<p>how much can buying used books help that part of the cost? for example, everywhere ive seen, the projected book cost is about 1000, but if you buy used, roughly how much of that would we save?</p>
<p>That depends entirely on the book.</p>
<p>I’ve had classes where the book changes every semester, making it impossible to buy a used book. I’ve also had 2 classes where I bought the book used and ended up selling it back for far more than I paid for it.</p>
<p>There is no way to know in advance how much you might save, just do your research and compare prices from as many places as possible, find out if an older version of the textbook will work (thank you $4 macroeconomics book), and if you have to get a new one compare rental cost against the cost to buy new - resale value.</p>
<p>Don’t rely on your bookstore to tell you exactly what you will need for a class, contact your professor as far in advance as possible to see if you will actually be using materials the department has listed as “required.”</p>
<p>Federal law now requires that colleges list the ISBN’s of required books once a student has registered for classes. So you now can do a google search by ISBN, and find the best prices- just assume the bookstore price will be full price listing that Amazon gives and go from there.
DS saved at least 50% by buying used textbooks through Amazons used booksellers.</p>
<p>Federal law may require that, menloparkmom, but at S’s school last fall not only did they not list ISBN numbers, they listed one of his texts only by the last name of the author, who had several texts which could have been applicable. In another course they bundled several text items together and listed the bundle by one of the names of the author (as in Philosophy 101 - “Smith”). Without going to the bookstore to actually inspect the required books it was impossible to know for sure what to buy.</p>
<p>well, a quick email to the Provost, with a reminder of the new law, will probably prevent that problem from happening again.</p>
<p>DDs saved about 50%.</p>
<p>Saved a lot look on Amazon for used books too, one book new $200, used at school book store $120, used on Amazon $45. Many used books have only been used for a semester so they look new, was surprised when those my daughter got arrived as they looked new to me</p>
<p>Amazon.com, Buy.com, and Half.ebay.com are great resources for buying used textbooks. Using those sites, I spent an average of $200 on books my last 4 semesters (mostly math and CompSci texts). Normally, I would have easily spent $500 or more buying new those same books new each semester ($1000 per year). That’s a 60% savings. Of course, depending on the class you’re taking and the exact books needed, your mileage may vary.</p>
<p>I’ve found that smaller texts, like those used in English courses, or a one-off lib-arts/science course, tend to sell for much less used than new. Those books also tend to be paperback, which lowers their overall resale value (good for buyers, bad for sellers). On the other hand, serious textbooks (mostly hardcover) like those in math, compsci, chemistry, or biology, tend to never dip below 50% market price for a book in decent condition. Those books tend to be in high demand year-round. If you need a text for reference, or you think you might need it for multiple courses, I’d recommend buying new, like new, or in very good condition so that there’s as little writing or marks from other people as possible. Otherwise, used would be the way to go.</p>
<p>Also, with an Amazon seller account (you could also use ebay, half, etc…), I recoup at least half of that money back by selling the books once I’m done with the class and don’t need them anymore.</p>
<p>is renting or buying better usually?</p>
<p>My kids have rented (usually from Chegg) when used books weren’t available. Chegg often has discount codes/rebates available and there are no shipping charges. It’s also nice that they have a “no questions” refund policy for a certain period of time in case the class is dropped or the student finds out that the prof isn’t going to use the book.</p>
<p>My kiddo does a combination – used, rentals, new when she absolutely has to, from a variety of sources. This semester, she’ll be doing some e-editions of books as well – she’s taking a Western Civ course that has a ton of outside readings…but of public domain stuff…and those are free downloads onto her Kindle.</p>
<p>If it isn’t a brand new edition, I can usually save about 50% when buying S’s books. New editions are almost always full price, but you can sell then back. I ask S to not doodle and mark the book if possible to get best price. OTOH, we found that several of S’s classes this year used books with ISBN’s that were for his own schools edition of the book. Because we live too far from the school to see how the so called specialized edition for his school compared to the regular edition we were forced to pay a premium for the book. I was not happy at all.</p>
<p>Generally, it’s cheaper to buy used than rent. Rentals tend to be in better condition, so that’s definitely a factor. But, if it comes down to price, and I had to ballpark it, I’d say buying a used hardcover textbook would save you and extra 20% - 30% off retail price, compared to renting, once you factor in the initial cost (which is usually equal to or lower then the rental price), and the money you’ll receive by selling it again.</p>
<p>If the book is a small paperback, or a low-demand hardcover like a novel or something, it doesn’t really matter, since those books generally tend to be about the same price whether you rent or buy used (and pay S&H) then sell. For those books, it really comes down to preference.</p>
<p>Mommafrog also brought up a good point about Kindle and ebooks. Many libraries are lending out ebooks now, and that’s certainly an avenue to check out, especially for English courses, or history courses that would need public domain texts. Kindle has a huge collection of public domain novels and texts available and ready to read on a Kindle, PC, or smartphone.</p>
<p>Mamom also brought up that some schools use specialized textbooks. I’ve had to buy three such books (UCB Calculus 1A/1A book, 2 OCC Gov 180 books) and had to pay a premium for them. If you’re lucky, those school edition books might be on Amazon or Ebay used, but generally, those special ISBNs aren’t even in Amazon’s database, and you’ll have to buy full price for the latest editions, with little chance of selling it back due to the very low demand and small market for them.</p>
<p>You’ll get absolutely ridiculous discounts if you buy used books from students on campus.</p>
<p>I do my D’s book shopping. I compile a handwritten sheet of all the books she needs, then write down the new/used/rental prices at the bookstore, amazon, chegg, half.com, textbooks.com and the like. and compare them. I also factor in the shipping costs, if any, and what I’d get back after sending back rented books. Some books are not available rental or used. I often use several different sources for her books. It is definitely worthwhile to shop around.</p>
<p>Also, last winter she took an online course which required a set of tapes and a huge book. Our public library had the tapes and she checked them out and renewed the ones she still needed. The book (which cost $400) was available at another local library and we got it on inter-library loan. She renewed it once. The tapes would have cost $300 to buy. Our cost - the price of driving to and from the local library.</p>