<p>Can't get over the price of college text books. Looking for any suggestions on best cheapest way to purchase/rent text books. Heard going over to Bills is cheaper then FSU bookstore and what about some of these websites like Chegg? </p>
<p>amazon.com is how they started. MUCH cheaper than any bookstores!</p>
<p>The easiest solution is to just look around. Sometimes you’ll be able to find a really cheap used copy somewhere online (Amazon, B&N, even Half.com or eBay have some cheap prices). I’ve bought 2 books from Chegg (not rented). Both times I’ve been unhappy with the condition, but they were significantly cheaper than other options. </p>
<p>There are some times when the FSU Bookstore is the cheapest option I’ve found. That’s true if it’s a book where the author is a professor at FSU- especially with lab manuals- or if it’s one of the anthology type books for the liberal studies classes where it’s a compilation specifically for FSU. </p>
<p>The very first thing I do when I get a book is to look up the ISBN on Google. Usually that leads to an Amazon listing where I can look at the prices, though there have been a couple times where the item wasn’t even on Amazon. From there I search around for a good price, comparing any Amazon/eBay/B&N/Half.com listings to see who has the best price on a decent condition copy, but also has pretty good feedback. That’s when I make my decision. </p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind is that books can be shipped via USPS Media Mail, which is cheap for the person shipping the book but can be very slow. So if it’s a case of needing the book ASAP, sometimes buying a used copy from an Amazon seller is not the best idea even if it saves money. </p>
<p>You can always just ask the professor of the class where they recommend getting the book. It’s my understanding that they aren’t allowed to say to buy it from anywhere but the bookstore, since the bookstore will have the exact version that they want and all that, but I’ve had plenty of professors that said that they didn’t care where you got the book.</p>
<p>Don’t forget about customer service. We have used Chegg for over 2 years and their customer service has always been amazing, but today they did something that was above and beyond anything I have ever seen a company do! My son dropped off 6 boxes of books at a UPS drop box and did not receive a receipt. After waiting for 2 weeks, there was no evidence that UPS (or Chegg) received them. After explaining the dilemma to the customer service rep and going over the replacement cost, he put me on hold and came back and told me that they were going to forgive the whole amount (over $500). He said that we had done everything we could have, e.g., visiting the UPS distribution center, talking to the driver, and they would pursue the matter with UPS. How outstanding is that?? They will have a customer for the rest of my son’s student life!</p>
<p>Google, ebay and half.com are all good starts when you have the ISBN - but I’ve found that prices differ on sites from book to book, and it often depends on what condition you’re willing to accept.</p>
<p>The best textbook pricing searches are via aggregator tools like kayak for air and travel - I use textbookspyder and saveontextbooks.net. Bricks and mortar stores can’t touch them, and I’ve never found Chegg to be in the top 10 cheapest. Also try bookbyte.com.</p>