Cost of Textbooks
 

How have you been able to fight the rising cost of textbooks? I've heard that Ebay is an excellent way to obtain them for a fraction of what the bookstore wants. Does anyone else have any good suggestions?

We have a 'book bank' w/the guys. Just we put the books we had to buy in, we take the ones that someone else has used. Nice system if you get enough books.. :)

Amazon.com sells used books (usually for like 25% less). I've bought a few books from them, and their service is really good! :)

they really try to screw ya with books... they give you next to nothing when they buy books back from you and then charge you only dollars less for used books.

I always wonder why college bookstores in general have not been slapped with anti-trust or price-fixing lawsuits.

I think we could all agree that it doesn't cost anywhere near $150 to MAKE a book:D

That might go a bit beyond what a reasonable profit should be considered to be.

try half.com, ebay's sister site :)

http://www.bestwebbuys.com/books/ is also a cool site where you can comparision shop

You can get some really good deals on Half.com too... but find out what books you're going to need way in advance if yoiu're going to buy from any online service.

Barnes and Noble's website (www.bn.com) and www.ecampus.com are great places to sell your books back to... they give you a decent amount for them and they pay for shipping. I know you get more from them than you do selling them back to your bookstore, because I tested it once... I checked out how much I'd get selling them at those websites, and then I took the books to the campus bookstore and found out how much they would give me. I got more from the websites :) The only disadvantage is that you don't get instant cash, you have to wait for them to mail you a check.

In principle I have a problem supporting B&N since they own our bookstore.

Yeah, they own the bookstore where I went to school too...

they own ours too.. i think they own a good majority of them.

They didn't used to own ours, but they sure as hell do now :mad: I HATE buying textbooks. I always feel so empty and used while leaving with a box of heavy books and a pocket full of very, very light air...

We always make disgruntled comments like, "Well, it's time to go get raped again."

errrgh...

I always hated textbook shopping. Too dang expensive! :mad: Plus, the bookstore was at one end of campus and most of the dorms, including mine, were at the other... so I had a looong way to drag those expensive doorstops!

I once bought a textbook for one of my freshman classes - "required" and quite expensive. I think I opened it once the entire semester. Next semester it wasn't required any more, so I couldn't unload it. :(

For another class, the professor required eight, count 'em, EIGHT different books. He also changed the reading list from year to year, so in some cases you couldn't get the books used. Someone down the hall from me had taken the class the previous year, so I bought what books I could from him, and bought the rest new.

There was also an infamous textbook - the book was about 60 pages long and cost at least $150. Almost everyone either borrowed someone's text for the semester, or photocopied it out.

A lot of my lit courses require ten different books--novels and such. My adolescent psych prof changes her book every time she teaches the course. So the book students have to buy is ALWAYS new, and can NEVER be returned :mad:

yikes
that is just wrong :( i would definately try checking online to get them cheaper

I'm already beginning to cry thinking about next semester's books. It's already right around the corner. :(

Finally, some people who understand where I'm coming from when I grumble about how much textbooks cost! Everyone else I know is just like, "Well, that's the way it is--deal with it." But it sure seems wrong to me! HOW on EARTH can They (whoever the mysterious people behind this whole robbery scheme are) justify selling a $#%^&*@ BOOK for $150? It amazes me. I could figure out the markup they get, but I'd rather not go there...that would be like adding insult to injury. :p

one of my professors wrote a damn book, made us buy the expensive thing, we never EVER used it, then she left the university. grrrrrrrrrrrr

a professor of mine wrote his own textbook.. and instead of making us buy it at the bookstore for $100.. he put it on the school's website, let us download it and print it. sure it costs money for printing paper (say $5 a ream) and for printing ink ($20 depending on what kind you have) but it beats spending $100.

and with a ream of paper and cartridge of ink you can split the cost between friends and it won't cost you more than $5!

I thought books in UG were bad - then I got to law school.

I easily spent $1000 on books this semester. Ah, the joys of having a common law and a civl law system - twice as many books to buy.

And, the best part is, I'll probably have to spend just as much next semester - only one of my classes is a two-part class that uses the same book.

AFAIK, they don't buy books back in law school, either. Everyone's books are so marked up and scribbled in, they're not much use.

I never buy used books. They feel dirty.

I like used because the important stuff is already underlined.

I laugh. Be an architecture student for ONE semester, and you will never complain about the cost of books again. I'm taking an arch class this semester, and it's mid-semester, and I've spent a good $500--ON THIS CLASS ALONE. I always have to buy supplies--paper, glue, ink...not to mention the general major supplies like a mayline, adjustable triangle, lead holder, drafting pens, lead pointer, etc...it adds up.

I only sell back the books that I didn't like--being that I don't have any classes that I didn't want to take (ie, no core curriculum). I end up keeping most of them, because they are art and architectural history books, and most are beautiful.

At least you can use your books and equipment when you graduate... I don't have a clue what I'd do if I couldn't sell my Organizational Communication textbook:D

Yeah, as an English major, I was happy to keep most of my books. And the prices were pretty reasonable ... I mean, we all pretty much know what fiction costs, so they can't overcharge too much. I understand they charge a little for overhead, which is OK in general, but ... There was one text I remember ... our school had bought a lot of them dirt cheap, I mean like $1 each, from another school. And the price was stamped right on it! Yet they had the nerve to charge like $15 bucks for it. At least our professor was equally POed.

ouch!!!!! i thought my 500 dollars minimum was bad, but 1000 is horrible! i think id just make copies of the reading from someone in the class if my textbooks got that expensive