Ordering used text books on Amazon??

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Has anyone done this instead of purchasing from the school. What was your experience? What would you think of purchasing the edition prior to the current one and saving a significant amount of money?

Specializes in Oncology/hematology.

Yes, of course. Why would I lose money buying at school when I can actually make money buying on Amazon? I either break even when selling them back to my school or make a few bucks.

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I always buy from Amazon.com, haven't tried Half.com going to look into that ;) Anyways I have never had a problem and have saved quite a bit

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Specializes in Trauma, Orthopedics.

My $200 double volume med-surg book was purchased in mint condition, current edition, access code and all, on Amazon for $50. Yes. $50. I have saved hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds buying on Amazon. Never ever buy through your school bookstore-they are completely taking advantage of you.

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Specializes in Emergency Department.
My $200 double volume med-surg book was purchased in mint condition, current edition, access code and all, on Amazon for $50. Yes. $50. I have saved hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds buying on Amazon. Never ever buy through your school bookstore-they are completely taking advantage of you.

I would say that you should always do your homework about buying through the bookstore. Usually they do charge you way too much... When only the current editions will do, I would suggest looking at all your options. Sometimes the cheapest overall is to buy a package deal through the school bookstore for some books and buy others online through Amazon or other similar marketplace. Most of the time, I prefer Amazon. Even after shipping is figured in, it's usually cheaper. And I'm not above buying used books. They can be a significant savings over new. I normally don't buy the previous edition simply because my instructor's "stuff" is usually keyed to the current edition and it's sometimes a lot more difficult to find those same things in the previous edition, especially if there's been a formatting change between editions.

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Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

Try to match the same edition number as the professor is using in class, but if that edition is unavailable, ask if he will Xerox chaptes not in your copy. My husband has copied whole sections and chapters for students. Universities don't get upset unless faculty really copy a huge amount. Faculty cost to copy is .05 per page if it's a large number of pages.

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Specializes in Trauma, Orthopedics.

Just a little perspective, I'm working on my 2nd Bachelor's degree at my 4th school.....never once have I ever seen a "bundle" cheaper than buying everything separately elsewhere. My med-surg bundle ALONE (I have 4 other classes right now) was $250. I bought all of my books for all of my classes for $180 this semester. Makes buying my school's bundles look awfully silly :sarcastic:

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I have bought every single book from Amazon. Saved a ton and the shipping is fast and free. I tend to buy new because I feel I would be distracted by someone else's highlighting. School bookstores are just too expensive.

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Specializes in psych/dementia.
Never ever buy through your school bookstore-they are completely taking advantage of you.

As someone who worked at her undergrad bookstore, while it seems this way, I almost guarantee you this is not the case. The bookstore has to charge MSRP, which is much higher than what Amazon. com and other online retailers charge due to discounts from bulk purchases.

On top of that, the bookstore has to recover the money they spent in shipping the books. My bookstore added $0.25 to every textbook that did not have a price listed on it. Even then, they were still losing money on textbooks.

All that's not to say that you should buy from your college bookstore. I'm just trying to give a different perspective on the price difference.

And yes, I buy from Amazon.com and will have saved almost $1,000 in my first semester alone. That's buying all new books from Amazon itself, not a merchant.

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Specializes in Pedi.
I wonder why a book sent media mail was a problem? I was under the impression that that's what media mail is for. As for the OP, I have ordered used books from Amazon with no problems. I saved a ton. I've never ordered an old edition except once when the professor specifically okayed it.

I'm wondering the same thing. I've sold many books on half.com and amazon and ALWAYS mail them media mail. This is what Half.com specifically tells sellers to do unless you offer the buyer the option for priority.

As far a text books... YES, I bought all my books in college (after freshman year when I didn't know better) on Half.com and saved a ton. Sometimes even made a profit selling it back.

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I also use Amazon for all my textbooks. What I like about the site is their textbook buyback program. They purchase the books back from you for a pretty decent price and you do not have to wait for another student to purchase from you. Have to search Amazons site to find it though.

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I use amazon for my textbooks too and it's saved m a small fortune over the past couple years!

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Specializes in Trauma.

Buying textbooks on Amazon saves money. My required books for this semester were $294 in the bookstore and I got them all new from Amazon for about $160, shipping included. One thing I look for when ordering books is how many they have sold in the last 12 months and what the rating is. If they are listed as "just launched" or not sold many books I skip to the next seller.

The only books I buy in the bookstore are those that are bundled with an access code I am required to have, or in the case of my Physics book, it was printed specifically for my school. That book I was stuck with because the bookstore would not buy back.

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