<p>When do prices for used textbooks tend to be cheapest? Should I buy my books now, or wait until school is about to start?</p>
<p>*borders and ebay, not the university bookstore prices.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>If you are pretty sure of your classes, and know what books they need, then you may be able to find some great deals online now of people wanting to off-load their books for cheap, because there is a much lower deman in summer and they will drop the prices to try and get them sold. Nearer the end of August, book prices will be driven up when most people are buying them for the Fall.</p>
<p>Even if you end up not using a book, I’ve found that if I’m willing to wait until the right time I recoup almost the entire cost by re-selling it, assuming the edition is still used.</p>
<p>You are lucky if you have your book list already. My school doesn’t post it online until after classes start, and the books aren’t even in the bookstore before summer classes end. So, I end up having to walk through the bookstore a week or two before classes and hope they all get shipped in time!</p>
<p>I like Amazon marketplace the best, and also a Google Product search of the ISBN number is helpful. I’ve had good luck with international editions being low cost and the same thing as the U.S. version (only a cheap printing of it).</p>