When to buy textbooks?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Buffalo - SUNY
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<p>Keep a close eye out for the ISBN numbers. Many of the books have multiple editions, and you want to make sure you’re purchasing the correct one. While most of the content may be the same, there can be differences in page numbering that can affect assignments.</p>

<p>Over the years, my kids buy books on-line, bookstore, etc. They’ve run the gamut, and have found books at all of the sites named, plus Alibris, Amazon and even Ebay. Their first stop is usually at Half.com. They’ve been ripped off a few times. Once a science book was xeroxed and arrived from China (it wasn’t even copied in color LOL). Twice books never came, and once it was the wrong edition. I’d suggest buying them with a credit card instead of a debit card or paypal for this reason.</p>

<p>My kids have also bought books and then had the professor not use them or change his mind about a booklist after class started. Fortunately, this has been rare. One of my kids was so annoyed after this happened that he stopped buying books. If an assignment was a small one, he read the material at the bookstore or in the book that was in the school’s library. I don’t recommend that!!!</p>

<p>That first semester is so important that I vote for just getting your books at the bookstore. You may be able to buy used ones if you can get there early enough. Some schools let you specify that you’d prefer used if available. (I don’t remember if SUNY does that.) You can experiment with all of the other sources after the first semester.</p>

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<p>Yes, the darn “UB editions” are a pain but often include exactly what you need. The bookstore website does allow you to specify used books, and there’s an option to upgrade to new only if used isn’t available (or I suppose they cancel the order). Pre-ordering online is the best way to get books from the bookstore anyway…they fill the order and hold it at a counter in the back of the store where you can just pick it up instead of squeezing through aisles to search for your class/section with a ton of other students…unless you like that sort of thing:)</p>

<p>The UB SA website has a book exchange board where students post books, clickers (imo, annoying that different profs use different ones), lab kits, and all sorts of other stuff. My kid hasn’t used it but might be a possibility for better prices.
[Student</a> Association Online Book Exchange >> Login](<a href=“http://bx.buffalosa.org/]Student”>http://bx.buffalosa.org/)</p>