Gwen in VA Posted December 1, 2010 Share Posted December 1, 2010 The community college bookstore sells the calculus text new for $267. It sells it used for $200. Amazon sells it new for $164 and used for as little as $80. But the catch is that there is a cute little insert in the college bookstore one inserted by the college. I think we'll go the Amazon route, but I'm nervous about not buying the "approved" version with the insert! Why don't colleges stop having bookstores and just have links to the textbooks so the student can buy the book online? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janice H Posted December 1, 2010 Share Posted December 1, 2010 What about checking the buy-back price on a site like http://bookscouter.com/ ? If the book doesn't work out, you might be able to sell the book back at a reasonable spread below what you paid. You could estimate whether or not it is a reasonable risk to buy the Amazon text. Why don't colleges stop having bookstores and just have links to the textbooks so the student can buy the book online? My guess (wish) is that some day many of the campus stores will just sell t-shirts, sweatshirts, notebooks, etc. as consumers wake up and protest these practices. Textbooks bought at the university store are just one of the sources of education inflation. The current thread about not being able to get into required classes without a great deal of hassle, if at all, is another even more expensive source of rising costs. I am wondering how we get sound information about both of these issues. This board is certainly a good start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OLG Posted December 1, 2010 Share Posted December 1, 2010 Prices are RIDICULOUS as we all know. Could you just call the bookstore and ask what the insert is? This 'special packaging' by the publisher to assure sales of new books was recently ruled illegal, I think. (Check Inside Higher Ed) As to the demise of bookstores, well, they make money for the colleges so that kickback to the schools will be hard to sever and if it does, then the school will likely add back in the loss somewhere, like tuition. Mary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted December 1, 2010 Share Posted December 1, 2010 Could the "special insert" be a web package? Many textbook publishers put together a web package that includes an e-book, quizzes, flash cards and other study aids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate in VA Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 The community college bookstore sells the calculus text new for $267. It sells it used for $200. Amazon sells it new for $164 and used for as little as $80. But the catch is that there is a cute little insert in the college bookstore one inserted by the college. I think we'll go the Amazon route, but I'm nervous about not buying the "approved" version with the insert! Why don't colleges stop having bookstores and just have links to the textbooks so the student can buy the book online? I feel your pain.... My husband and I are both going back to college this spring and even though we have FA money towards books, the books are just too outrageous at the bookstore.... I'm gonna try to find them on amazon used.... can you see what this insert is at the bookstore? maybe you can email the profession to see if it is really a necessity or ask the bookstore if they can sell a copy separately.... Just curious.... what CC in VA is this for? What class? My hubby and I will be at germanna.... Kate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Togo Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 The insert often includes a key code for required online work. You need to check with the prof. Ds had to buy the bookstore version of economics because he needed the key code. Ditto for dh with algebra this semester. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinRTX Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Check with the professor. Many times they don't even use this insert (even if it is a code for online material). Sometimes you can buy used and pay for the code to use online and still come out cheaper. Linda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwen in VA Posted December 2, 2010 Author Share Posted December 2, 2010 Buying textbooks has clearly become a lot more complicated than it used to be....... :ack2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-FL Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 To check prices, I use bigwords.com to buy & sell. They have rentals too. I've bought the international versions & they've worked fine. From what I understand, the only difference is that they're paperback, not hard back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 (edited) Try www.Chegg.com We have rented math books and they have always included the web access key. We have used Chegg for a while with absolutely no problems. Edited December 2, 2010 by Quiver0f10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda in MA Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 I've bought the international versions & they've worked fine. From what I understand, the only difference is that they're paperback, not hard back. My son has bought a couple of international versions of textbooks on the web. The psychology book was fine. However, the engineering text he purchased was useless because the units in all the examples and in all the problem sets were metric. There were no English units at all in that book. He ended up having to bite the bullet and purchase the actual textbook so he would be able to do the homework problems. Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 I'm amazed that the American book wasn't in metric! The other science books I've seen lately all have been Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda in MA Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 I'm amazed that the American book wasn't in metric! The other science books I've seen lately all have been Engineering and science are two different beasts! I agree that most (if not all) science books are exclusively in metric. Not so with engineering. Anyway -- lesson learned. Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted December 5, 2010 Share Posted December 5, 2010 The textbook prices in the US are outrageous. I shocked when my ds first bought books in Japan for his classes as I had expected similar pricing. BUT He pays about $50 USD for each semester's books. When I see these threads, I always feel :confused: as to why the books are so much more expensive here than there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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