Should I Get My Textbooks from Bookstore?

Apparently my bookstore has cheaper rent than Amazon. I’ve heard to avoid bookstore 100%. However, my calculus class requires:

STEWART
CALCULUS: EARLY TRANSCENDENTALS 8TH W/ ENHANCED WEBASSIGN PRINTED ACCESS CARD FOR CALCULUS FOR MULTI-TERM COURSES
CENGAGE

I have no idea where to find that on Amazon. I don’t know how to find these “webassign access cards” or for my economics class:

COWEN
MODERN PRINCIPLES OF MACROECONOMICS 3RD CA ED (LOOSELEAF) W/LAUNCHPAD (6 MOS) & FLY
MACMILLAN

These books are extremely hard to find on Amazon or other sites. I’ve found the books, I just haven’t found them with the access card. However, the rest books are quite cheap to rent so I think it’ll be fine.

I just bought the 7th edition of the Stewart book for my high school dual enrollment student. The web access card comes with the book. It is shrink wrapped and included in the packaging. I also had the same problem finding the book on Amazon because the ISBN number was for the California Edition. I have no idea of the the non CA edition is different but I was unable to find this book on Amazon. Fortunately, a student heard me freaking out at the almost $275 price tag at the college book store and offered to sell us his Stewart book. Win for him and win for us.

I feel your pain with the 8th edition because our store listed it for $300 with no option for used or rental. Because the 8th edition is so new you may have trouble finding a copy at this time on Amazon or anywhere. The best way to look, however, is through the ISBN number. If you can find it on the book, plug it into Amazon using this search term ISBN:###### and the book should show up.

@LKnomad Thanks. Yeah, I can’t find the ISBN number. It doesn’t provide me with one. I can get it at the book store for $138, new. Wish I could rent a used one but I guess it’s too new. I’m not sure if that’s expensive or not. I know I can get the book itself for ~$90 but it wouldn’t come with the access card.

Try this link to Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ISBN%3A+++9781285741550

ISBN: 9781285741550

I pulled it off our bookstore website. I think this is the 8th edition. Wow $138 new is a good price. Like i said, it was $300 at our community college bookstore.

I believe OP is saying $138 to rent the textbook for the semester, in which case, that’s not such a stellar price.

I avoid getting textbooks in my campus bookstore as much as I can. They’re almost always significantly more expensive. There have been a few exceptions to this over the years though. A couple times the campus bookstore has ended up being cheaper. I get most of my books on Amazon and Chegg. I buy most of mine and resell them later. I keep my physics and math books, but that’s about it.

@comfortablycurt I tried to avoid bookstore too. I got my Biology book cheaper off Amazon ($22 as opposed to $65) but the rest I tried Amazon, Chegg, ETC but they were still same price excluding shipping or even more expensive.

The textbook is $138 new to buy not rent. I ended up just getting it as that’s the only book I had to buy so it wasn’t too bad. The fact that the edition is so new, it’s hard to rent a used one. However, I rented all my other ones used.

Thanks for the help guys!