College Textbooks

[stprcsm]

I was looking for some deals on my college textbooks and I came across a seller on ebay who sells international editions. I got my organic chem book from him for less than $50 postage paid and the bookstore wants over $95 for a used copy. The book I got is brand new but soft cover and in black and white. The book is apparently page for page the same as the edition I need. Has anyone done anything like this for school books? Did you like the international edition? Will I be able to sell them back? or Sell them on Ebay? It seems to me the only risk is I cant get my money back if I drop the class where as the bookstore will give me 100% back for the first week. Last semester I paid $135 for a used textbook and when I sold it back to the bookstore I only got $40 back. That is so flipping frustrating. Right now my budget for books and school supplies is more than my transportation, entertainment, and christmas gift (ie crafting) money combined. Id rather spend my money on yarn than books.... please share your thoughts.

ps Ill take any moneysaving or other college words of wisdom

[Craft Forums]

[ad_ho]

Not international books, but at half.com the boy got a book that cost $95 for $30 including S&H. Total savings for 2 classes= $105.

[JediEmpressMel]

Usually your bookstore will only take back whatever edition that they personally sold, or that they KNOW is going to be used next semester.
So you probably won't be able to sell the international edition back.

Usually the international editions are cheaper. The publishers intentionally make our book prices more because they know people will pay it, while they don't do that in Europe and things.
They'll sell the same exact book here and in Europe, but the US prices will be lots higher.
It sucks.

[brdgt]

Does your library carry the textbook? I don't buy any textbooks, I take them out or read them at the library.

[mrs_stroozi]

I do very very well researching my texts on amazon marketplace and abebooks.com and purchasing them where it's most economical. (Sometimes the most economical is actually the college bookstore, but not very often.) My grad school's bookstore, a branch of Follett's, will buy back my texts at the end of the term whether I originally purchased them there or not, provided they will be able to re-sell them the next term.

A fellow student buys international editions of her texts (in part) through abebooks and then sells them back to the school bookstore.... and actually makes a profit.

[Chelsea]

The best way I found is to buy them from other students. I tried a couple from the library, but others did too, so sometimes it was hard to get the book.

The worst was when a book was absolutely required by the teacher...we NEVER used it, and then he wasn't using it the next semester so the bookstore wouldn't buy it back. And there weren't any used ones to buy because he'd done the same thing the semester before. $95 for a crappy tiny paperback book that I never used. Horrible. He was a really bad teacher too.

[teagrrl]

The cool thing is its free!

The uncool thing is that the company spams message boards!

Anyway...

[stella]

usually buying from other students is your best bet.

books are expensive. it sucks, but it's part of college at this point.

[smachel]

you can always sell the book on half.com or amazon

[amanelle]

I get most of my from Half.com.