<p>I heard it's a good idea to buy textbooks now, while the prices are low. I was looking at alibris and the international editions were 1/2 the price of the normal paperbacks. Has anyone bought international editions? It says it's slightly lower quality paper, but that's it. Thanks.</p>
<p>If your prof changes textbooks (either to a different book or vastly different edition), you’re gonna be out a bunch of money. It’s probably better to wait until book lists are finalized.</p>
<p>I usually get registered for the next semester before the current semester ends. That way I can pop in on the professors during their office hours and ask them if the book on the book list is going to be changed, or if it will be safe to go ahead and buy it early. Registration at my school starts pretty early though. I’ve been registered for this coming fall semester for like 2 months already. </p>
<p>I try to start getting my books as early as possible. Alibris is good, Cheggs has really good prices on a lot of books, and the Amazon Marketplace has a lot of good deals. In my personal experience, the Amazon Marketplace tends to be the cheapest, but I’ve heard different experiences from others. I always just watch a bunch of different sites, and as the good deals pop up I snag em up. </p>
<p>You have to be careful though. A lot of classes anymore require online access, and most of the time, a used book isn’t going to come with an access code. These can typically be bought separately, but sometimes the cost of purchasing a separate access code can add a lot to the book costs, in same cases costing more than you would have otherwise paid for the book.</p>
<p>I have learned from experience to wait until textbook lists for courses are finalized. In fact, I recommend emailing the professor ASAP because the campus book stores are often the last to know about text changes.</p>
<p>As for international editions, I bought one once and it was substantially different from the text the professor was using in two ways: it lacked certain chapters and many of the chapters present were in a different order. I wound up having to photocopy the chapters I needed from the library’s reserve copy of the real textbook. It was a discrete math book, I forget the author.</p>
<p>So find out about the international version from somebody who has it. For the record, Morin’s Classical Mechanics is the same in regular and international. So those are the two I know about.</p>
<p>I agree with Tito </p>
<p>I took a class last summer and didnt buy the book but checked it out at the library just in case.
But we didn’t even use the book! It was a history class though.</p>
<p>Unless you can easily return the books dont buy if you dont need the book.</p>
<p>Sent from my C5155 using CC</p>
<p>If you have your Prof Email, you can check with them to make sure the books not going to change before you buy it. I used this method last year when I was considering purchasing an older addition. The prof said it was fine and I saved a lot of money. The only difference was the cover</p>
<p>I use the ISBN number from the college bookstore website, and don’t buy anything until it is on that official list. The ISBN number makes sure you get the exact right book and edition, and saves time in the search. You can plug it right into Amazon’s search box.</p>
<p>The less expensive copies of used textbooks sell quickly. You may see it on Amazon one day, and the next day it is gone. That is a good reason to buy books a couple months before classes start, if you are sure you will stay in that class.</p>
<p>For my son, new textbooks were offered on Amazon for less than the college bookstore was selling them used. At my daughter’s college however, they are using special editions that were customized for their college, so I have to buy them through the bookstore.</p>
<p>For books with required internet access cards, I’ve often been able to find the access card for sale new online - sometimes directly from the publisher. Then, I can buy the accompanying textbook used from any seller. Otherwise, you have to buy them together in a very expensive package. Typically the access card can only be used for one semester - so don’t buy one used.</p>
<p>Amazon’s prime has a good deal for college students. It offers free 2 day shipping. I believe it is free to students for the first 6 months, and then they will offer students a reduced rate to renew it.</p>
<p>Check out the facebook pages for students from your college, including pages for older classes. Often they are offering textbooks at a reasonable price.</p>
<p>If you buy an international or older edition, borrow a current US edition from a classmate to check for differences. You don’t want to end up failing a class because you kept doing the wrong homework assignments.</p>