College bookstores may have prices that are significantly higher than buying used or new textbooks online. The cost of buying textbooks can add up quickly over the course of a few years. Fortunately, there are alternatives to your campus bookstore's high prices. Buying online can translate into big savings. There are textbook swapping services and sites which specialize in finding used books from around the country. In many cases, new textbooks will be cheaper online despite the cost of shipping. The people who take advantage of these options can save hundreds of dollars over the course of their education. Amazon.com is not the only or always the cheapest place to buy.

• 1) Before buying a textbook online, be sure that you've found the correct book and edition specified by your professor.
• 2) One thing to look out for is international editions. They are usually cheaper and have different, soft covers. They may or may not have significant differences beyond that, such as missing some illustrations. Know what you are buying.
• 3) A major issue encountered with buying books online is shipping. Remember to look at shipping costs. Many online book retailers (not just Amazon) offer free shipping for a purchases above a certain price. Also, try to order the books as soon as possible so that they arrive in time.

There are many sites that sell textbooks and it is worth checking out more than one to see if there are major price differences. Half.com is a web site which allows textbook owners to sell their own books and for others to buy them. It is owned by Ebay but all the prices of textbooks are fixed. In April of 2008 Campus Grotto compared ten online bookstores and six comparison sites to see which one would be the cheapest for buying four common college textbooks. The study found that the cheapest place to buy was CollegeBooksDirect.com followed closely by TextBooksNow.com. The cheapest marketplace sites were BigWords.com, CampusBooks.com, and Half.com. The full study can be found here. This study was conducted about 2 years ago but it does show that looking on multiple sites can save you a lot of money. In the study, the difference between the cheapest and most expensive places to buy was over $100.

• CollegeBooksDirect

• TextBooksNow

• Amazon New & Used Textbooks

• BookByte

• Textbooks.com

• iChapters

• ValoreBooks.com

• Powell's Textbooks

• eCampus.com

• Half.com

• Chegg - Rent Textbooks

• eTextbooks are textbooks available in downloadable digital formats. Some are given away free while others are for purchase.

• Textbook Revolution has links to free eTextbooks.

• CourseSmart offers a large selection for students and instructors.

• ichapters offers individual chapters and full eTextbooks.

• CafeScribe is an eTextbook service with a social component.

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• Many classic books are now in the public domain—meaning that they are free to use, reproduce, distribute and remix. These books include everything from the work of Mark Twain and Sigmund Freud to dancing and etiquette instruction manuals from the late 19th century. You can find these books online at one of many public domain search engines and online libraries.

• If you are using one of these books for a class, remember that the edition and translation may matter. Your teacher may refer to a passage by page number or want you to read the work of a certain translator. If you don't have the right edition, you'll be lost.

• Check with your professor to be sure that using a text downloaded from one of the following websites will be alright to use in class.

• Project Gutenberg

• Google Book Search

• Internet Archive: Text Archive

• The Online Books Page

• Read Print

• The Open Library

• The Internet Classics Archive

• Public Domain Archive and Reprints Service

• Whether you are buying from a trusted retailer like Amazon or a small independent publisher using PayPal to process transactions, some internet buying safety tips apply across the board when it comes to protecting you from identity theft.

Check that the site is secure before entering your credit card number. (Photo by Steve Woods)

1. Use the most recent version of your Internet browser. It will usually update automatically, but you can check for updates under the Help menu.
2. Check to see what the web site's security policies are. They should be easy to find. If they're not, that's a red flag about the retailer's trustworthiness!
3. Look for a little lock symbol at the bottom of your browser when you are submitting your information.
4. The letters "https" should appear at the beginning of the URL if you are on a page where you will submit your personal and credit card information.
5. Make sure to keep the receipt for what you purchased. You should be able to print one out at the end of your transaction.
6. Check your credit card statement for any errors.
7. Don't ever give out your credit card information by instant messaging service or email.
8. Notify your credit card company immediately if anything fishy happens.

Check the seller's history and customer ratings before making a purchase. (Screenshot from Alibris.com by Mahalo)

• Whether you're buying used books from an independent seller on Amazon or a new book from an author's personal website, take some time to investigate the seller before making your purchase.

1. If you are buying used books from an independent seller on major sites like Amazon or Alibris, check the seller's history, customer feedback rating and return policy.
2. Check to see if a smaller retailer's site is secure. Does it have emblems that say "Hacker Safe", "Verisign Secure" or "BBB Reliability Program"? Then it has been approved by a trustworthy organization. Retailers without these emblems often are not trustworthy.
3. A trustworthy retailer will have a 1-800 or 1-888 number for you to call in order to reach their customer service. If they don't provide any phone number, that is cause for suspicion; if they don't provide any contact information at all, they are certainly not trustworthy.
4. Look for a good "About Us" section that includes information on the company's policies, features, and even a brief history. If they're not giving you that information, you probably don't want to give them your money.
5. What is the site's return policy? Reputable sellers stand by their products, and offer customers the opportunity to return items that aren't up to par. If the return policy is restrictive or non-existent, caveat emptor!

• The New York Times: Knowledge is Priceless but Textbooks Are Not (August 30, 2007)

• About.com: Online Paperless Textbooks

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