Flutterby™! : School Tricks 2002-09-03 22:19:08+00

School Tricks

2002-09-03 22:19:08+00 by Shawn 5 comments

So I bought my books for school today. Went up to the campus bookstore to get a look at the books themselves. Bought the ones I didn't think I could get elsewhere and made notes about the others. Now, after a visit to both Amazon and Barnes & Noble I've already learned somethin' - you can get everything online, and usually for less. All of my books could be found at both sites and only two were cheaper at the bookstore (and one only by 50 cents). I could've gone even cheaper if I'd wanted to buy used from individual sellers but the quarter's starting too soon to be messing around with that.

Now pair this up with the "no receipt necessary for buyback" policy and I think I've discovered one of those Starving Student Tricks.

Shawn, I've found that if you get started early enough, sites like www.classbook.com are almost always cheaper even than amazon.com and B&N... and you have a choice of a new or "gently used" textbook, and they'll tell you up front what they'll pay you when they buy the book back from you after the semester (since of course you haven't written in it or spilled coffee on it or turned the pages with chocolate truffles on your fingers). Their shipping sometimes takes a bit of time, but I've had them get me textbooks in 3 days, too. I always check there first, then amazon.com second, then the school bookstore as a last resort.

Thanks Diane. I'll check them out for next quarter. After a quick gander though it doesn't look like they had many of the books I needed. Are you buying the used books from a single entity? Or from separate sellers? Amazon offers used versions (in varying states of "used") too but it appears that they're just acting as the middle-man between me and the seller. I might buy one or two books that way but I wasn't comfortable ordering my whole list each from individual sellers.

And I figure I shouldn't need the buyback feature - since my campus bookstore doesn't require a receipt I figure I'll just take back the ones purchased at Amazon along with the others. That is, if I take any of them back. I don't think I'm likely to ever return a Nutshell book. They generally make too valuable an addition to my bookshelf.

Oddly enough, the campus bookstore did have the best deal on a combo pack for two of my books (Visual Quickstart Illustrator 9 and Photoshop 6 were shrink-wrapped together at the store).

One of my professors, in general dislike of the campus bookstore, chose texts he got from Amazon and told us all to order from there. Amazon, of course, only stocked a few copies of those books and most the class is backordered until October (around midterms). I actually cancelled my Amazon order and ordered used through the Amazon Marketplace. The $86 text book came in at $40 in great shape (and a couple weeks earlier) and the $65 lab manual, which I haven't received yet, was $12!

Then there's addall.com and my personal favorite, used.addall.com -- but this isn't always a great source for textbooks.