1bassoon Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Help a momma out, Hive? My dd is in Italy for 3 weeks with school - yay, her! In a moment of weakness, I agreed to be her lackey and buy her textbooks for next semester. She was a good girl, and gave me a list of the books she needs with ISBN numbers and everything. But - eek! How do I DO this??? Most specifically, she has some textbooks (Managerial Accounting, to name one) that are supposed to come with Access cards. On her list, I see the name of the text (Managerial Acctng w/Access) and then right after that, the Access Card itself. Does that mean they're sold separately? And if I find a brand new copy on half.com, it won't have the Card? Or will it??? I'm too old for this. She better bring me a good gift from Italy, that's all I can say. Help??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petrichor Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 If you buy the book new, it comes with the access card usually. If you buy the book used, the access card has to be bought separately. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy a used book and then the access card separately. Access cards have a code on them, and the code can be purchased online from the website that the code is for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 You may also be able to rent her books with the access card. Ds has saved a bundle this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Plug the ISBN numbers into Dealoz.com to see what kind of deals are out there. Generally, I like half.com and amazon.com, but sometimes I find better deals elsewhere. Always look at the seller and their specific description of the book. I've bought used books with usable access cards (sometimes they weren't used by the previous owner). There is no "one specific way" to get the best deal on a book. Overall, I've been around half price from bookstore cost (overall, not every book individually). Sometimes I get down to one third. Once my guys are in school they often get books from other classmates who have finished the class (and sell their books to classmates - Facebook is popular for this). We always use Dealoz/Half/Amazon to set a reasonable price for the book's condition. By reselling books they can make an expensive textbook relatively inexpensive ($15 final cost for a recent book we paid $105 for (sold for $90) - bookstore price for the same book is $165. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 DO be careful about the access code thing -- for some classes it is an access code specific to the college/university's website and can ONLY be purchased through the college/university. We had that for 2 of the Spanish classes -- so purchasing used books helped a little, BUT we still had to pay the $75 for the access code for ability to access the online homework component which was through the college. For another class, the access code went with the book, and was not dependent on the college. I recommend contacting the instructor first, the bookstore second, to see what the specifics are for those courses requiring an access code. Other than that, we've had good success buying with from people who list on the local Craigs List (double check the edition, use cash, meet in a public place), and online with Amazon used books, and Abe Books. There are also some sites that specifically sell used textbooks. Be sure to use the ISBN, and to DOUBLE CHECK THE EDITION of the textbook -- often the previous edition is really cheap, but is not the one required for the class, and will not resell. BEST of luck! Warmly, Lori D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 Be sure to use the ISBN, and to DOUBLE CHECK THE EDITION of the textbook -- often the previous edition is really cheap, but is not the one required for the class, and will not resell. BEST of luck! Warmly, Lori D. I agree - and check with the prof to see if the older edition will work. They just switched to a new edition of Chem for middle son's school. The books he would need would cost in excess of $300 - pretty close to $400 - if bought new either online or in the bookstore (no used ones out there). Since his prof is willing to work with the older edition (something he freely admits to the class), we were able to get away with $60. The books probably won't resell, but it's still less expensive than renting. For us, $60 out is better than an outlay of $350+ even if the return on a used book might have been less expensive overall. He needed the books for a full year (two semesters), so I'm ok with spending $60 - as have been MANY in the class. Your student is unlikely to be the only one using an older version if allowed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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