<p>I've heard that buying textbooks online could save more 'green stuff' than buying used at the local bookstore. I have never bought anything online, so trying to buy textbooks online will be a new experience. How satisfied were you with the quality of your online purchases? To do some comparison shopping, I went to Half.com and looked up the price of the government book I used last year, which I bought for $70-ish used at a college bookstore, and saw the same book online for $1 plus shipping, and I'm thinking how can this be true? There were others online priced $90-ish used. Is it a trap for the unexperienced? Though seeing that it was a reliable source from its reviews, I still have my doubts. Any tips for buying books?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.abebooks.com%5B/url%5D">http://www.abebooks.com</a> is your friend.</p>
<p>The Search Feature is also his friend.</p>
<p>If i'm not mistaken, half.com runs on a bidding system. So odds are, your book will probably not be sold just for $1.</p>
<p>You are mistaken. The seller sets the price.</p>
<p>I bought my sociology book ($90 at bookstore) for $0.53 on amazon used. Came in the mail today, and the book looks great :)</p>
<p>I love <a href="http://www.half.com%5B/url%5D">www.half.com</a>. Combined with amazon and a store near my college, I managed to get all my books for the semester for just $220. What's really awesome is that the stipend check Maryland's going to send me to reimburse me is over $400. Yay for free money!</p>
<p>When do professors send out lists of the books required for their classes? Is there any way I can obtain a list of the books' ISBN before school actually starts, other than driving to a bookstore and looking it up there?</p>
<p>I emailed my school's bookstore for the lists, specifically asking for the ISBNs. My professors started sending out the lists to the stores as early as July 1st.</p>
<p>Most schools publish the lists around a month before the term starts.</p>
<p>Although they might not list the ISBNs because they'll want you to buy them from the school. There are ways of getting around this though.</p>
<p>Ways such as...? I looked ISBNs posted online, but there's always the risk that it's a different book than the one I need.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cheapesttextbooks.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.cheapesttextbooks.com/</a></p>
<p>This is a great site that lets you compare used book prices from several sellers.</p>
<p>Well I mean the booklist that my school publishes takes you directly to the ucla bookstore. ISBNs aren't listed because they want you to order from them. If this is the case (where the isbns aren't listed but the titles are), you can usually find the isbn if you view the page source code (which isnt as confusing as it sounds). Obviously you can bypass this step if the isbn is listed.</p>
<p>You can also be a google detective but this doesn't always guarentee correct results.</p>
<p>Any book I can't find used in our bookstore I get used on Amazon. I go to the book store when the books are available, buy the used ones and write down the ISBNs of any ones that don't have used (or that I know are overpriced for used books)</p>
<p>Yeah but sometimes that isn't feasible until right before classes start, in which case ordering a book online (even express) will probably result in getting the book after the class starts. Sometimes this is a problem and sometimes it's not.</p>
<p>
[quote]
You are mistaken. The seller sets the price.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I stand corrected.</p>
<p>Thanks, y'all. Even better, I found there is a most simple way to obtain those ISBN's. At first I doubt it would work but tried it out at my mom and sister's urgings. I just called the on campus bookstore and asked them for the ISBN's, and they gave them to me. Such very nice people! :) It's simple as pie. Maybe you should try?</p>
<p>If they are affiliated with Barnes and Noble, they are obligated to. Maryland happens to be one of those so it was easy.</p>
<p>Is half.com American only? How many people are willing to ship to Canada?</p>