Where to Buy Cheap College Textbooks?

Summer classes are starting up for many this week, so that means people need to start ordering my textbooks.  Buying textbooks is always a big drain on a students money because of the inflated costs involved.  During my undergraduate years, I would often spend upwards of $400 on textbooks every semester.  Occassionally, I would get a book written by my professor that cost $97 used.   Big surprise isn’t it?

Textbook prices are out of control – however, there are plenty of places online to buy textbooks on the cheap.  Below is a list of places to buy cheap textbooks that have proven useful:

1. BookSpy.net – BookSpy is a book price comparison site.  What this means is that you search by title, author, or ISBN, and get back a list of the lowest prices from dozens of online retailers.  This includes both used and new books.  I would recommend a price comparison site as one of the first places you go if you need to actually buy the book.
2. Amazon, Half.com, Alibris, eCampus
   – These are the major players in places to buy cheap books.  They are searched by BookSpy, but in the event that the website is down, these are the first places I would recommend.
3. Craigslist – Try your local craigslist, a lot of college students sell textbooks via this method.  Moderately reliable, you just have to keep searching every day.
4. PaperBackSwap – Not as reliable, but I did get one schoolbook this way.  Basically you put up copies of your books you don’t want, and you can swap for a book someone else has.  Not very reliable.
5. Your LIBRARY! – Yes, your library.  Most school libraries have stocks of books that are needed for your class, you just need to reserve the copy early.  You can then copy the book.  This is by far the cheapest method.  If you cannot get your book at your library, try WorldCat.org.  It searches all the libraries near you to see if the book is available.  Finally, you could utilize your libraries interlibrary loan system, and request a book be sent.  Most of the time this service is also free.