Read Your Textbooks Online With Perlego
Perlego is a digital online library that offers access to over 500,000 textbooks. Youll pay a monthly or annual subscription to access all of Perlegos content, and you can even download most titles to access offline!
You dont need to commit straight away either you can search Perlegos library for your textbooks before becoming a member, and can also make use of a 14-day trial. If you do decide Perlego is for you, great news: its super affordable, with a yearly subscription running around $100. Thats less than the price of one college textbook!
Where To Buy Sell And Rent College Textbooks
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Whether you need traditional or digital textbooks, you can buy or rent them from multiple sources.
Most students still buy their books from the campus store. According to 2017-18 data from the National Association of College Stores, 4 in 5 students reported purchasing course materials from the campus store 41% reported buying from Amazon 8% from another student 8% from a publisher website and 6% from the online retailer Chegg.
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Textbooks, like supplies and other college expenses, are considered part of your cost of attendance. That means you can use your student loans to pay for them. But before you dip into your loans or your college budget, find the cheapest option.
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Fun Facts About Cheapest Textbooks:
- Cheapest Textbooks was founded in 2001 by a college student while they were still in school.
Bookfinder is a great tool to help you compare book prices from over 100,000 sellers worldwide. Youre able to search for all the prices of a single book on websites like Abebooks, Amazon, and ValoreBooks all at once.
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University And Library Sales
Occasionally, libraries and universities sell books to make room for new books.
This means that theyll sell off the old ones at really low prices. You can get some huge discounts on books. So if you want cheap textbooks, then consider attending one of these sales.
Just call local libraries and universities and ask if they are holding any book sales, and if so, when the sales are being held.
Ways To Beat The System When Buying College Textbooks
If youre a college student starting a new academic year, youre likely reeling in shock from the amount of money youre being asked to spend on textbooks.
The price tags on those books can be astonishing and theyre always climbing. The U.S. Government Accountability Office reports that college textbook prices have increased at twice the rate of inflation.
Is there any way to avoid this crippling expense? Actually, there are several. The following tips can give you some ideas for beating the system this semester.
1. Beat the crowds. Your on-campus bookstore is your simplest and fastest route for finding the books you need, but it also can be the most expensive. That said, you may be able to save a little bit of money by arriving at the store as early as possible the minute you get your list of required books so you can snatch up used copies.
5. Rent your textbooks in other ways. Much like online movie-rental services, sites like BookRenter.com and Chegg.com allows you to rent textbooks rather than buy them. The savings can be substantial, so long as youre careful to return your books on time so your rentals dont get converted to purchases. Another option: Check to see whether your college or university offers a textbook rental service to help students save money. To learn about additional ways to rent textbooks rather than buy them, check out this helpful column on the subject from ConsumerMan Herb Weisbaum.
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Fun Facts About Chegg:
- Chegg ships to any of the 50 states.
- Most books from Chegg are used, but dont expect to receive books that are damaged and heavily marked up. Chegg removes all textbooks that arent in good condition, so you have nothing to worry about.
- Chegg will automatically add to your cart a FREE 7-day access period to the eTextbook version of your physical rental ! This way, youre able to follow along in class while your hard copy is being shipped to you.
- Chegg believes in helping students save, so it has even more discounts to find on its website.
- Writing a research paper? Chegg offers a free tool that allows you to check for plagiarism and grammatical errors. And you can format your citations easily through EasyBib.
- Ready to hop into your career? Explore and apply to internships for cities like Austin, Boston, and Chicago through Chegg Internships.
How To Find Cheap College Textbooks: The Ultimate Guide
While college is one of the highlights of most peoples lives, the thought of having toshell out so much money on tuition, the cost of living, and more can be overwhelming. One cost that can be particularly difficult to stomach is how much youll spend on college textbooks.
The College Boardestimates that students spend over $1,200 each year on textbooks and course materials ouch! Thankfully, there are plenty of resources to help you find cheap college textbooks and avoid breaking the bank.
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Is Textbook Rental Right For You
YES if…
- You like your savings all at once up front .
- You don’t want to keep the book when the term is finished.
- You take good care of your books and are cool with moderate or little highlighting.
- You care about minimizing your impact on the environment.
NO if…
- You tend to make a lot of marks in your books or you damage or lose them.
- You need all supplements such as CD-ROMs, workbooks, and access codes.
- You want to keep your books for future reference.
- You rely on getting some cash back at end-of-term buyback.
Get Free College Textbooks On Reddit
Reddit is such a great source for finding free stuff, including free textbooks that I had to put it in its own category.
By the way, if youre looking for more free stuff, check out our Reddit freebies post for a list of best subreddit for finding free stuff.
Now, although Reddit is one of the top 10 most visited sites in the world, most people have no idea it existed and if they do, they have a hard time getting how it works.
What makes Reddit one of the best places to find free stuff is its subreddits. A subreddit is basically a forum within the main forum . Each subreddit is dedicated to a single topic. Meaning every thread and comment posted on that subreddit is highly related to the topic of the subreddit.
And that means you get highly targeted and relevant comments from all kinds of users.
Of course, there are also subreddits dedicated to free and/or cheap textbooks. On some subreddits, you can post a request for a book that you want and if anyone knows a source to get it for free or cheap, theyll post a comment. Other subreddits, users share free book sources as they find them. It really is a goldmine for getting cheap and free textbooks from places that otherwise you might have never know about.
Some of the best subreddits for finding totally free textbooks include:
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Why Buy Textbooks From Us
When it’s time to buy textbooks, choose TextbookRush for low prices, great selection, and online convenience. Thanks to a large collection of used textbooks, study guides, and practice tests, we make it easy to find just what you need. Our catalog includes over 15 million textbooks for sale, all searchable by author, title, or ISBN. Plus, we offer free shipping on all orders over $35 and same-day shipping on any order placed before 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Where To Find Cheap College Textbooks
With school costs reaching all-time highs and student loans becoming a major issue, cutting costs wherever you can is essential to making college affordable.
And thanks to some ingenuity and research, you can definitely find college books at a discount.
First and foremost, skip the school bookstore. Schools charge premiums, and because many students dont realize they have options, they hand over their money for overpriced books.
Instead, check out these alternative online marketplaces to get the cheapest college textbooks, whether new, used or rentals:
On some of these sites, you can also sell your used textbooks to make some money back at the end of the semester.
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Fun Facts About Barnes & Noble:
- Barnes & Nobles Top Subjects: Medicine, Business, Psychology, Science/Tech, Language, and Social Studies
- Barnes & Noble has more than 600 standalone stores, allowing you to pick up your purchases within hours of ordering.
- Easily get a quote online with the click of a button for textbooks you wish to sell to Barnes & Noble for cash.
- Returns for new or used textbooks are accepted within 30 days of the date that you received your order.
- Barnes & Noble has high standards for the condition of used books they sell. Every book is reviewed before resell, ensuring that they are free of things like excessive underlining, missing pages, scribbles, or stains.
Try Searching On Craigslist
Craigslist is a great place for any of your secondhand shopping needs, so try hopping on to find your college textbooks for cheap. You may just find a past student wanting to offload their copies.
Take note! Craigslist does not offer purchase protection services, so youll need to be vigilant when approaching a seller. Make sure you do your research and verify you are buying from a reputable source. |
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Where To Sell Used Textbooks Online
There are plenty of used textbook buyers, used book buyback vendors, or online sites that will buy used textbooks online. Here are some of the best places to sell used textbooks online. Make sure to check out as many of these best used textbook buyback sites as possible and compare buyback offers to ensure you get a good deal.
Ways To Get Cheap College Textbooks
Above, weve given you many places where you can get free college textbooks.
But, you might not be able to get the specific book you need at the places above, or you might want a physical copy of a book, rather than a digital one, or you might want to a physical book that you can make notes on, so borrowing one from the library isnt ideal.
If thats the case, then consider getting your books using one of the methods below.
Below, weve listed places where you can get books at a huge discount, and places where you can buy cheap used college textbooks.
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So Can You Really Get College Textbooks For Free
The answer is yes.
There are some places where you can get physical textbooks for free, as youll see below.
However, generally, most textbooks that you get for free are digital versions, like PDF documents.
So there are tons of free online textbooks and PDF versions of textbooks out there that you can read at no cost.
Some authors simply offer their works for free.
Other digital textbooks are in the public domain, meaning theyre available to the public as a whole and are not subject to copyright. So the public can access these texts for free.
Also, there are open access textbooks that you can read at no cost.
Open textbooks are licensed under an open copyright license and are offered online at no cost. Also, these books can sometimes be printed at little or no cost.
How To Buy Textbooks
Purchasing second-hand textbooks has never been more sustainable. For every order, you receive points that you can donate towards planting new trees.
Find your book
Enter the ISBN or the title of the book you want to buy.
Choose standard or expedited delivery
We provide free standard shipping on all orders. If you want express delivery, expedited shipping is only $3.99 per item!
Stay safe with our return policy
Have you accidentally bought textbooks you dont need? Just send them back you have 21 days for hassle-free returns
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Used Textbooks = Cheap Textbooks
Buying used compared to retail textbooks can save you hundreds of dollars each quarter or semester. Paired with our textbook rental service, buying used textbooks can save you up to 90% off of the retail prices. With some textbooks priced at hundreds of dollars, going with a used book from Chegg can offer significant savings, especially if your shopping list contains multiple books. Dont settle for inflated campus bookstore prices.
Review Retailers For New Books
If your professor assigned a newly published book, buying used is probably not an option. But many retailers sell new books for much less than a campus bookstore.
Amazon and Barnes & Noble often carry textbooks with lower prices and sometimes offer coupons and promotional codes as well.
If you have to buy new, check out BigWords, Bookfinder.com, CheapestTextbooks.com or SlugBooks.com before you purchase. These sites compare prices from major online booksellers, so you can find the best deal available.
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Look For Your Textbooks On Amazon
has plenty of cheap college textbooks and e-books for sale. You may even qualify for a period of free shipping with Amazon Prime using your university email. Plus, when you are done using them, you can turn right back around and use the platform to sell them secondhand.
You can also rent books from Amazon through the Amazon Rental platform. This option is generally way more affordable than buying your textbooks!
Here Are Some Ways To Get College Textbooks For Free
Things werent always this way: The price of college textbooks has risen more than 1,000% since the 1970s. One survey indicates that as many as 65% of college students are choosing not to pay for course books, potentially impacting their grades.
Before you spend any money on college or high school textbooks, you may want to see if you can find them for sale online. Textbook Nova is a site that locates textbooks strictly on Amazon. All you have to do is enter the title, keyword, author or ISBN.
Lets start with the only thing better than cheap: Free. There are several resources you should know about that offer free college textbooks. Here are some of them.
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Fun Facts About Better World Books:
- For every book you buy from Better World Books, it donates a book to someone in need.
- Better World Books offers literacy grants as a way to serve others around the world.
- You can donate your books to Better World Books, which sells them at a discounted price.
- 96% of customers have given Better World Books a 4- or 5-star rating.
- Since its launch in 2003, Better World Books has raised more than $27 million for libraries and literacy, donated over 26 million books, and reused or recycled over 300 million books.
- Better World Books went carbon neutral in 2006.
Check Multiple Sources Before Selling Your Used Textbooks
Comparing costs is an important life skill to learn, especially when it comes to managing your own money. Getting as much money back as possible for your books is a good place to start practicing this skill.
You may have to sell your books at different sites and stores to get the most cash possible. This can be a frustrating experience, especially if you procrastinate. The longer you wait to sell your books, the more dated theyll be and the less money youll get for them. To maximize how much you get back, try selling them as soon as the semester is over.
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Is It Better To Buy Or Rent Textbooks
Whether you choose to buy or rent textbooks depends on your needs. If youre strictly looking to save some extra cash, renting is the way to go, since its much cheaper than buying outright. However, renting does come with some stipulations. For one, you usually cant write in your textbooks , so its not the best option if you prefer to make margin notes in your book.
Renting versus buying college textbooks also depends on your specific course. If theres a textbook that you know youll be referencing or using again, its probably better to buy the book most rentals expire at the end of the semester. This is especially true for STEM majors, where technical textbooks may also be useful during your career or graduate school.
If youre required to take a class that has a virtual textbook, youll also most likely need to buy instead of rent, since these textbooks often have a one-time access code.
If you do have to buy a textbook, consider buying a used book. While it wont save you as much money as renting would, used books are considerably cheaper than new ones.