Leveraging Student Purchasing Power - Finding Huge Cost Savings With Used Textbooks

By Author: Deanna LaMasster
Total Articles: 1
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When students head to the school bookstore to buy books for the next term, they often are forced to purchase a brand new book and bite the bullet on the cost. However, purchasing the used version of the book can often save around 20-40% off the retail value, and used copies are easier to find than one might think.

Buying and Selling Strategies

Used textbooks can be found in many places online, so one does not need to fight to locate a good deal at the school bookstore. There are several prominent online stores that compare the cost of textbooks, as well as provide a portal for allowing students to sell their books once they are finished with their courses.

Students also post ads on Craigslist to sell their books one at a time. This takes time to create each ad, and the students may not get the best price for their book, but it can be effective if only selling a couple of items. Using a web site that deals exclusively with book sales would provide the student with more opportunities than Craigslist. They would be able to sell their used books and find the books that they need for the following year through ...
... the same store. The volume of students using these sites also allows for a higher chance of selling their books and finding the best deal from multiple vendors when they want to buy.

Value of the Textbook

The value of a book depends on the date of printing, the overall availability, the ISBN, the condition of the text, and the demand for a particular title. The value of textbooks also increases according to the academic level for which it is written. Textbooks required for a college course are typically more expensive than ones that are used in high school for the same subject. College courses usually require readings from more than one textbook for each course, so the cost can be overwhelming when purchasing the new retail version of these books.

Purchasing Power in Action

Students wishing to leverage their purchasing power wisely will wait until they are certain that they will be taking a course, and then get a list of books that are necessary for that course. Instead of locating their class number at the bookstore and picking up whatever is on the shelf, they are able to compare prices at other locations and shop wisely.

Students who know what books they need ahead of time may choose online bookstores to find the cheapest and most reliable sellers for each title. The majority of students purchase books the first week of class, and if there are any used books at the school bookstore, they are almost always gone before the first week.

Some classes do not require a book until several weeks into the course. If that is the case, students have the opportunity do comparison shopping for these books and may save hundreds of dollars on their total cost of books over the course of their college career.

Visit the author's web site for more information on buying and selling textbooks, as well as textbook ebooks.