1. Price gouging!  Not only on new textbooks, but used textbooks.  Think about it, if the bookstore can sell the same textbook (granted they buy it back from you) for four semesters for upwards $80 a pop, think about how much money they are making on every book that they initially buy.  This is ridiculous!
2. The prices they offer to buy back used textbooks.  I don’t know how many times I have purchased $120 books and then only gotten $60 back when I went to sell it back.  They are screwing every student that walks through their doors.
3. Staff that doesn’t know anything.  Sometimes I have a really hard time finding my books each semester.  Heaven forbid that the campus bookstore staff knows where each and every book is for each class…  This might be one of the must frustrating things to happen in a bookstore while shopping for new or used textbooks.

As you can tell, I am not impressed with the campus bookstore in the least.  We as students need to take a stand and do something to help lower prices for all of us.  In closing, there is only one thing the bookstore is good for, buying new Apple products at the student price without having to wait for it to be shipped from California!  I love my iPod!!!

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If you are buying used textbooks from the campus bookstore, most likely they are shrink wrapped and you can’t flip through the book to take it for a test drive. This makes it a little more harder for you to find out if the textbook is quality, but not impossible. Have a look at the cover and the corners of the book. Do they look new? Undamaged? That is a good sign if they look good. Look at the edges of the pages, are they dirty and worn out? Do they have any water damage (waves) on the pages? Any bent pages? If not, you probably have a pretty good used textbook on your hands!

What if you are buying online? This gets scary for most students and that is why I very rarely order textbooks on the internet. About the only thing you can do is ask the seller for more information and actual pictures of the textbook. If they have nothing to hide, they will have no problem taking a few snapshots of the text and sending them to you. Do you research, even though it will take some extra time on your part. No one likes getting stuck with a bunk used textbook!

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First, you should always buy from someone other than the bookstore. There are usually boards on campus with used textbooks listings and you can buy from other students. There are also online resources such as FreeStudentListings.com, Half.com, and Amazon.com. Each of these resources provides a second way to purchase your books.

Second, you should always compare prices. Never buy a textbook the first time you see it or find it online. Shop around a little; you will probably find it for cheaper and if you don’t, you can always come back to the first page you found it on. All you have to lose is a few minutes.

Last, talk to your teachers and find out if an older edition will be sufficient for the class. If you can find a used textbook that is an older edition than what is used in class, you will be able to save even more money. Sometimes getting books for $10 and $20 a piece. When every dollar counts, you should do everything you can to save on your used textbooks.

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With textbooks being such a huge chunk of your school expenses each year, it is vital for a student to shop around and find the best deal they can on used textbooks. There are lots of resources that can be found online to help students locate and secure a cheaper textbook than buying direct from the campus bookstore. Besides that, you are sticking it to the bookstore, which in my opinion, is trying to take students for all they are worth.

These resources like half.com or Amazon allow students to post their books for students all over the country to purchase. This method is good as long as your book sells and you are willing to ship the book. For the buyer, this is good as well, except if it is the second week into the semester and they have to wait another week for the book to show up. All in all, both students get what they want and everyone is happy that they didn’t have to purchase their used textbooks from the bookstore.

If you are like most students, you a price sensitive when purchasing your textbooks, even if you purchase them used. Take a stand and only buy used! It saves you money and in essence, saves the planet since we don’t have to cut down any trees to print more.

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