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How to save BIG money on college textbooks!

College textbooks have always been overpriced. Truthfully, sometimes it is a big money making scam. Even more so now with digital textbooks being automatically added to tuition and fees (which they should allow you to opt out of). So, if you still need a physical textbook, read on how to save big bucks!

This post below was originally published to my personal Facebook profile on January 8, 2014. 

STUDENTS, if your classes will be starting soon - get your textbook info now. Email your professors, visit the school's bookstore website, visit the bookstore - whatever you have to do to get that ISBN. Go to dealoz.com and search for the textbook. It will check new, used, rentals, and ebooks. You can also see what site will pay you the most for your used textbooks, non fiction, fiction, etc.

Before you buy, check the publishers website to see if there is another format available: hardback, paperback, loose leaf, older version, international edition. Many times the publishers will release a new edition, without really changing the contetnts. You can usually see the chapters and their titles on the publishers website. You can also google this info. They may move a chapter around, change the wording slightly, etc. 99% of the time, the content is the exact same or very close. If one textbook is only used as a supplement, get the older version - if the contents are close. Tell your professor, if you need to, that you have an older edition. That way they can help you find a chapter if your book is different.

I am taking 6 classes this semester. Total cost for my textbooks was $184.86. If I had bought them all used at the college bookstore, it would have cost me $970.50 Yes, more than $900! The Legal Enviroment of Business course textbook is $350.25 new, $262.75 used, and $174.99 rental. I found an international edition on eBay with Buy it Now price of $50.00, submitted an offer of $35 with $15.95 shipping. That book was $50.95 total. Biology is $214.75 new, $161.25 used, $92.34 rental. I bought it from someone local off a Facebook garage sale page for $20. For three other courses, i purchased older editions of textbooks. The content was the exact same. Only spent $31.86 on these older editions. TOTAL I SAVED WAS $846.64! 

Also, be weary of "Custom Editions". These are often photo copied textbooks with the colleges own custom cover slapped on the front. I took Oral Communication years ago. The textbook required was a custom edition, it was litterally photo copied and was about $50. I looked on the inside, and it listed the two textbooks that the content came from. It just so happened, that a few months before my mother purchased an Public Speaking textbook for me at Goodwill for $1.99. This was the textbook that was a part of the custom edition! I found the other textbook on half.com for about $4. I actually used small post it notes and labeled which chapter was included in the custom edition. I may have been the only one in my class with two textbooks, with post it notes, and having to rotate which book I was using - but I saved about $54! 

My husband has been very guilty of just going to the bookstore and buying or lately renting his textbooks. And he has always waited till the first day of class. He did that this past Fall semester, rented his textbook for $116.99. I found the exact same book online for sale used for $50 and rental for $24. Can we say STUPID TAX????!!!!! This semester he did much better, he got me the ISBN in December. Rented it from Amazon for $14. It is an older version too, the new one was about $90 to rent.

STUDENTS, DO YOU RESEARCH ON YOUR TEXTBOOKS! EMAIL OR CALL YOUR INSTRUCTORS! DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO NOT PAY BOOKSTORE PRICES!