<p>My D is taking classes at a community college. Two of her classes (Calculus & Chemistry) require the textbooks that developed / printed just for the community college. They have their own ISBN and only available at the college bookstore.</p>
<p>We have to pay full prices for them.</p>
<p>ohiobassmom…</p>
<p>I hope your son is not shocked when he finds out how little he receives for selling his books…our experience has been to receive pennies on the dollar. Now, our kids rent if at all possible.</p>
<p>When selling back, timing is critical. If the book is not on any professor’s list for the upcoming semester, you might get very little - wholesale pennies. But if it is a book that ison the list and the bookstore can turn around and sell it to another student, you might get considerably more.</p>
<p>4kidsdad-that is becoming more and more popular. Usually the profs leave out the material that they are not using. In our experience though, you can still use the regular version of the book, just have to know that some of the page numbers will be different. Our older kids had several profs that did this and all of them gave them information on what to use in the regular version of the book if kids bought that one used. Again, it’s still best to wait for classes to start to buy books.</p>
<p>collegeparents, I think he’ll sell them online, not back to the bookstore. But we’ll see. Some of these will be used for a few semesters, so that’s a relief.</p>
<p>One thing that I noticed when buying on ebay was that the prices went up the closer we got to school starting. Students may get more if they hold out closer to August if they are selling directly online.</p>
<p>We noticed the prices go up the closer it gets to classes starting too. Hence, my deal is always to buy as early as possible. Once the inexpensive books sell, only the more expensive options are available. I want my kids to have all the books whether they are actually used or not. One prof (of a friend) told me she and her friends all sold a book their prof hadn’t used. The last class before the final he reminded the class that book was on the required list and contents would be on the final. They had to scramble to get the book back and spent late nights reading it. In general though, my guys like to read more about the classes they take so having the books is handy.</p>
<p>When they resell, they do the best finding others taking the class the following year or semester - no online fuss and better $$ (for both) than the bookstore offers. They also sometimes buy this way.</p>