<p>i'm trying to buy textbooks ahead of the time and i was wondering if we needed to have our textbooks on the first day of the class.
some books were custom and it's not easy finding the book for a lower price. i also don't like the way UW posted the names of the books because it's not easy to comprehend what they want us to get, at least for the freshmen like me.
is the professor/TA going to let us know/show exactly what book we need?</p>
<p>Since your location reads Washington I’ll tell you the easiest way. Just go the the university bookstore and ask customer service-they know how to decipher those codes. They are also extremely generous and helpful. The university bookstore has both used and new books. I already got all mine except one from there mid July. Hope this was helpful!</p>
<p>thanks!
the problem is all the required used book are out… 
do you or anyone know if UW will restock some used books?</p>
<p>Some books are UW custom editions that are only available through the bookstore. For almost all other books though, you can save a LOT of money by buying them online (either used or new - you’ll save money no matter what). </p>
<p>You can also go to the bookstore’s website, go to the textbook tab, and then search textbooks for a certain class. This is slightly more helpful than the “display textbooks” function on myuw because the listings on the bookstore website include isbn numbers that can help you search online, and some other information that may not be in the “display textbooks” grid. If you do look for your books online, as I highly recommend, usually the best bets are Amazon Marketplace, Half.com, or Ebay.</p>
<p>so i bought my textbooks (new…<em>sigh</em>) for chem 142 and math 124 and for each books there was this webassign. do i keep these webassign to use for chem 152-162 and math 125-126?</p>
<p>Webassign generally lasts one quarter or in other words lasts for one class.</p>
<p>Next quarter you will have to buy another quarters worth of webassign access either through the bookstore or online (online is cheaper).</p>
<p>The bookstore is basically a rip off and exploits their captive audience.</p>
<p>For future quarters you can save money by finding the books elsewhere. The best way to go about this is to:</p>
<p>1) Find the ISBN codes for each of your books next quarter through the ubook store website
2) Look for used books for sale by people who just took the classes.
3) Search internet merchants like amazon for your books with ISBN codes.</p>
<p>You want to do this several weeks before a new quarter starts so you have time to look around and deal with shipping times if buying online.</p>
<p>There are also some other things to look out for. Many classes like to change the edition of the textbook being used and when this happens if you have an older edition it becomes pretty worthless for resale and the bookstore will not buy it back. Some classes although stating a textbook is required will not actually use the textbook at all so be weary of your return dates and policies. </p>
<p>If you find that you only rarely reference your textbook, but still need it occasionally there are lets say “e-paper copies” floating around.</p>
<p>Also, you can go to amazon.com for good used book deals, or half.com (part of ebay) for deals as well! I got my textbooks from half.com, sold by a student from USC in amazing condition and less than 20% retail price in almost new condition.</p>
<p>thank you so much!
i have one more question.
how can i buy the webassign separately online because it keeps on coming up as a package with the textbook and right now there’s only new ones available.
ughh i wish these books weren’t custom because it’s really hard finding them online, since it’s not during the school year. :/</p>
<p>You go on the webassign website and just purchase it. I think they take paypal.</p>
<p>Depending on your books though, you won’t have to buy them at the U Bookstore, NEW (outrageous prices!), but you can get old ones instead and buy webassign separately.</p>
<p>Helpful tips… So you have to buy custom books at the UW Bookstore and you can’t buy them outside? Each of my textbooks for my three classes are all custom made for UW…</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Yes and no. All custom editions are special printings for UW only, so they probably won’t be anywhere else on the internet. However, if you speak to an advisor of the appropriate department (math advisor for a math class, etc), you may be able to find out how the custom edition is different from the ordinary version of the text. If it is just an abridged version (like the math 124 - 126 books for instance), you might be able to find the ordinary version online for cheaper than the custom editions in the bookstore and still have all the content the custom editions have. This can be tricky though, since you have to make sure all the problem numbers will be the same, etc. </p>
<p>And of course, you can always buy the custom editions directly from students who took the class and no longer want the book. You can offer them like $10 more than they’d get from the bookstore by reselling. That way they get more money for their book, and you pay less than you would at the bookstore, so it’s a win-win.</p>