<p>Do most freshman pre-order textbooks online, or buy in the bookstore? I am not asking about the bargain hunters looking to buy additions from other countries, or those looking for the best deal. Which is the best way to go for full price customers? Thank you.</p>
<p>At my school it’s a real mix. Many people order the books that can be purchased cheaply online, and buy the ones that are new editions in the book store. If you don’t care about price, buying them on campus is probably better because if a professor changes the textbook at the last minute, it’s easier to return. However, for a low-risk bargain, one of the best places at my school is an online bboard where upperclassmen sell their old books.</p>
<p>krazykow, Thanks. I actually meant buying the books online through the school’s bookstore. I believe that these books can be returned at son’s bookstore, if needed. </p>
<p>Do you ever find books are out of stock b/c you waited to buy in person?</p>
<p>I think most freshmen still do it the old fashioned way. They go to the bookstore, find the required textbooks under the card that lists the course by number, (ie, History 101) and carry them off, charging the outrageous total to their bookstore account. If you show up late you run the risk of being shut out. I imagine the bookstore’s ordering decision is harder these days because while they may get an accurate estimate on class enrollment, they don’t know how many students will be buying the book from the bookstore. </p>
<p>The nice thing is with the internet there are many other options, some of them offering significant savings.</p>
<p>I like the way they do it in Europe. Textbooks are “borrowed” for the semester from the library and returned when done. If we did that here the gouging prices and “updated” versions wouldn’t happen every 6 weeks. There’d be no need to.</p>
<p>Off soapbox…</p>
<p>My understanding is that many incoming freshmen purchase their books at the bookstore simply because they’re just getting the hang of how things work. Once they’ve got their first semester under theri belt they start the bargain hunting.</p>
<p>Personally I use a website: addall DOT com (I don’t want to get booted). It’s easy to find what you’re looking for by ISBN, or author, or title); it scours the web, then lists from least expensive to most expensive (and includes the shipping), you buy from the seller NOT from addall. I use it for general reading books as well as my personal text books (yep, I’m a returning student, after more than a 30 year absence!)</p>
<p>My university (Maryland) lets you do either–you can preorder them online (much easier, and you don’t have to drive) and either arrange for pickup when you get to campus (they’ll keep all your books in a crate and just give them to you), or you can get it shipped to your house. I’m more comfortable with buying them off the internet (mostly because I don’t want to waste the gas, time, and the energy to get the books from the store to my car)…</p>
<p>For the bargain hunters, four years of buying high school textbooks have taught me that amazon.com and half.com are godsends (because varsitybooks.com, the official store my school used, is a horrible rip-off). </p>
<p>Froogle works too, but it usually only searches stores, not individual sellers, whereas amazon and half have a combination of both among their members.</p>
<p>My books for this semester (5 academic classes) cost barely over $200…whereas had I bought them from the bookstore, that would have been my Calculus and Chemistry books.</p>
<p>I’ve found that used copies of textbooks sell out sometimes, and they generally just order more new books. My school does a week of orientation right before schools starts, and I was able to buy a used physics book the first day of orientation, but by halfway through the first week of school, they were out of used copies.</p>
<p>Buying online from the school is probably easier because they pull them for you and you prepay, so you just have to pick them up once you get to school.</p>
<p>The used books on Amazon and half.com have worked for 90% of my kid’s needs, at an average discount of about 60% (taking into account shipping) from bookstore prices. We’ve saved about $200/term – worth waiting a week for.</p>
<p>Thank you all. Wow, I cannot believe the savings! Justamom, thanks for the great tip! I found a book that costs $60 and can get same with no markings for $10 (same edition)! Can save another $40 on another book (and it is so new that it is still in its original wrap, also same edition). I can see this can save a lot of money- this is for just 2 books and a saving of $90!</p>
<p>Is there any catch that I am not aware of? Sounds to good to me!</p>
<p>northeastmom…No catch, just a wonderful resource!</p>
<p>I’ve been a fan of addall for 5 years now. Love it.</p>
<p>It’s great for finding general “reading” books too. I’ve been known to hear about a book, look it up & buy it for pennies on the dollar. Normally I’d have checked the library, shopped around, etc. Addall makes it so easy.</p>
<p>check out the bookstore’s policy. My university bookstore will match the price of an online store (not individual seller, but a store like amazon.com etc.) and that way you get the best of both worlds. Also, the university bookstore (atleast in my case) isn’t a very big ripoff, i’ve had cases where it’s been cheaper even than buying new on half.com. I will also buy used from the university bookstore because I’m particular about other people’s markings in my books, so I would never buy used online.</p>
<p>At my school nobody buys books from the bookstore, but that’s mostly because we don’t have a bookstore. The books I use are split pretty much evenly between buying online and borrowing from somebody who just finished taking the class.</p>
<p>My biology major daughter had some very expensive textbooks- one could be almost $200 but we found it from a used bookstore on Amazon for $30- it even still was shrinkwrapped)</p>
<p>Her school lists ISBNs of texts so that you can be sure to get right edition if you find one elsewhere
All the used places we have bought from ( amazon- powells) are very clear about if there are markings & condition.</p>
<p>Freshman year, her hum 110 class had 18 books required just for the fall semester. We were very happy that one of the biggest independent bookstores in teh country was in her city. She was able to find some of her books used there in good shape </p>
<p>( and it is easier to order online- then someone else is wandering through the bookstore for you- doesn’t cost anymore- although I realize that can be half the fun, but it also adds up!)</p>
<p>But also, her school bookstore, had pretty reasonable prices, and while we comparision shopped, sometimes they had better deals than anywhere else.
Some of the books we had sent here, jsut because it was kinda exciting to see what she would be reading ( and Powells ships orders over $50 free), but other books she had sent to her mailstop at school, so we just picked them up there.
Her bookstore will also box up the books you need, just let them know what classes you are taking.</p>
<p>My rising junior hasn’t bought a book since first semester freshman year, with the exception of a few paperbacks for his humanities classes. He either checks them out of the library, borrows from people on his dorm floor or does without. He takes a lot of math and engineerig classes and most of the class material is online and in his notes from class.
Last year he checked a book out of our local library (3 weeks), took it to school and rechecked it online (another 3 weeks). He mailed it back to me for $4 - and saved the price of an expensive book. </p>
<p>We have used half.com for several books and the books were cheap and in good shape.</p>
<p>I’ve had extremely good savings at directtextbook DOT com - you can search by ISBN, title, author or keyword - and will list prices, shipping costs and total cost for both new and used books at about 18 sites. That gives me a lot of information at my fingertips. Last year, my son’s HS books (included 3 AP texts) would have cost me $550 on varsitybooks - I ended up paying $150 using this website.</p>
<p>bethel, thank you.</p>
<p>Campusi.com allows you to compare used and new books from many different sources.</p>
<p>ABEbooks.com has a wealth of used books. I use them for a lot of book purchases, not just textbooks.</p>
<p>The freshling year was the worst for my kids in terms of book prices. After that, they learned to look for used books early. My son has gotten especially good at obtaining used books free from graduating seniors.</p>