I’ve purchased all of my son’s textbooks so far on-line using eBay, Amazon or iFlipd. It is so much cheaper than buying new! As others have already said, use the ISBN number for each textbook so you know you are buying the correct book and edition. He has then re-sold them on eBay when the semester is finished.
As long as the ISBN number matches and if it is a book with a necessary code unlock it works great. My last does a combo of purchase and rental with his Amazon account. I have also picked up a couple of the engineering texts on eBay.
When I sold academic books on Amazon, they expected a short shipping window or I could get dinged. Granted, I’m an individual, but was unloading about 100 books (mostly for graduate studies. Lol, I still have more.) So while you don’t want some random newbie who could hang you up, smaller sellers with some rep can work.
But renting is such a deal. And we found most school bookstores staff up for book delivery.
I use bigwords.com to search several sites for the best price and options.
If only all professors only listed books they actually planned to use…both my kids have purchased books “on the list” that turned out not be used not at all, or once for one chapter or something (and were on hold in the library in any case).
(The student) emailing the prof to check is perhaps a happy medium approach if unsure.
^^^This. My kids starting waiting until the first class to purchase books after being burned several times by buying unnecessary books.
One thing to note is most of the time, the bookstore program will only allow one edition to be entered, and it’s going to be the edition they have in stock, which will be the current edition and (usually) the most expensive.
Some professors will allow older editions to be used, especially if there hasn’t been substantial change. H is a Chemistry professor, and he always emails students well before the semester to let them know they can go several editions back in the text book. It’s not like that much has changed in Chemistry over the past few years. Some of the problems change, some errors get corrected, maybe a few things get rearranged and emphasis changed, but it doesn’t impact the way he teaches.
In addition to others mentioned here, I found a site called AbeBooks. It’s multiple sellers, many with free shipping. The downside is it can take a while. But my son often has smaller books (not really text books) that he needs for his education major and they end up being cheaper to buy than rent. Since they aren’t $150 text books I don’t mind ordering them early. Even if he doesn’t use them, they averaged less than $10 each to buy so I figure they are a good reference for his future career anyway.
They do also have the $150 text books, often cheaper. I just make sure the prof has definitely communicated they will be using them before I buy since they do take a week or 2 to arrive.
I have also used Abe books. Their descriptions are right on. Never a problem
@garland I would suggest you send out a group e-mail to your students on the importance of having the books by the first day of class. Students have been burned for years when buying books that never get touched. My own kids try to contact their professors beforehand to see if they will tell them if the books will be used.
Textbooks.com, Chegg, Barnes & Noble, Amazon. I’ve also used https://bookscouter.com/ which helps you find the cheapest books. As mentioned, try and use a site with good reviews. The only one I ever had trouble with was Valor.
I’ve bought technical books from AbeBooks. A lot of the books are the cheaper, international versions of books, which are very similar, if not identical, to the American versions. Books that would cost $40 or $50 if I bought them from Amazon (even the used ones) might cost $15 on AbeBooks.
@hardlyworking You can also use an app called bookipi.com
Late to the game, but here goes:
I have had my kids look for the incredibly expensive required books for their siblings through the student Facebook exchanges @shawnspencer referred to. When there has been no text for sale or rent under $200, they’ve had great luck securing books for about $30, plus the shipping fee to send to sibling.