Now that I will have two kids in college...

play baseball ...

First off, you have my sincerest admiration and respect with 4 youngin's ... I wonder sometimes if 4 children the age of yours might not be harder on a mom than 4 toddlers ... hmmmm, let me think about that ...

Anyway, I don't have a specific site in mind that sells used books but what about Amazon.com? I have bought used (fiction) books from their sellers and been quite happy with them, saving considerable $$ from the face value of a new book.

Just a thought ....

Get Textbooks

This one lists all sources on the web for the book you're looking for. However, I don't believe it lists the European sources which can be cheaper, but then there's additional shipping and shipping time.

I had good luck here when I had two in college!

Happy hunting...

with orlando!

Classes started today for woodson, part 2, and after he sent the booklist, I got to work. Only problem is that my head is spinning.

I have questions!

How long, typically, does it take from the time one places an order for books to the time it is received?

When ordering used books, what kind of condition are they in? Like when it says "Like New" or "Good", who's opinion is it? Are they really "Like New" or "Good"? Of course, I will stay away from books with a description of "really worn, written all over, pages falling out".

More questions later. Thanks for your response. I'll sit down and listen for your answer.

Most of the sites I used posted delivery times; from memory, it was only a few weekdays. If you're using amazon.com for any of them, the suppliers will have a feedback rating; read those to look for delivery-time complaints.

I also never had trouble with the condition of the books. But one might postulate that a textbook, pre-highlighted, would be a good thing

First kid in college for me and what a shock buying those books was! I should have paid more attention to this thread and ordered them online. We spent $600 on books at the campus bookstore and some of them were used books.

Bad news - I was in such shock over the purchase that I took the receipt home with me. Now son needs it to make a return (yeah!) and I have to Fedex it to him to make the return deadline. Another lesson learned.

Ebay is good.

A little known part about finding CHEAP textbooks are INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS...generally the exact same information, pictures, etc as the US editions...but you can buy them dirt cheap. Only difference is the cover. I do that for my son and my doctoral class texts.

Buying on-line is cheaper if he plans on keeping them. But if your son wants to sell them back when finished there may be problems if he tries to do that at the campus bookstore.

True, spizzle. The bookstore at my son's college will only buy back their own and then only with the presence of the original receipt during prescribed hours. If you're considering that option, it depends on your son and the bookstore's policies.

If he's organized enough to hold on to the receipt, keep his books in very good condition, and his schedule is such that he can make it to the bookstore when there may be a long line, that can be a good option. I knew that just wasn't going to happen with mine.

My son was a PoliSci major, and books (mostly purchased online) were about $160 a semester. I just sold most of them back to the online sites (for ease, I might well have gotten more listing them on eBay or amazon) and got about $60 for them. They provide the address label and postage, so it's easy.

quote:

We spent $600 on books at the campus bookstore and some of them were used books.

It was a shock for me too curveball! My son attended JUCO his first year and the books were all paid for. Then last year, when he called and said his books for the first semester were just over $500, I realized that I had planned on books being about what they were when I was in college! LOL They've gone up just a tad!

Here are the ones I have used:

half.com

abesbooks.com

craigslist.org (and click on the city cloest to you)

alibris.com

bookbyte.com