Cheap Books and Tips.

I've noticed as I've read through several of the other blogs that people have commented on on the expense of buying books through campus bookstores or are curious as to where they can find a cheaper alternative. As my fiance puts it, I'm a connoisseur of online buying; most everything I buy is from online and multiple times cheaper than the vast majority of retail stores.

I discovered about 2 quarters into my sophomore year the art of buying books online. This quarter is probably my pride and joy as I saved $160 by buying my books online as opposed to buying used books from the campus bookstores. **NOTE** this does not apply to course packets. And for any professor reading this, sympathize for your students and don't have course packets. Post readings on Carmen and make them buy a book. At least that way it's re-sell-able.

How do I do it? Simple - Email your professor and ask which books are required for your class and be sure to ask for the edition. Once you have the title, author, edition and most of the time ISBN, google search the ISBN. Use the shopping function of google, which is AMAZING, and find the cheapest book. Amazon is good, but I much prefer abebooks.com. It tends to be a little cheaper and have less shipping. Amazon has the "super saving" deal where you can spend so much and get free shipping, but that's only from Amazon, not their dealers, and most of the time are more expensive than the dealer prices or the prices from other online book distributors. Buy.com and half.com are other good sites, but always make sure you're shopping through a secure site. Nine times out of ten, if the web URL starts with https, not just http it's secure, but be careful where you put your credit card number.

Also, if you have the option of buying the binder-ready version vs the hard/soft back book, buy the hard/soft back book. Campus area stores won't buy it back if it's the binder-ready version. I learned that the hard way after "saving" $40 on a physics book and ended up losing $120 because I can't sell it back.

More tips to come. For now, happy 2nd day of classes!