The high price tag of textbooks certainly adds to the expense of attending school. After all, these textbooks are an intellectual investment in your academic future–both for your current classes and for building your very own academic library. When the regular price of your textbooks greatly exceeds your budget, there are a few ways to find cheap books for school for a fraction of the cost.
School Bookstore
Contact your school’s bookstore to confirm which textbooks will be used in your classes. Visit the bookstore and record each book’s ISBN numbers and prices. This information is necessary for searching for cheap textbooks from other sources.
While you’re at the bookstore inquire about their used textbook sales. Some school bookstores have “buy back” programs, where students sell the textbooks they purchased from the bookstore back to it.
Dealoz
Go to the website, Dealoz, and enter the ISBN number for a textbook into the search box. Dealoz will search the Internet for websites that are currently selling the textbook.
Once the results are in, click the Price column title to sort the textbooks by price from lowest to highest. There you may find several websites, including auction sites, that are currently selling your textbook at a fraction of the bookstore’s cost. This site also lists websites that rent textbooks. This is an option for those who do not want to keep their textbook once the course is over. However, check the rental price against some of the purchase prices–it may cost just as much to buy a cheap textbook used than to rent one.
To purchase a book, click on the “Buy” button associated with the textbook of your choice.
eBay
Although Dealoz may list your textbook from eBay sellers, go to eBay and conduct your own search. Sometimes Dealoz doesn’t list every deal on eBay. If your textbook is up for bid, add it to your watch list and bid on it at the last minute to try to get it at the best price.
Library
For non-traditional textbooks, such as novels, biographies and other non-fiction works, borrow it from the library. Your library may be able to locate a book at another library and request it on your behalf.
The keys to using the library as a source for your school books is to take care of them and to renew or return them before they are due. If you need to renew the book, take it to the circulation desk and ask to renew your book loan. The librarian will check their system to make sure that other library patrons are not waiting for the book before lending it out to you again.
Considerations
If you gather the information about your textbooks, you can search online or even use the library to find cheap, or free, books for school.
