So many students dread going back to school because they know they are going to have to spend all their money on none other than textbooks. A lot of first-year students and even other students don’t know that the bookstore is a huge scam when it comes to prices for books. Your campus bookstore is great for getting your school spirit on and making sure you represent where you go to school. However, it’s not usually the best place to look for the cheapest textbooks. Used books are a better deal than new books, and your bookstore will usually have a good selection of used textbooks. However, these often sell out fast, and sometimes the used prices aren’t far off from the brand new prices. In this case, you might want to look elsewhere.
Amazon-
Amazon is one of the biggest names when it comes to buying anything online. Some people don’t know that Amazon actually sells textbooks for school and you can even rent from them. When you go to Amazon’s website you can search through ISBN, author, or the title of the book. Sometimes even if you just type in the subject it could come up, but that is a little trickier. You can rent, buy, or get digital textbooks from Amazon, and the best thing is if you rent it you can send it back for free. Amazon allows you to print out a FREE return label. Don’t forget if you know your student email address you get a 6-month free trial which includes free shipping.
Chegg
Chegg is one of the more well known for textbooks when it comes to buying or renting. Chegg focuses more on rental books but you do have the option to buy them as well. Chegg offers both textbooks for purchase and rents with a 21-day satisfaction guarantee. When renting from Chegg you can save up to about 90% of your money compared to buying it brand new. Who needs a brand new textbook? I know I don’t, especially when it costs over 300$. Chegg, however, doesn’t JUST sell textbooks, they also offer students a ton of resources to help them with homework. They also have a section on their site that helps you to find an internship if you’re looking.
Thriftbooks
Thriftbooks is more of a site where you can find regular books you might have to read during your semester. I have personally found books for as low as $1.34 and the quality was not bad at all. They do have regular textbooks on their site but I find that they are more of the older editions. Still check on here though, who knows what you will find.
Textbooks.com
Textbooks.com has a good selection of features that help it stand apart from the competition. Most notably, the website is not limited solely to textbook rentals. Textbooks.com allows you to purchase and sell your textbooks online as well. When you’re done with your books, sell them back for cash! Textbooks.com will pay you for many of your good condition, used books. Textbooks.com buys books back directly.