Some professors write their own and require students to purchase the books, while others use high-priced entries from publishers like McGraw and Pearson. A student taking just four classes a semester might spend $600 or more on textbooks, sometimes for just a single book.
The best way for budget-bound college students to buy textbooks is to look online. Used bookstores are often limited in quantity, and the best option may be to purchase textbooks online. ..
Many websites and services provide good-condition or better textbooks for college students. The websites on this list are some of the best. ..
Chegg
Chegg is a website that sells used textbooks, as well as renting them. If you’re in a class that requires a brand-new textbook, you might not be able to find one at your local bookstore. However, renting it means you’re not spending a fortune on the product.
Chegg is a website that allows users to return books for free with a prepaid shipping label and even provides a 21-day risk-free period. If you decide the class isn’t for you, you can drop it and return the book without any financial risk. ..
Chegg is a website that offers students up to 90% off textbooks, has a huge question and answer database for those pesky questions, and even offers e-textbooks for many titles. It’s hands-down the best all-around option for college students looking to save money on their textbooks.
Campus Books
CampusBooks is a service that lets users buy, rent, and sell textbooks. Its true strength is its search aggregator, which looks at various retailers all across the web to help students find the best possible price on a textbook. ..
Campus Books is a great resource for finding textbooks. You can search for books by subject or by retailer. And thankfully, textbooks aren’t expensive—you don’t have to use tricks to keep the price from going up. ..
Textbooks.com
Textbooks.com is a website that sells used textbooks. The site is easy to use, and it commands a lot of traffic.
The site has few frills. The homepage features a large search bar and three main navigation options: Buy Textbooks, Sell Textbooks, and eTextbooks. The site advertises prices up to 90% off and provides free shipping on orders over $25.
textbook.com offers a variety of services, such as an expert answering service that can help you clarify even the most confusing subjects 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
There is an online writing center available that can help you with everything from plagiarism to citation.
eCampus
eCampus is a site that allows you to buy used textbooks for up to 90% off their face value. Shipping is free over $35, and the site allows users to buy, sell, and rent textbooks. Customers can save $5 off their order by texting the word books to 87955.
eCampus offers a rewards program that lets users save even more money by spending points. These points can be earned by performing simple tasks like signing up, following eCampus on Twitter, connecting your Facebook account, and much more. You also earn points when you purchase a textbook or rent one. Ironically enough, renting a textbook yields more points per dollar.
The eCampus textbook guarantee provides customers with a way to get their textbooks back for any reason within 25 days of purchase and extensions can be granted at any time.
Campus doesn’t have as many bells and whistles as its competition, but if you aren’t likely to use the online help services provided by Chegg and Textbooks.com, you can use the rewards program to save a few extra dollars. The rewards program offers a variety of benefits, including discounts on textbooks and other items, free shipping on orders over $50, and more.
