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I am frequently asked about buying textbooks online. Your safest decision on textbooks is to check the professor's syllabus and buy the book that the campus bookstore has marked for the course. If you must shop around, you might want to consider the information offered here.

While a used textbook from another student is probably your best buy, you can find textbooks online for good values. But, you must shop around for these values. I found one of my texts listed in range of $15.00 to $20.00 cheaper than the standard retail price.

If you buy your books online, check for the following:

  1. A credit card will be required. Make sure that the vender provides a secure server. The sites I checked do provide this security.
  2. Check several online venders-- prices vary widely. I found higher text prices at a highly promoted site.
  3. Before you "check-out" make sure you check the shipping and handling fees added to your book price. These can make a bargain book price less of a bargain.
  4. Check the shipping time. You don't want the book to arrive mid-semester.
  5. Many sites will offer New and Used texts. Decide correctly if you really need a New or Used textbook.
  6. Make absolutely sure that you are buying the correct title and edition. An older edition will be cheaper, but it could be useless in class.

Returning the wrong textbook could be a problem. The vender may take it back as a "USED" book. Read the return policy. Check the professor's syllabus or confirm directly with the professor that you have the right textbook. If you have to return it you will have to pay shipping.

Many sites offer campus related products, as well as texts. I do not endorse any vender. Here is a list of textbook sellers:

Best Book Buys, www.bestbookbuys.com is a site that searches and compares prices at 28 online bookstores. Comparisons will show if a book is in stock or back-ordered, how soon it will be shipped, plus the approximate shipping cost.

Textbooks.com
Varistybooks.com
Studentmarket.com uses Bigwords.com for new textbooks
eCampus.com - advertises big discounts, but only for nationally popular texts.

You may find a textbook at one of these online bookstores, although textbooks are not their speciality:

amazon.com
Barnes and Noble.com (Has now added textbooks.)

E-Bay has started auctioning textbooks. If you know how to bid and buy on E-Bay, this may be worth your effort.

HBS (Harvard Business School) cases and materials usually cannot be purchased from these stores, but can be bought directly from HBS Publications. I do not believe that you will find any "bargain" over our own bookstore for this material.

An enterprising student at University of Minnesota has a website that compares textbook prices, provides shipping info cost saving coupons. Worth your visit at www.CampusBooks4Less.com.

NOTE: I do not receive any payments, credits, or other cash benefits for any textbooks or materials that I adopt for my courses-- nor will I ever. Although textbook publishers may provide free review copies to faculty for consideration of adoption in courses, I have had to buy most of the materials I use. While the policy of providing examination copies permits faculty to compare new materials without paying out of pocket to evaluate a wide array of books, the competing offerings of review texts favors no particular publishers. For me and most professors, course materials selections are not made on the basis of receipt of a free examination copy. The texts or materials that I adopt for courses are required because I personally selected them and have determined that they are meritorious because they do the best job of providing information complementing what I attempt in the classroom or because the text has been standardized across courses by the faculty. I do consider textbooks costs to the student when I select course materials.