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Where to Find Very Cheap, Used Textbooks Online

SommerNielsen | Dec 20, 2010 |

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If a tight budget and costly tuition payments are making it difficult for you to rake out tons of cash on brand new, highly priced college books, then check out the websites below. You don't have to pay full retail prices. Very cheap textbooks are widely available online and easy to find. You can buy, rent, or trade to get what you need.

Buy very Cheap, Used Textbooks from Amazon.com

Amazon Marketplace sellers offer very cheap textbooks for prices much lower than retail. As of March 2011, the popular book Biology, 9th Edition by Neil A. Campbell and Jane B. Reece retails for approximately $200. The cheapest, used copy of this textbook currently listed on Amazon is priced at $95. That is close to half off of the retail price. When classes are over you can sell the textbooks that you purchased online to a buyback site like bookbyte.com that offers a high paying price quote or sell them on Amazon Marketplace and get close to what you paid for them back. Go to Amazon.com, sign in to your account or register if you don't have one, type the ISBN number located near the bar code on the back and/or the name and edition in the search bar, and click go.

Tips and Warnings for Buying Very Cheap, Used Textbooks from Amazon

Buy from sellers with good feedback ratings whenever possible.
Check that the ISBN number matches before purchasing.
Don't buy a book with a broken binding if you plan on reselling it. It is normal for used college textbooks to have highlighting, underlining, writing and other small flaws.
Be aware that extras like CDs and study guides will not be included unless the seller mentions them.
Sign up and become a member of 'Amazon Student' and get free two day shipping and other perks.

Buy very Cheap, Used Textbooks from eBay.com

On occasion, there will be amazing deals on eBay. You may be able to find very cheap textbooks at auction for even less than the price you would find them for on Amazon.com. Most of the time you will find that prices on eBay are equal to or more than the prices you will find on Amazon. Type in the ISBN and/or the author's name and edition and click search.

Tips and Warnings for Buying very Cheap, Used Textbooks from eBay

Check the 'Include description' box under the search button to generate more results.
Buy the international version if you don't intend to sell it when classes are over. They are lower priced and the same as the regular versions except for aesthetics.
It is easy to mistakenly buy an international or teacher's edition. Carefully read the description.
Buy from sellers with good feedback. Roughly as a measure, if the seller has sold a lot of items, then it is probably OK if their score is a little low, but if they haven't sold much, then their score should be higher. Judge a seller's rating by what they sold, not by what they bought.
Be prepared to pay using PayPal, which dominates as the only form of accepted payment method on eBay.
When bidding, wait as close as possible until the time is up, even seconds before the end, and then put in your bid and then a maximum bid.

Rent very Cheap, Used Textbooks from Chegg.com

Go to Chegg.com, an A+ Better Business Bureau rated site. Register and type the ISBN or title in the search bar and click 'find books'. The benefits of renting textbooks from Chegg (as taken from their website) are: free return shipping, a 30 Day "Any reason" guarantee, quick shipping, a large inventory, a Quality of Book Guarantee, and a long rental time frame. Cons are: you can't resell and get any money back. Note that if you rent a really cheap, used textbook from Chegg.com, then you will not be allowed to write notes in it, but you will be allowed to use highlighting.

Trade at EDUbookswap.com

Classes are over and you need to get another set of very cheap textbooks for your new classes. Put your old ones to use and swap them for what you need at edubookswap.com. Register and follow the steps explained on the front page of their website. Post your books on their site for others to order and earn points to put toward the one you need. The full value of the book that you post on their site goes toward one of the same monetary value. There are two pricing plans as described on their site which are: 1) Basic Plan for a fee of $8.95 for each swap and 2) 5-Swap Plan for an up front fee of $39.95. Check out their site for more details about each plan. There are no membership fees and you only pay a fee when you make a swap if you chose the basic plan (edubookswap.com's FAQ section). You do need to provide a credit card number upon registration, but the registration is free as stated on their site.

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