Where do you buy your kids’ textbooks? Do you use the school store, Amazon, somewhere else? Do you rent? Buy used? Buy new? Is there any disadvantage to not buying new? Any disadvantage to not buying from the school store?
I try to buy new or like new/very good from Amazon - saves a lot of money (especially on math and science textbooks). One potential issue with this is shipping time from 3rd party vendors - depends when you get your course selection/book list. We rented a history book for the first time last year from Amazon, and it was good - very easy and they sent a shipping label for return (we had to package it up). They used Volume 1 in the fall, but not Volume 2 in the winter. One or two math books I couldn’t find for a reasonable price outside the (online) school bookstore.
We ran into a little trouble with a few books that came with a code for online resources and/or a cd-rom, particularly common for foreign language and science textbooks, when buying online. Be careful about editions. With that said, we usually used amazon for summer assignments and the school bookstore for everything else. The latter offered used, which was always fine.
Agree edition is an issue and a lot of school bookstores include other material with it so you have to buy it from them however if not then Amazon has been amazing for my kids. She found a $150 business book for intro course for $30 on Amazon, new.
Another scam is that there are editions printed in other countries in English for 1/5 price and my D had a friend from Thailand who picked up a load of a science text for friends at dramatic savings. Interesting it was soft cover and had a warning like “not for sale in US”
Have your kid use that computer. If they can facetime, Uber, snapchat etc with one hand tied behind there back they can find cheap textbooks
Also daughter bought her LSAT Kaplan books on line and was able to sell back at $5 profit after using them. Buy low, sell high I guess. Should have gone into business.
It doesn’t work with purchasing for the first year but the best and most affordable way to buy books in subsequent years is for your child to buy them from older friends/dorm mates. Doesn’t work for foreign language books because of the code needed but saves a lot of money otherwise. It’s win/win for both parties as cutting out the middle man (the book store) is a better dealer for the buyer and the seller.
Otherwise, Used is always a good option if available.
I forgot to mention - I usually go to the school (online) bookstore and get the ISBN. Then search for that - it should give you the correct version. I found a physics book this year that has online, regular and 3 ring binder version so read the fine print carefully for that. My kids haven’t needed online resources for their classes, but some might. I think one Chem class had online materials, but the school provided a self-created resource at no additional cost to the kids.
So far, we’ve been lucky in this respect. Last year, only one physical book to buy, this year only one. Many of the books are electronic copies for us.
Thanks everyone! I ended up using the ISBN and purchased a math book like-new from ebay, new novels on amazon that were less than the used cost from the school bookstore, and a used history book and new foreign language books from the school bookstore. LOL My one concern is any online codes for the math book. We will see.
I am afraid to rent until I see how well my son treats the textbooks.
So I ordered all the textbooks today. Spent a lot but fortunately a lot less than the full price, within minutes of getting the book list. The biggest saving came from a $300 economics book that I got a new international version at $50!
It says no connectplus or etext. But the book list specifically said text only, so it should be good.
I got the eBook version for the books that needed online
Regarding the codes: sometimes book publishers will sell the codes separately.
D’s math teacher will use the same book as last year, it’s a rather pricey book, but when I was ordering books, D told me that one of the graduating seniors sold her their copy for $2 at the end of last year. What a deal! This made my day. <:-P