<p>What is the best resource for purchasing affordable text books? Should I even consider the bookstore? Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Ya I would if I was you…</p>
<p>I haven’t compared prices between bookstores, but I suppose you could if you really wanted to. I would bet if anything the other bookstores on State Street would give you more selling your books back… might be about the same to buy. Plus the other bookstores usually have a kind of skimpy section sometimes and only the bookstore will have your book. Make sure and keep your eyes peeled though for flyers around announcing deals for the other bookstores. At the end of last year I saw a “Get 10 $ for texting this code and selling your books” type thing and also got free headphones for buying from Beat the Bookstore last year. Bookstore is most convenient/fairly competitive as far as I know however, but it’ll be crowded!</p>
<p>The bookstore is convenient because it collects all the textbooks for a given class and organizes them on the same shelf. But it’s usually much more expensive than buying online from amazon or half price books. If you want AFFORDABILITY over convenience, avoid the book store.</p>
<p>Now that the university book store has an online store for textbooks ([The</a> University Book Store Textbook Dept.](<a href=“http://text.uwbookstore.com/home.aspx]The”>http://text.uwbookstore.com/home.aspx)), you can easily compare their prices to other online stores ([-</a> Compare Prices on New & Used Textbooks, Cheap Textbooks - GetTextbooks.com](<a href=“]- | Get Textbooks | New Textbooks | Used Textbooks | College Textbooks - GetTextbooks.com”>| Get Textbooks | New Textbooks | Used Textbooks | College Textbooks - GetTextbooks.com)) The second link needs an ISBN which will be given by your professor on my.wisc.edu</p>
<p>I usually buy on Amazon, especially since they’re starting to sell e-textbooks for ~$30-40 on Kindle.</p>
<p>Edit: Oh, I should add that my first semester freshman year I bought a used book from the bookstore–it had their receipt still in it by mistake; they’d bought the book on amazon. So, unless their markup is less than 0%…</p>
<p>I get mine from amazon. I have always gotten NEW there for cheaper than the USED price at the bookstore, and it’s free shipping direct from Amazon. Buying from the Marketplace there is even cheaper, and so is Half.com, which I have also used. You can easily compare prices since you can look at the UW bookstore online and see which is cheaper, and 99% of the time, Amazon.com probably will be.</p>
<p>Some people use Abebooks.com, however, I don’t because sometimes you get the international version and that’s why the book is so cheap. Usually it’s not a problem, but I don’t like to risk it. </p>
<p>Buying online is in no way inconvenient, and in fact, it’s probably more convenient. You can order your books from your bed and they’ll be delivered to your door before classes even start. Just actually order before classes start so you can get them delivered to you at home and in time, and if you end up dropping a class, returning a book is usually not a problem as long as it’s in the same condition. And reselling is amazing (I made so much more selling my old textbooks on Amazon and Half than if I’d sold them to the bookstore, or even at the bookswap).</p>
<p>The alternate bookstores on State, meaning Underground, Rainbow and such, are almost never cheaper. I honestly have no clue why people buy from any bookstore on state, considering I’ve saved up to $200 in one semester and was definitely not inconvenienced.</p>
<p>I’m almost insulted this hasn’t been mentioned either, but you can also look into the ASM bookswap. Good for sellers (since you get 100% of the profits, which is about 60 or 80% of the price of the USED book price at the bookstore, I can’t remember which %)* and buyers (since it’s obviously cheaper than the bookstore), but if you get there late in the day, there’s always a line. It is not guaranteed to work, since the book you’re looking for may have been bought or may not have been there at all, but for popular classes you’re very likely to get something. Look for it on the ASM website to see dates and times, and when it comes time for the swap, they do have a list of all the books for sale online (awesome, right?). The only problem is the condition may be worse than what you want, but it’s worth it.</p>
<p>*Just a note that the price of the book you get reselling to the bookstore is abysmal. Again, I don’t get why people put up with it.</p>
<p>Chegg.com usually comes around campus and promotes renting textbooks, but eh, I’m not sure. It’s an option for you to explore, though.</p>