Buying textbooks online?

Nursing Students General Students

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I will be starting nursing school in the Fall, and have been told by the school that we should buy our textbooks as a box set directly from them. I have looked at buying the books separately online, and would save nearly half the price of the box. My question is, has anyone had any problems doing this? The school seemed awfully insistent that gettting the set was the way to go...

okay all, here's my situation. my bookstore is selling my a&p book for $200. i went to the bookstore, checked out the cover pic, author, publisher, and isbn. i found what seems to be the exact same book online with identical everything except isbns for $50 less. i chickened out buying from online and went with the school bookstore book because of the different isbns. my question is could the online book be the exact same book as the bookstore book, but with different isbns? :confused:

thanks!!

sj:redbeathe

did it happen to be an international version? if so, i bought the international version for my a & p class and it was 100% the same (besides the cover). also, i was told that the previous edition was also identical but i opted for the international. this is martini's fundamentals of anatomy and physiology.

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The books you get online with the same ISBN are the exact same books! I highly recommend half.com. ALSO, starting July 1, a new law takes effect that you MUST be provided with the information such as title and isbn so that you have the option of buying your books anywhere you would like! It is called the Federal Textbook Disclosure Law, and is to protect you from the sky high markup at your college bookstore!

That is A W E S O M E!!!!

My school is kinda funny about giving us the ISBN's so I just go into the bookstore with a notepad and write them down. :yeah:

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I know, isn't it awesome? I am anxious to see how, (and IF) they comply. My ADN program at a comm. college says they will be handing out a complete book list for the program this July at orientation. I am watching to see how my son, who goes to a large university, gets his book info.

However, the kicker that my program is still enticing us with, is that if you buy the textbook bundle from the school bookstore, you will get an online code to access all the books, etc. and you cannot get this code from anyplace else! So after never buying my books from the bookstores, I think I may have to just to get this online code. I am told the bundle runs a thousand dollars.

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I know, isn't it awesome? I am anxious to see how, (and IF) they comply. My ADN program at a comm. college says they will be handing out a complete book list for the program this July at orientation. I am watching to see how my son, who goes to a large university, gets his book info.

However, the kicker that my program is still enticing us with, is that if you buy the textbook bundle from the school bookstore, you will get an online code to access all the books, etc. and you cannot get this code from anyplace else! So after never buying my books from the bookstores, I think I may have to just to get this online code. I am told the bundle runs a thousand dollars.

Well, it has been my experience that the codes are usually IN the books so they'll be there regardless of where you get them. Now, a used book might have a code that has been used and is no longer valid but it has been my experience that usually, the codes are intacts.

I have a BSEd degree from a university where we rented all of books for $52 a year so I'm sort of suffering sticker shock from having to buy all these liquid gold-covered books!

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TXRN, I don't think so. More likely it is a special edition for a specific market. I found that with my chemistry book.... same title, authors, cover, edition, but different book. It was a special for a specific school and had less than a quarter of the material as the standard. It wasn't a rip off because the online seller told me exactly what it was. I bought it anyway because it was so cheap (between $5 and $10 incl. shipping) and my prof was so supportive of off editions it was worth the chance it would work. It didn't work.

I think that much difference is an extreme. It could work if there isn't too much difference and you have access to the correct book and can compare them and make notes of the differences. It is a gamble. Oh, sometimes different editions have the same cover picture. In that case the difference might be listed for you in the front of the book.

I haven't had that experience. I've bought books that were for different markets, particularly international markets and they've been identical except for the covers. Now, I probably would be wary of a book that was written for a specific school.

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Specializes in none as of to date.

I have bought my books online after using the right title, ISBN #'s ect...and I have saved alot of $$$. In the past, the books i have bought are later sold to the bookstore on campus, and I get more backt han what I paid for them, so the extra money goes towards books for the following semester..books I will buy online...the supplemental books are hardly ever used, sadly. wehn u buy used books, the access codes are often already used, but you can buy them separately online through the publishing company, so no worries there. The campus bookstores /nursing instructors use them because it garuntees that you'll have all of the books they require you to have, and that they are the right ones..some people try to go all semester with the excuse.."I couldnt find the book anywhere," or " I think I bought the wrong one"..and later complain that they are flunking out. you are held accountable in nursing school, so this is just one way to make sure you have the tools you need to start off on the right foot..all the while making $$$ for the school of course!

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Specializes in LTC.
okay all, here's my situation. my bookstore is selling my a&p book for $200. i went to the bookstore, checked out the cover pic, author, publisher, and isbn. i found what seems to be the exact same book online with identical everything except isbns for $50 less. i chickened out buying from online and went with the school bookstore book because of the different isbns. my question is could the online book be the exact same book as the bookstore book, but with different isbns? :confused:

thanks!!

sj:redbeathe

nope, they have to be the same number's!

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Specializes in IMCU.
The books you get online with the same ISBN are the exact same books! I highly recommend half.com. ALSO, starting July 1, a new law takes effect that you MUST be provided with the information such as title and isbn so that you have the option of buying your books anywhere you would like! It is called the Federal Textbook Disclosure Law, and is to protect you from the sky high markup at your college bookstore!

Thanks for the info!

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Thanks everyone! I am happy I bought my book from the school bookstore since I can not find the same ISBN online.

Class starts on Wednesday. I can't wait! There has been a two week break between spring and summer semesters -- seems like a lifetime of waiting for the summer semester to begin!

SJ:redbeathe

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Specializes in student; help!.
That is A W E S O M E!!!!

My school is kinda funny about giving us the ISBN's so I just go into the bookstore with a notepad and write them down. :yeah:

If you have a smartphone, you can scan the ISBN numbers and find the books online *while you're in the store*. Neener! Charge me twice the going rate, will you?? :lol2:

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