Smart $hopper!

Who says you can't be a smart shopper when it comes to textbooks? 

One of the biggest expenses (besides tuition) college kids have to deal with are ... sighh... textbooks. No longer are we lucky enough to have high schools simply provide us with a textbook to use.

However, if you have a little time and patience you can find these (usually expensive) textbooks for a better deal than your campus bookstore can provide.

For example, last night I looked up the textbooks I will be using for this Fall semester's courses.. (only a few were available considering it is the beginning of June). Now the MAIN THING you NEED when looking for your particular textbook elsewhere is the ISBN number. It is basically a serial number for that specific title, author, and EDITION textbook your professor requires.

*Pay special attention to Edition numbers! Some professors don't mind if you have an earlier edition, however page numbers will be off and you will make life just a little bit harder on yourself.*

Let's take my International Relations course.

Now when looking up your textbooks, most likely your college/university will automatically direct you to their store. BUT! With that nifty ISBN number, we can easily look up the same textbook in other online venues.

Notice that there are 3 prices.

The first is the RENTAL price. Renting textbooks is kind of a new thing, but basically you pay to use the particular textbook for the semester and then return it as soon as your course is over in the SAME condition that you received it in.
*To be honest, I've never rented a textbook; I fold pages, write/highlight, and sometimes I get caught in the rain when riding my motorcycle... so for me I find it safer to just outright buy the thing... just in case. Because if whoever you rent it from calls you out on returning their book in less than ideal conditions, you have to dish out more money which we all know doesn't grow on trees.
The second price is how much a USED textbook will cost you. A used textbook is simply that... a book that has been used by another student who chose to "sell it back" after their course was over. No harm in that!  
The last price is the FULL RETAIL VALUE when brand spankin' new.

Phase One: complete. We know which particular textbook our professor assigned for the course.

Phase Two: finding the best deal. Take the ISBN number given (something like 12ish numbers long; you can find it in the first few pages of nearly all books... you know, where all that publisher information is, OR it is usually listed on/near the barcode) and Plug-N-Chug! Start with Google.. all the websites that have it available will come up, such as Amazon, Chegg, Alibris, Textbooks, etc.

I found a BRAND NEW textbook, still in the wrapper (the one listed above) at Alibris.com for the following:

Phase Three: Whatever website you are on, do yourself a favor and open a new window, pull up Google or whichever search engine you choose, and search "[website] coupon promo codes" ... in my case last night it was "Alibris coupon codes". That's where that awesome $5.00 off came from =)

So to sum it up, I purchased a brand new textbook for 70% less than full retail value. AND! With that awesome little promo code, I virtually got free shipping =)



My Mistake:  My first two semesters in college I really didn't care how much textbooks cost because I got a ridiculous amount of financial aid and I had enough left over from tuition to be able to pay for new books. A new Anatomy&Physiology textbook ran about $250, not to mention the other four classes I was taking. Granted, this shouldn't really be considered a mistake, but rather a bad habit of expecting money to be there. What happens when the next year, you do not receive as much aid? Or you don't get that scholarship two years in a row?

My Advice: Save Save Save whenever possible! Don't kick yourself because there was an opportunity for you to save some money that could've been used to help you in-the-now.

((UPDATE! The book came early and in perfect condition, still wrapped in plastic. Happy camper.))