<p>If you order books online through websites like amazon.com, what do you do with the books once they arrive? I live in CA and I'm wondering if its worth buying all the books online now, having them shipped to CA, and then getting them shipped to Duke later in Aug. Or is there an easier way? Can I send the books to Duke right now and have them waiting for me?</p>
<p>You can't send them to Duke because the post office will not accept packages before you move in. If you want to get them now, your best bet is to ship them to CA and then ship them to school later in August.</p>
<p>Just order later?</p>
<p>This is true, too.</p>
<p>What y'all need to realize is that now that you're in college, you're going to see a lot less of the b.s. that you saw in grading in high school. I had a bio class last semester, for example, where my grade was 60% the final exam 25% problem sets, and 15% discussion section (they're probably not going to be grading it the same way ever again, but it helps my point). Teachers aren't going to go around checking to make sure that everyone has their books on the first day of school and giving out bonus points to those who do. In other words, if you wanted to wait to order your books from an online retailer until you got to campus, that would be more than alright. You'll probably have friends living around you in your class who will let you mooch off of their book while you wait for yours. That's what college is about.</p>
<p>Having said that, I prefer just buying the books at the textbook store because you can sell them back at the end of the semester (even though the buyback prices are complete crap) and not have to worry about selling your books online. Unless that's your specialty... then by all means sell them online.</p>
<p>Yea, you don't have to have your books for the first day of class, or even the first week or two. You'll get into alot of classes and realize that you won't actually be using or needing some of the books on the "official" list. Just chill, you can get them when you get there. They rarely, if ever, run out of any specifically needed book.</p>
<p>If people don't bring the right books to lab or recitation the first week of my class, I'll make a <em>little</em> fun of them. By the second week, though - this semester I am docking points for un-preparedness. Just saying.</p>
<p>My main concern now isn't the time that it will take me to order and receive the books. I'm just more focused on how expensive buying these books will be. Thus, I am looking at third-party vendors. And I think I could sell back such books at the end of the term.</p>
<p>yes pani, buying from third-party is MUCH cheaper, esp. if you buy used (highly recommended) During buyback, they count everything as used anyways with little regard to actual condition, so in some cases you can make money by buying cheap and selling buyback.</p>
<p>My theories about buying books (I'm an English major, so take with a grain of salt for sciencey or engineering people, even though I AM also an economics major and do have to deal from time to time with legitimate textbooks).</p>
<ol>
<li>(This is next to impossible first semester of college unless you know older people) but ask any friends if they took the course and still have the book. Some people, like my psychotic ex roommate would save EVERYTHING since she was too stupid to realize that even though she wrote on a book she could still sell it back. She would just hand out her old textbooks for friends to borrow and not expect anything in return other than the book back at the end of the semester (though someone did sell an expensive one once and told her he lost it when we realized what a b!tch she became). Though this is sometimes rare, sometimes not, what's much more commonplace is someone 'selling' a book to a friend-- so long as they make more than they'd make selling the book back and you're getting it cheaper than Duke's used price (usually there's a price range where this happens) it's the best way to do-- your money goes to a friend you get something for cheap. My friends and I do this ALL the time. (and making it mroe of an everyone wins situation-- usually the unexpected cash goes toward nice alcohol)</li>
</ol>
<p>2) Third party sellers (I primarily just use Amazon and BN.com and haven't used half.com or w/e since high school... though ebay has some subsidiary that specializes in textbooks, and I got something for incredibly cheap through them last semester) -- if you're buying novels, this may not be the best way to go - you might just save a buck per book and then spend it right back in shipping and handling costs. If you're buying textbooks, you can save a ton of money (my new shrink wrapped Shakespeare textbook was over 70%off Duke's new price and like 50%off Duke's used price via Amazon; and there's also Amazon Marketplace of auctions-- once I lucked out and bought books from a Duke student using this and she just delivered them through campus mail saving me more $). My favorite thing w/ these websites other than sheer convenience is being able to use internet coupons on textbooks -- check out couponcabin.com and wow-coupons.com to save more money. This is also really convenient. Maybe you may not need some textbooks in the beginning of the semester- I personally have always needed at least ONE book at least the first day of class, so try and get an actual day-by-day syllabus to figure out when to order stuff. I've found that when you buy from a "marketplace" type site like Amazon marketplace or ebay or half or whatever, it can take a while to get your books, so if you need it right away you either need to start looking at that now or spend a few more dollars somewhere else.</p>
<p>3) For anyone needing to buy novels and paperback books, honestly, sometimes the Duke price is the cheapest you're going to get... in that case, just buy them at Duke (or if you have a Barnes & Noble card, go to one and get 15% off each book) and save your time.</p>
<p>I hate that all the books I need are international edition and I don't want those cause I don't know what they are and they have no buyback value and they mysteriously have fewer pages and a different cover. I won't take the change, so I guess I'll buy from Duke.</p>
<p>International editions are usually exactly the same</p>
<p>how do you know what books are needed?</p>
<p>anyone have experiences with international/softback editions? stay away or go ahead and buy it up? any resell value?</p>