus.com = BAD
BarnesandNoble.com = GOOD

I ended up breaking my vow though and I recently bought a DVD from ecampus because they sent me a $10 credit to say "Sorry we screwed up last time, please come back". So I got a DVD for $20-$10=$10. I still don't plan on ever buying textbooks from them again.

- Shaz

 

[DrPizza]

Order from overseas... cheaper and faster (believe it or not!)
[Edit: never mind, I didn't realize the search sites above searched overseas too! They found the same deal]

It seems strange, but I found better deals on books shipped from England (across the ocean)... including shipping (air), they still came out to be cheaper than purchased in the US. (Actually, *I found*, may have been I found on anandtech). Check out Amazon.UK I just searched for a quick example... University Physics 29.99 pounds = US $50 and change. Versus buying at Amazon.com in the US: $135.

Actually, shipping is around 5 pounds for airmail. Priority Express is 21 pounds and "So, if you are ordering an item displaying 24-hour availability, and select Priority Express as your dispatch method, you can expect to receive the item at your door 2-3 working days after you place your order. " - for North America addresses... And, I didn't bother seeing what shipping was in the US, because the total from England was already significantly less.

I'm not sure why it's so much cheaper, but I suspect it's similar to purchasing prescription medications from Canada at a significantly lower price than in the US. (anyone want a thread for that?) Either that, or the British are smart enough not to pay $135 for a text, resulting in lower demand/ lower prices.
Shipping info for Amazon.UK: here

 

[Mallow]

nice tips for this poor college student folks. I'm subscribing to this thread b/c I will be needing it in two weeks

 

[amdskip]

Originally posted by: SuperShaz
I was burned several times in the past when I tried to look for the best deals on each text book. I ended up not receiving some of my books until 3+ weeks into the semester. Ecampus.com was especially bad about this. In fact, last year I ordered a full two weeks ahead of time from ecampus.com and they still hadn't shipped anything a week and a half after the semester started (thats 3.5 weeks after I ordered them), so I cancelled that order and ordered from barnesandnoble.com. Since I also used some barnesandnoble coupons, my books ended up being cheaper from them AND they arrived the NEXT DAY. I vowed then to never buy from ecampus again and I always order by books from B&N now. I get 7% cashback from B&N through discovercard.com

So in summary, my experience shows that

Ecampus.com = BAD
BarnesandNoble.com = GOOD

I ended up breaking my vow though and I recently bought a DVD from ecampus because they sent me a $10 credit to say "Sorry we screwed up last time, please come back". So I got a DVD for $20-$10=$10. I still don't plan on ever buying textbooks from them again.

- Shaz

Exact same thing happened to me and I too bought a dvd.

 

[Gainead]

Ecampus is a good place to sell books your school won't buy!

 

[nebula]

You can also "sell" your books through CampusI. What I mean is, they will search several places and show you who's offering what. Some pay cash, some help you sell your book, like half.com or others. I've sold one book online and they have you print a free shipping label and payment was fast. I didn't know of CampusI then, just found the site, Sell Book Funny thing, in my travels, it seems like many of these book buyer sites are very similar...

Hmmm, University Physics, sounds familiar. I just finished the second one and I bought my book from a UK site too! One thing to note, if you order from Amazon.uk or Amazom.ca, your order will say that it will take a long time for you to get the book, but it comes much sooner, so don't worry too much. I think it said like 3-4 weeks for me, but it came it about a week, standard shipping.

And for those of you who haven't tried buying online, DrPizza is right. We're not talking about saving $10 here. 50% or more is about normal, exact same book, new condition...

Good luck all!