Buying textbooks

From Rofflehaus

Buying textbooks sucks even if your parents or scholarship are paying for them. Your "official" options are University Book Store or Campus Book Store. A lot of coursepacks are available only at Copyworks, and some are available only at Prints.

We'll make this simple for you:

BUY YOUR BOOKS ONLINE.

Only suckers buy them from the bookstores. Once you go online to a site like half.com or cheggpost and see how cheap your books actually are at sane places of business, you'll be pissed off that you ever gave UBS or CBS any money, ever. Note, though, that buying online requires enough forethought to order the books a couple weeks before class starts so you receive them in time. Those of you without such forethought can pay double with the rest of the bookstore patrons. Or, if you don't mind a little extra hassle, you can buy your books at the bookstore right before classes start, look for better deals online, and return the original books to the bookstore once your cheaper copies arrive.

More textbooks/notes are reported stolen/missing around finals, so don't leave them around when you're studying in the library.

Contents 1 How To 1.1 Look up the books you need 1.2 Search online 1.3 Purchase books 1.4 Tips of the trade 1.5 Sell your books 2 News articles 2.1 Tax issues 2.2 Buying online 2.3 Pricing issues 2.4 Miscellaneous

[edit] How To

[edit] Look up the books you need

The first day of class you can usually find out what books you actually do need for the class, as sometimes the required books are not really required. An easy way to look up what books you need is to go to the University Book Store or Campus Book Store websites and go through the act of picking your class and section, then when you see the books you need, just write down the ISBN number or the name and edition number.

[edit] Search online

Now just go to places like half.com or ebay.com or cheggpost and enter in the book information. You can check several sites at the same time by using a search engine such as froogle.

[edit] Purchase books

You'll need to look for the best price and compare new to used and all that good stuff. Make sure to add in the shipping costs when doing comparisons. Also plan on how long it will take to ship the books to you, which could be a week or more.

[edit] Tips of the trade

Is one of your books not going to make it to you in time to finish that first homework assignment? If you have already ordered the book online, just go to one of the local book stores and get the book you need, and then return it when your book arrives. Make sure to be aware of the last day to return books though, as there is a cut off to how long you can take to return a book. This works if you need the book a few days before you get it.

[edit] Sell your books

If you have a desire to sell your books at the end of the semester then your options are to sell them at the book stores or online. In their greedy ways, the book store will give you back way less for your book than you think. Even if you bought it and put it in a environmentally controlled archival chamber they'll still give you next to nothing for your book despite being in the exact same condition they sold it to you.

It may be to your future advantage to not sell your books but keep them. It's not like calculus changes much.

Your best bet on getting the best prices are to sell them online. Though, professors have a habit of requiring the latest edition of a book so the book store might not even want your book because they know it won't be sold (sucks again for you the student).

[edit] News articles

[edit] Tax issues

• The article, GSB tries to drop sales tax on books, in the 11/05, 2000 edition of the Iowa State Daily is still unavailable due to a change in the Daily's website and general laziness of Rofflehaus contributors. If you'd like to help fix a broken link like this, check out Template talk:ISUD to find out how. Thank you for your patience. (D: 11/05/2000)
• The article, GSB considers book-tax loophole, in the 01/11, 2001 edition of the Iowa State Daily is still unavailable due to a change in the Daily's website and general laziness of Rofflehaus contributors. If you'd like to help fix a broken link like this, check out Template talk:ISUD to find out how. Thank you for your patience. (D: 01/11/2001)
• The article, Tax-free books may hurt competition, in the 01/17, 2001 edition of the Iowa State Daily is still unavailable due to a change in the Daily's website and general laziness of Rofflehaus contributors. If you'd like to help fix a broken link like this, check out Template talk:ISUD to find out how. Thank you for your patience. (D: 01/17/2001)
• The article, Tax rebates available, in the 08/28, 2001 edition of the Iowa State Daily is still unavailable due to a change in the Daily's website and general laziness of Rofflehaus contributors. If you'd like to help fix a broken link like this, check out Template talk:ISUD to find out how. Thank you for your patience. (D: 08/28/2001)

[edit] Buying online

• The article, Students may go online to sell text books, in the 04/30, 2001 edition of the Iowa State Daily is still unavailable due to a change in the Daily's website and general laziness of Rofflehaus contributors. If you'd like to help fix a broken link like this, check out Template talk:ISUD to find out how. Thank you for your patience. (D: 04/30/2001)
• The article, Buying textbooks on the internet a popular choice, in the 08/28, 2001 edition of the Iowa State Daily is still unavailable due to a change in the Daily's website and general laziness of Rofflehaus contributors. If you'd like to help fix a broken link like this, check out Template talk:ISUD to find out how. Thank you for your patience. (D: 08/28/2001)
• The article, Textbook shopping online may save students money, in the 09/15, 2003 edition of the Iowa State Daily is still unavailable due to a change in the Daily's website and general laziness of Rofflehaus contributors. If you'd like to help fix a broken link like this, check out Template talk:ISUD to find out how. Thank you for your patience. (D: 09/15/2003)

[edit] Pricing issues

• The article, Some universities use flat textbook fee, in the 03/28, 2002 edition of the Iowa State Daily is still unavailable due to a change in the Daily's website and general laziness of Rofflehaus contributors. If you'd like to help fix a broken link like this, check out Template talk:ISUD to find out how. Thank you for your patience. (D: 03/28/2002)
• The article, Bill will take look at textbook prices, in the 12/08, 2003 edition of the Iowa State Daily is still unavailable due to a change in the Daily's website and general laziness of Rofflehaus contributors. If you'd like to help fix a broken link like this, check out Template talk:ISUD to find out how. Thank you for your patience. (D: 12/08/2003)
• The article, Interest group thinks textbook prices are unfair, in the 01/30, 2004 edition of the Iowa State Daily is still unavailable due to a change in the Daily's website and general laziness of Rofflehaus contributors. If you'd like to help fix a broken link like this, check out Template talk:ISUD to find out how. Thank you for your patience. (D: 01/30/2004)

[edit] Miscellaneous

• The article, Students face less textbook-buying trauma, in the 08/28, 2001 edition of the Iowa State Daily is still unavailable due to a change in the Daily's website and general laziness of Rofflehaus contributors. If you'd like to help fix a broken link like this, check out Template talk:ISUD to find out how. Thank you for your patience. (D: 08/28/2001)
• The article, Library thefts often unintentional, in the 10/30, 2001 edition of the Iowa State Daily is still unavailable due to a change in the Daily's website and general laziness of Rofflehaus contributors. If you'd like to help fix a broken link like this, check out Template talk:ISUD to find out how. Thank you for your patience. (D: 10/30/2001)