Sunday, March 22, 2009

Cheap College Textbooks

Historically US college students have spent on average $900 per year on textbooks that are required for their classes with few options beyond the local college bookstore. In other words paying full retail price for textbooks with many of the science and specialty textbooks costing up to $180 each. Given that this is a captive group of buyers who are required to have access to the textbook material to pass the class this seems like an unfair monopoly.

Luckily, online sellers have made it possible to find select new and used college textbooks at more competitive prices. The internet has also made it more efficient to resell used books in order to recoup a portion of your initial purchase price. Amazon is a great textbook source and has provided third-party sellers a powerful portal to access the mass market. Students have also started buying International Edition textbooks from overseas sellers at substantial discounts. International Edition books are provided by publishers to foreign markets that can not afford retail pricing for these textbooks and they are manufactured more cheaply by using softcover rather than hardcover and use black and white illustrations.

There are two concerns that buyers of International Edition textbooks should beware of: First, these books come from overseas sellers and may take 2 weeks or more to arrive so please leave lots of time. Second issue is some of the international edition books may not have all of the original supplemental material such as DVD's so make sure you ask the seller specifically about this.

We are now starting to see a great availability of e-textbooks and an increasing inventory of textbooks will be available for download on to computers and e-reader devices such a the Kindle. This is an important development from a convenience and cost perspective as well as being a much more environmentally friendly option as there is no printing and shipping necessary.

Cheap College Textbooks

Historically US college students have spent on average $900 per year on textbooks that are required for their classes with few options beyond the local college bookstore. In other words paying full retail price for textbooks with many of the science and specialty textbooks costing up to $180 each. Given that this is a captive group of buyers who are required to have access to the textbook material to pass the class this seems like an unfair monopoly.

Luckily, online sellers have made it possible to find select new and used college textbooks at more competitive prices. The internet has also made it more efficient to resell used books in order to recoup a portion of your initial purchase price. Amazon is a great textbook source and has provided third-party sellers a powerful portal to access the mass market. Students have also started buying International Edition textbooks from overseas sellers at substantial discounts. International Edition books are provided by publishers to foreign markets that can not afford retail pricing for these textbooks and they are manufactured more cheaply by using softcover rather than hardcover and use black and white illustrations.

There are two concerns that buyers of International Edition textbooks should beware of: First, these books come from overseas sellers and may take 2 weeks or more to arrive so please leave lots of time. Second issue is some of the international edition books may not have all of the original supplemental material such as DVD's so make sure you ask the seller specifically about this.

We are now starting to see a great availability of e-textbooks and an increasing inventory of textbooks will be available for download on to computers and e-reader devices such a the Kindle. This is an important development from a convenience and cost perspective as well as being a much more environmentally friendly option as there is no printing and shipping necessary.