<p>I saved a lot (I think) by getting the ISBNs from the school, ordering from Barnes & Noble (who would have thought?) and buying the books on a sales tax holiday.</p>
<p>It's possible that even if you don't have a tax holiday in your state, you can order on-line or by phone and have the books shipped to the school on a tax holiday and save the expense. The ship to state's tax rate might apply. Check with the school to see if the school provides for books being shipped direct to the school.</p>
<p>My final cost for all new texts was less than the used text cost from the school's preferred source.</p>
<p>Books can be very expensive. We usually spent $300-600 per term. My son didn't buy the books until after the first day of class because teachers didn't always use all of the books that the bookstore had listed.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. Do you have an approximate idea of what you saved without the tax date? Are you a member of B&N members rewards? If yes, do they honor that? Last year I was going to order from B&N, but then the school bookstore manager assured me that their prices were competitive. I got lazy & just got the books from the bookstore.</p>
<p>I was surprised that they applied the B&N Membership to textbooks. Happily, they do so on-line and with special store orders. By ordering through the store (which I did by phone) for store pick-up, I avoided shipping charges (which would have applied to a couple of the heavier text books despite the dollar amount of my order). I just gave the clerk the 10-digit ISBNs and the books were at the store inside of 5 business days.</p>
<p>With the B&N Membership and the tax free savings and shipping charges that I avoided, I saved about $70 from the used book price through the school's preferred on-line bookseller and close to $200 from that merchant's new book prices. (As a special "bonus," B&N's warehouse bundled in a Latin textbook, at no added cost, with a $29 workbook and the store refused to remove the shrink wrap, telling me that I had to take the two items together...so I canceled the $48 textbook that I had ordered separately. I don't count that in my savings figures as I'm convinced that that was just human error that you can't expect to affect your order.)</p>
<p>Someone wrote me via PM and recommended half.com for used books. I think that's a more economical solution, but I was too chicken. This was one of those jobs I got from the wife with the "don't screw it up" warning label and half.com seemed like I'd be living on the edge. I was imagining my son calling us just before Thanksgiving to say that his edition of his biology didn't have the latest sticker on Intelligent Design affixed to the cover or that he would have done better if the page with the chapter review questions wasn't missing...and then I would be in the doghouse. Next year I plan on being a little bolder, especially once I am more experienced and versed in the school culture regarding books.</p>
<p>My PM correspondent said s/he bought a used text for a few bucks on half.com and sold it for 4x the purchase price at year-end. I believe it. This past year we bought a math text on half.com so my son would always have his at home and we paid $11.00 for it, shipping included. It was as good as new. And since he didn't port it back and forth, it still is. So we're going to resell it...probably for more than we paid for it.</p>
<p>Yeah, half.com (and eBay) is where I get most of my books for cheap, but I can't find a Calculus book that I'm looking for that's cheap, so I'll probably have to pay $140 for it... :(</p>
<p>This is my 5th year buying books for private school.</p>
<p>Getting the ISBN numbers from the school is key, as D'yer Maker says. Our "preferred textbook source" ie varsitybooks.com is a pain about putting all the info onto their site, even though the school gives it to them. I've had to contact our school each of the last two years to get them to tell varsity to put all the info they requested on the site. Both our school, plus Exeter where my daughter did a summer program, have been happy to provide additional info which wasn't available on the book sites, so don't be afraid to ask.</p>
<p>I've finished my buying for this year. We got a B&N membership last year, and I check there, and Amazon predominantly. I also check half. I found that for the novels/paperbacks I could get most of them cheapest on B&N. Textbooks I usually have more luck on Amazon. I get used when available if the price is significant and the seller seems legit. I've had good luck with almost all my purchases, exceptions were library bindings differences (see below) and one had some water damage.</p>
<p>One thing I have recently expanded my enlightenment is "library bindings." I book with a library binding seems to be the same text, but different ISBN. I see very different prices for library vs. non-library. I have purchases library binding editions where the seller had listed with the non-library ISBN, but my kids haven't had any issues. There are also state specific editions which should have different ISBN's, but sometimes these aren't listed properly. I haven't tried to purchase a state edition and see how different it was. Also be aware of supplemental material (cd, workbook, etc) which might not be included but which the seller might not explicitly state.</p>
<p>This is my first year trying to sell some of the old texts. I put up books on Amazon and also half. We'll see how I do. I also try to sell to younger students, but I have a couple which are no longer used at our school.</p>
<p>With school not in session and schedules not yet finalized, how do you get the textbook ISBN numbers in advance so you can save some $$ on the textbook purchases?</p>
<p>The short answer is "Ask the school for the ISBNs. Give them as much as you know about courses and let them give you as much information as they have at this time."</p>
<p>Fortunately, we had course assignments made about a month ago -- though the schedule itself is not set. I was able to look up some ISBNs through clues given with the scant information available through the school's on-line bookseller (ours keeps this info close to the vest, just like jackief's). Then, where there was some confusion with one course, I sent an e-mail to the teacher to check on the correct edition. She referred to her master list for the entire school, so I e-mailed her all the courses and she e-mailed back all the ISBNs for the courses. A number of courses use the same text, regardless of whether it's the regular or honors level, so no waiting on the final placement was needed for those courses.</p>
<p>Another cost saving tip for boys with a formal dress code: Don't buy new ties for him. My son went through my old ties and found about 15 that he loves (because they are so "retro"). Yes, my closet -- as it turns out -- is quite the vintage experience.</p>
<p>I just went through that drill with my son, who was happy to claim about 20.
He goes to college in the south and probably wears one more often than I do. </p>
<p>Then my daughter grabbed 10 more, which she plans to make into belts (with a little help from my wife).</p>
<p>Since I haven't worn a tie on a daily basis in 8 years, and probably never will again, I'm happy with the ten or so nice ones I have left.</p>