How To Buy Cheap College Textbooks?
Here are a few different ways of how to buy cheap college textbooks:
Rent for the semester
Rentals are generally available for a little over 120 days (aka 6 months). This is the most cost-effective way to obtain textbooks for college. Just be sure to not add anything in the textbook and use a notebook for recording important notes on the topic.
It is generally alright to scan or copy a few important textbook pages just for personal use as well. So you can be sure that you will have all the key book content handy even if you needed to return the rental book.
As eBook/ Digital book
There are times when you might need the textbook for immediate use. At such times, an eBook is probably the fastest way to get the book.
There are a few book providers who specialize in providing digital copies of popular textbooks.
Or if you’re like me, you like the convenience of eBooks as you can zoom in to larger fonts, do a full-length keyword search in the book, add digital notes and so on. Working digitally also makes it convenient to refer to multiple eBooks and digital sources simultaneously.
For example, you can refer to more than one eBook, a whitepaper or research paper online and also access Wikipedia all in one single study session. For this specific reason, I find digital books to be highly convenient and efficient.
Buy the New Book
Most online retailers such as Amazon ship the book orders fast and it would reach you in three to four days time. I would generally advise against buying textbooks directly at the college bookstore as these can turn out to be very expensive.
Just use your discretion and buy at the college if the book is discounted. Other than this, there are many other online book retailers to choose from.
Buy a Used Book
Used books are another great way to buy textbooks for an affordable price. Most students like to sell their used textbooks and so there is often a good supply of used textbooks.
There have been times when I bought used textbooks for even less than $20, so it is worth it. Just be sure to choose a book that is like new, or generally in good condition.
Here are some great places and ways to buy these college textbooks:
- Go on Amazon.com
- Go to CampusBooks.com
- Go to Knetbooks.com
- Go to VitalSource.com
- Sign up to Amazon Prime Student
There are so many other websites and stores that carry textbooks but just focusing on the above four is all that is required.
There is no need to complicate the textbook search. Instead, go with retailers who consistently offer the best deals and in the most convenient way possible.
Amazon is great for textbooks of all kinds! CampusBooks has by far the best discounted listings for textbooks. VitalSource provides eTextBooks for a greatly reduced price and is therefore worth checking out as well.
Amazon.com
Amazon.com is often the best place to buy or rent college textbooks. What is even better is the benefits Amazon provides for college students. There are textbooks in just about any topic you could wish for!
There are even eTextbooks, books on rental, new textbooks for a discounted price and even used textbooks for the fraction of the price of a new textbook.
Amazon also has a great platform and makes it easy to rent textbooks, to return the textbooks and so on. If you ever run out of time and need a textbook at the earliest, you can never go wrong with Amazon!
Just a few clicks here and your discounted textbook will be on its way to you. But if at times a particular book is not on Amazon at a discounted price for some reason, it is good to have a few other alternative sites to go with.
CampusBooks.com
Over the last several weeks, every time I’ve searched for a textbook on CampusBooks, I see the largest listing of online retailers with the lowest priced book rental, eBook, used book and a brand new textbook.
No other site so far compares to CampusBooks in terms of up-to-date listings of the lowest priced book retailers for that particular book.
I did see many other sites but none of them matched up to CampusBooks. A few of them such as CheapestTextbooks.com is a bit out-of-date and does not show the Amazon rental in the lowest price, but CampusBooks does. I was also able to verify this directly on Amazon.
Note that CampusBooks simply aggregates the details from the online book retailers and does not currently sell textbooks directly on their site (as of this writing).
Knetbooks
Knetbooks is a strong contender for the top spot as the lowest price textbook rentals. Upon searching for a College Algebra book by LIAL & HORNSBY 12th edition, the rental price has been reducing each time from about $28 to $25 to finally $23.69. The shipping was about $3 earlier but now shows up as Free shipping.
So I definitely see Knetbooks somewhere among the top lowest-priced textbook rentals provider.
VitalSource.com
VitalSource specializes primarily in eTextbooks and their prices for the eBooks are comparable to that of Amazon. The added advantage with VitalSource is the extra textbook reading features such as book highlighting, flash cards, study groups, reading book offline, and even an audio bookshelf reading-aloud feature.
In my opinion, these additional features make VitalSource a premium low cost eTextBook retailer!
Amazon Prime Student
Amazon too provides amazing bonuses and packages specifically for students. The Amazon Prime Student is a prime membership for students that currently carries a 6-month free trial membership to the Prime Student. 
Here are the benefits of choosing Amazon Prime Student:
- Free trial membership for 6 months
- Free shipping on orders eligible for Prime
- Unlimited Music for a small token fee
- Free movies on Prime
- Free books on Prime
- Free video games
- Special product discounts
- Free product samples
- Free same day delivery and more
- Free 2-Hour Grocery delivery
Conclusion
The Amazon Prime Student is a deal that is too attractive to miss! With college students being constantly on the move with classes, activities and a low spending budget, the Prime membership can take care of all your after-school needs.
In case your chosen textbook is not at the best price on Amazon (which in itself is highly unlikely), just take a look at CampusBooks for a quick side-by-side comparison across retailers.
If you prefer eTextbooks, do not miss the chance the benefit from VitalSource for their additional features and added bonuses. If book rentals are your best preferred method, go with Knetbooks and compare their rental prices for your textbook.