<p>Has anyone bought textbooks online from a vendor other than the Supe store? Any good sites out there where one could possibly get them cheaper or does the Supe store offer the best rates?</p>
<p>Also with these clickers/response pads. If you have 2 classes that require a clicker can you use the same one for both classes or do you need to buy one for each class?</p>
<p>When I was in grad school just a few semesters ago, I would google the ISBN number of the required textbooks. I never bought them at the school bookstore; I’ve gotten good deals on ebay, half.com, Powell’s etc. A lot of professors will post their syllabus early enough that you can order online & get the books in time but sometimes that won’t work.</p>
<p>A new federal law requires UA to list the ISBN’s of books and also if the books are required or just recommended when you click on the course section on myBama, although many courses do not have textbooks listed yet. It annoyed me that UA would not post ISBN’s online as other schools do, but a quick trip to the Supe Store got me the ISBN’s. I normally use a site that lists the prices of multiple sites and buy form the source that offers the best deal. It’s fun to receive packages with textbooks in them. Lately, I’ve been using abebooks.com and half.com. Note that buying online usually means no sales tax, which adds up.</p>
<p>*I’ve had multiple professors that don’t use certain items that are listed as required. They tend to wait until the first day of class to announce this though.</p>
<p>Thanks, I’ll give those sites a look.</p>
<p>Have either of you tried to sell the books you bought online back to the supe store at the end of the semester? Will they buy them back or will they only buy back books bought from them?</p>
<p>The Supe Store does not seem to distinguish between a book bought there and a book bought elsewhere when buying books back. However, they do make a distinction based on if the book was bought new or used.</p>
<p>Tip…</p>
<p>When buying from the Supe Store, don’t make the mistake that I made the first year. I didn’t realize that some books are sold as “sets” and also sold individually. When I saw “required” next to the “set” and also next to the individual books, I bought them all. </p>
<p>The Supe Store caught my mistake and called me and asked if I wanted 6 books or if I just wanted the 3 book set. They fixed my order. I don’t know if they would always catch the mistake, but they will return books if you order too many.</p>
<p>BTW…we have ordered books early at the SUPE store only to have my kids change classes before school starts (which means other books are needed, and the original books aren’t). No big deal. When they go to pick up their books, they immediately return the books that are no longer needed. (I could probably also call the SUPE store and cancel the wrong books, too.)</p>
<p>The earlier you order books from the SUPE store, the more likely you are to get cheaper used books (if available) and requested. </p>
<p>My younger son has also bought books from the Used Book Store that is by Publix. We had gotten the books originally at SUPE, but he found them cheaper at the Used store, so he took the SUPE ones back (which can be done within about 10 days as long as they are still in original condition (including shrink wrap if it’s a set).</p>
<p>the nice thing about buying from the SUPE store is that you order online, pay online, and then you show up, give your name, and they hand you a bag with all your books in it.</p>
<p>In the past we have used [Cheap</a> Textbooks, College Textbook - CheapestTextbooks.com](<a href=“http://www.cheapesttextbooks.com/]Cheap”>http://www.cheapesttextbooks.com/) for all my daughter’s textbook purchases. Allows you to see what different sites are selling the books for. The only caution i would issue is to not wait until last minute to order because delivery sometimes takes a week or two.</p>
<p>We mostly buy books online which is usually cheaper than used books at the 2 schools we have been involved. Have used Amazon marketplace, half.com, ebay, textbooks.com. We usually look at several sources and compare everything, including shipping, and avoid sellers with several bad reviews. Textbooks.com has guaranteed buy back on some, not all, books and it is usually a fairly good buy back price - around 50%. They will also accept returns for full refund up to around 30 day after the order (useful if a class is dropped). The others are often individuals selling their books. Have only had one bad experience where a book never showed up and had to have half.com refund us the money and they went after the seller. Overall we save hundreds of dollars a semester compared to college bookstore prices.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the tips and the sites. I’ll check them all out and see how the prices compare. All this started when I saw the prices on the Biology books my son will need. $260 for the lecture and lab book. OUCH. Hopefully we can find a nice savings online somewhere for those.</p>
<p>Which bio class is that? Honors Bio with Caldwell? Does that include books that aren’t required?</p>
<p>BTW…wait a bit…students have sold back their used books yet. That will happen the first week or May or so. Don’t know how long it will take to process.</p>
<p>I think some of the most shocking prices have been for Foreign language classes…they often require some kind of set.</p>
<p>BTW…when you look at mybama for classes, some classes look like profs haven’t been assigned yet, but if you look online for books, some of the profs names are there.</p>
<p>BSC 114/115 with Olson. Book and clicker for the lecture class and a book for the lab.</p>
<p>That’s the new price not the used. But a few of the options show the used out of stock. Of course that may change in another week after classes end this semester like you said.</p>
<p>^^^International editions may prove to be a good deal and often arrive sooner than domestically-shipped books because they are shipped 3 Day Air.</p>
<p>Ah…the clicker. 
</p>
<p>Have your child test it after buying. The bookstore accidentally gave my son the “teacher’s version” and of course it wouldn’t work for him (he didn’t know there was a color code). I think the student ones are blue and the teacher ones are orange??? Not sure.)</p>
<p>But, I think you only have to buy the clicker once, even if it’s used for other classes (Is that right???) I love the clicker…it gives a prof information whether the students are understanding concepts. He puts a problem on the board, the students do it at their desks, the students input their answer on the clicker, and the prof instantly sees how many got it right and how many got it wrong. Obviously, if a lot got it wrong, he knows that the concept needs to be further explained.</p>
<p>But, there’s this other odd thing that is sometimes used - it’s some kind of online access code (forget the real name) that you have to buy for each class that requires it - about $40. Sometimes it comes with the “book set”.</p>
<p>sounds like you all are ahead of us on the books/clicker thing, I assume we won’t even have a clue until after BamaBound, but will definitely have to visit this thread as I have never heard of a clicker!
As far as ordering books by ISBN number online, we’ve done that with some books required at DSs high school and have actually purchased cheap backup sets for younger son so he hasn’t had to lug them back and forth.
If you find them used, is there an issue with not having the most current edition of the books?</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>The clicker looks like a calculator. I don’t know it’s technical name, but many people just call it a “clicker.”</p>
<p>It can be used for quizzes or for as I mentioned before - real time feedback to the prof. When I sat in a Physics class, the prof would explain a concept, and then put up a problem, and the kids would work the problem and input the answer on their clicker and submit. Instantly on the Magic Boards (or whatever they’re called), a graph would appear showing how many chose the right answer, etc. This is so much better than having a prof ask the class if they are understanding the lecture, since some are too shy to speak up.</p>
<p>Here are two articles…
<a href=“http://news.cnet.com/New-for-back-to-school-clickers/2100-1041_3-5819171.html[/url]”>http://news.cnet.com/New-for-back-to-school-clickers/2100-1041_3-5819171.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/07/68086[/url]”>http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/07/68086</a></p>
<p>AL34,</p>
<p>I don’t know for sure what books I’ll have to buy until son goes through Bama Bound also. We’ve just been going through the course listing and trying to come up with a few possible schedules for him so he’ll know exactly what classes at what times he prefers during orientation. </p>
<p>Of course there’s no guarantee he’ll get the classes or times that he wants. </p>
<p>Anyway, most of the courses have the Prof’s name as well as any required or recommended textbooks listed. We’ve been using ratemyprof.com to try and see which profs would be best for him to take. Not necessarily the easiest one’s, just the one’s who get good marks for clarity and helpfulness.</p>
<p>A good search engine to try is fetchbook.info It tracks several of the sites listed in this post but has the additional feature of adding in the S/H to destination so you get the total cost of the book to compare (Several sites have started to have ‘cheap’ books but the extra costs are huge…)</p>
<p>Don’t fret to much about getting the classes you want…</p>
<p>It is good to go in with a plan (including course numbers etc.) But if for some reason you get closed out try again later in the summer. They only open so many class spots per Bama Bound. Once they are filled they close it out for that orientation.</p>
<p>D went on line and changed up a few of her classes last summer. We even contacted her advisor for permission but I’m not sure we even had to do that. I remember one class she was really excited about…but the professor had bad recommendations (rate my professor) so she switched up her schedule. She also made sure it was all “do able” getting from one class to another.</p>
<p>All from the comfort of home… NO worries!!</p>
<p>They only open so many class spots per Bama Bound. Once they are filled they close it out for that orientation.</p>
<p>Right. So if you log on during the summer, you’ll see more classes opening up. that’s why students who go to earlier Bama Bounds are at an advantage.</p>