<p>Seriously, it's such a ripoff...I just bought mine on Amazon and it would've been almost twice as much to buy from my college.</p>
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<p>This is my reading list for Humanities. I personally bought my books through the college bookstore because they offered great deals on used books, many of which were less expensive than those on Amazon. Also, as you can probably tell from the list, finding each individual book would be a huge pain and the bookstore offered a 15% discount to the total purchase if you were to buy the entirety of the Humanities readings through them. I also had to buy a book for my Deductive Logic class through the bookstore simply because it was my professor’s newly published notes on methods of derivations and was not available anywhere else.</p>
<p>But in general, I would agree. I know many people who saved a ton of money buying through Amazon.</p>
<p>Most of my classes don’t require standard textbooks, so I actually don’t save much money by buying off Amazon. I just buy used books from the bookstore. They’re cheaper (almost always cheaper than Amazon), are typically in good condition, and don’t require shipping. </p>
<p>And then I just return them at the end of the semester for cash back. </p>
<p>Either that, or I do renting. My school just started doing it. It saves a TON of money, especially on those big, hard-backed textbooks. </p>
<p>But then again, I like to keep some books (like my English anthologies) because of my majors and what not, so I only rent books I know I won’t need ever again in the future.</p>
<p>It depends on what I’m buying. Textbooks, no way. You can find them a lot cheaper on Amazon like the OP said. But if they’re just regular books like for English class, I just pick them up from the bookstore. They’re about the same price everywhere.</p>
<p>I prefer to buy from amazon, even the regular books, every penny counts. </p>
<p>Luckily, I had the books I needed for two classes already, but I still saved over $100 by buying from amazon instead of the bookstore.</p>
<p>I bought my 5 small paperback books for European History through the bookstore because they are only a few dollars (from $5 to $13) so there wasn;t much difference in price. I bought the paperback textbook on amazon for $15 plus shipping as opposed to $50 n the bookstore.</p>
<p>However, my mom dumbly made me buy my chemistry textbook special to my college for $180 new in the store, as opposed to the non-specialized one on amazon for $120.</p>
<p>I saved almost $100 by buying my books AT THE BOOKSTORE. Two of my most expensive books were available as E-books, both of which were cheaper than the lowest price on Amazon. </p>
<p>Win.</p>
<p>^ That’s pretty cool, but I hate using E-books, especially for my science classes.</p>
<p>The key to buying on Amazon is to buy on Amazon Marketplace. Even some of the used copies are Prime eligible. (For those who don’t know, with Amazon Student [for anyone with a .edu e-mail address] you get a free year of Prime, which is 2-day shipping on all eligible items… unlike the Super Saver shipping, which requires a $25 minimum and takes 5-10 business days.)</p>
<p>I’ve saved a ton of money on books and many, many other things this year because of it.</p>
<p>The only ones I buy there are the coursepacks that I’m required to. I don’t even buy from Amazon if I can help it. I use a few different sites to compare textbook prices and find the best deal.</p>
<p>blinkangel- I think the prime eligible marketplace books are a new thing that they’re just starting now. I didn’t notice it last semester.
Amazon actually packages and ships it themselves but you’re still buying it from a 3rd party, which is quite awesome.</p>
<p>edit: for those who don’t know, there are sites like bookfinder that will run a search for your textbook through ~120 online stores (for free) and show you the cheapest price. It’s epic.</p>
<p>When I started buying from amazon I spent about as third as much as I had at the bookstore and was able to sell back for a profit most years. I never buy from the bookstore unless the edition requested cannot be found elsewhere, which has maybe happened twice.</p>
<p>I do but thats because my school kinda forces us to because they give you two days to get them. But they are actually wayyyyyyyyyyy cheaper than anywhere.</p>
<p>Yes. If you were trying to make me feel bad about myself, mission accomplished.</p>
<p>@Johnson181: I actually bought used textbooks through Prime last semester 
This semester I ended up buying non-Prime ones and they fortunately were delivered in less than a week. </p>
<p>Another good site that I just found out about is BetterWorldBooks. It has new and used books and the profits go to a good cause (literacy) and it’s eco-friendly :)</p>
<p>The only good thing about my college book store is for paying me for my used books.</p>
<p>^Lucky! I guess that just wasn’t an option for my textbooks specifically. It was for 2 of the 3 I got in the marketplace for this upcoming semester though. :)</p>
<p>Also, I have now made a profit on 3 books that I bought online and sold back to my bookstore. It was glorious.</p>
<p>^woah, thats awesome! The making profit part, I mean.</p>
<p>Our bookstore is really overpriced, but their book rental is not that bad. I bought all my book online and I think I saved by at least 80%. One of my textbooks was 150 at the bookstore but I bought it for 13 dollars online, it’s wonderful!</p>