Buying Textbooks online?

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I have received my complete book list for the fall semester and if I bought it at the Uni's bookstore I would be spending over $800 on books for my 3 courses. YIKES! I noticed on another thread concerning textbooks, that ppl here were recommending chegg, Amazon, bigwords, etc. So I did some searching and Bigwords.com would safe me over half of the bookstore price. I am nervous about buying textbooks online tho', I have never done it and I don't want to get ripped off. So I guess my question is " If you purchase your textbooks online, have you been satisfied? How was the condition of your textbooks? I probably have more questions I am not thinking of at this moment, so spill it all if you could. Thanks :D:bowingpur

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Specializes in Med-Surg/urology.

I've been buying books online since I started college. For the most part I've been satisfied. One time I ordered a book on Amazon but they canceled it & refunded me & didn't inform me until the day it was due to arrive. I was sooo mad! I wrote them a bad review & moved on. But other than that, I've had a good experience buying online. One thing I notice a lot of people do is buying the previous edition. 95% of time its the same info, just new pictures or something. Another good place to check out when buying books is half.com, its a sister company of Ebay.

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I buy textbooks online and I have had no issues with it. I usually buy them on amazon or textbooks.com. It is definately cheaper than the bookstores at the schools which charge way too much. When buying books on amazon, if they are used I look to make sure the person had good reviews before purchasing. I would def. buy your books online it is a lot cheaper.

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thanks I appreciate it. Now I have one more question, What is the difference in the US edition and the International edition?

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thanks I appreciate it. Now I have one more question, What is the difference in the US edition and the International edition?

I thought I read somewhere that the biggest differences between the US and international editions of texts is that international editions have paperback covers and are printed on cheaper paper. They also may have black and white illustrations and may not come with supplementary materials such as CD-ROMs. You can save as much as 75% on these texts, but need to allow up to 8 weeks for delivery if you order from an overseas seller and use standard shipping.

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International editions I have found are harder to sell. You are better off going with a US edition.

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Specializes in PCU, LTAC, Corrections.

If you books for a class that you know that you don't want to keep the books for try chegg.com. Chegg.coom you can rent textbooks for much less and then send them back. I have used chegg.com before for my sciences (except AP b/c I wanted to keep those books). I will be using them again this year for my chem course and my history course.

For purchasing books use amazon.com.

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Specializes in Med Surg.

I've had great experiences by on line--I've used Amazon, Ebay, Barnes and Noble, and Half.com. I've been really paranoid about buying international editions. Something about it just doesn't feel right to me. Maybe I'm just odd, but I'd rather make sure I've got the text that the class requires, in the version that it requires. I'd hate to spend the money, just to find out I need something else.

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I just bought an international edition of a book through Abebooks.com from textbookxpres out of Houston. I placed my order on Tuesday night, and it arrived FedEx on Friday. It was hardcover, and came with all the supplemental materials. The pages are printed on the same quality of paper as the US edition, the illustrations are in color. I couldn't be more pleased. Sure, the cover is different and it says, "International Edition" on the back cover, but I got a $195+tax book for $87 shipped so I'm not too worried about selling it back. Besides, I can always sell it directly to a student and make more than the bookstore would give me anyway!

That said, if you choose to go the international route (or online in general) be sure to do some research. Read the fine print of the listing(they'll usually state hard- or softcover, and where the book will ship from), and try to see if you can find some reviews of the store/seller.

Good luck in your search!

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Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.

I've purchased all of my books online (amazon or ebay) and been thrilled at the money I saved. When my classmates found out that I got the same exact book/CD for half of what they paid at the bookstore, they weren't very happy with the bookstore!

Just make sure you get the right edition, or check with the instructor beforehand if you're going to be getting an older edition (to make sure that they won't be assigning questions from the book to be turned in or anything else that would cause a problem if there were minor differences).

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I bought most of my books through amazon itself. I got them brand new and much cheaper than the bookstore and I double checked on half.com which was about the same price so I just went for the new plus free shipping. If amazon is more expensive then I just stick with half.com and look up the reviews for shippers and I have never had any troubles.

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My school finally just put the book list up and it looked like I'll be spending about $500+ for books this coming semester. I looked on amazon and I could save about $10-$20/book. But they don't take financial aid, lol. Oh well...good luck to you! :yeah:

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