When I was an undergraduate buying textbooks, or any books for that matter, was straightforward, I went to the bookstore and bought the book, or I went online and bought it on Amazon. If I could not afford the book I got a student loan to pay for textbooks (close to $12000 of student loans over 7 years of education went to textbooks). Sometimes I even got a textbook scholarship, but this was rare. All and all I did not have to concern myself with worrying, and had a complete disregard for how I would pay back my student loans. Moreover, the financial aid department at my school often encouraged me to think this way.

Today things are different. Sure you can still act as I once did, and many students do just that, but the reality is that student loans are harder to come by, and the job market being what it is, everyone is struggling and will likely continue to struggle after graduation. This is why I want to share what little wisdom I have acquired during my years as a student.

It has been brought to my attention that I do not make any money from the maintenance of this blog, this is totally true. This blog exists, and We Compare Books itself was founded because I want to help students. I feel an affinity with students, and I do not want them to repeat my mistakes. On that note I would urge you to read this blog, if you are a student, and please take the advice to heart. If you are a professor who cares about your students, you can share this blog’s URL with them. If you are a parent, or know anyone who could benefit from the information here, I would urge you to spread this news. The world has changed, and we cannot afford to keep living as though it has not.

All this to say: compare prices. It is imperative that you check prices, all over the Internet and at your local bookstore. This is the only way you can be sure to get the best prices for all your books.

Knowing what textbooks are required for your classes before the start of the semester is perhaps the most important thing you need to do in order to get a deal.  Depending on your professor this can be difficult, many professors use the same books semester after semester, but others wait until the last minute in order to choose a book for their class.

Your best bet for finding out the required book for your class is to email your professor (try searching the professor’s name in a search engine like Google, this way you can get your prof’s email) and to ask them.  In some cases you may have to send an email a few times, as many professors are reluctant to answer student emails from students they do not yet know. You should take care not to alienate the professor – remember to stay calm and polite.

Another option, one that often works, is to find a student who had this class during the past semester or the past year, and inquire from them.  One word of warning, make sure that the student had the same class from the same professor, because different professors use different books, even if they are teaching the same class.  This can have another advantage: you can try to buy the old textbook directly from the student, and avoid having to order it online.

Once you are aware of the textbooks you need for class your next step is to find a deal on the textbook.  To do this I always recommend going to a textbook price comparison site and looking up the book there.  Once you are able to locate the book at an acceptable price to you all that remains is to order it, and await its arrival.

Our society has many taboos; one of the more prevalent taboos, one that has emerged due to the affluence of our society is that used is worst than new. For example, kids whose parents cannot afford new clothes are ridiculed at school. Despite this, there is almost always an advantage to having a used textbook over a new one.

Most importantly, used textbooks are always cheaper, significantly cheaper; buying a used textbook you are likely to save 50%-80% off the cost of the same textbook new. Other advantages of used textbooks are not monetary but still more interesting. As I have mentioned many times before, students often highlight and underline important information in the text so that they can study from that information in the future. This is useful to you because you can more easily locate useful information within the text, saving time in addition to money. That is, if the previous student did a good job and was thorough enough; otherwise you might end up missing crucial information exactly like the previous owner.

However there are downsides to used books. One of them is that sometimes the book condition of is very bad, making it almost useless. I would warn against purchasing used textbooks online when the condition of the book is marked as bad or unknown. Most vendors have a strict policy for book conditions so if you buy a book and it is not in the condition advertised, you should definitely contact the vendor or the store.

The main issue with used books is that, unless you purchase them at your college bookstore, they are typically sold by students who just finished the course. This means that most used textbooks are sold by individuals, on many different textbook sites, at different prices, and your best bet at finding the lowest price is to use a textbook price comparison. An additional benefit of We Compare Books is that we do not archive our data, this means that every search that we do is done live, and is accurate up to the minute. This may be an issue if the textbook you require is very popular and you are trying to buy it during the beginning of a semester, the prices are likely to change often, and the faster you buy the textbook the more likely you are to get the best price.

A used textbook is one that another student has previously owned, and chose to sell following the completion of the course. You are typically likely to find the best used textbooks for books that have not released a new edition for a year or two. When a publisher releases a new edition of a book the older editions become largely worthless (to the bookstore) seeing as how next semester the professor using this textbook for class will want the students to have the latest edition. It is important to note that often the difference between the two editions of a textbook are minuscule, and many professors are fine with students using an older edition in order to save money (although I always recommend checking with your professor on this before making a decision).

The standard textbook rule that I tend to employ is that used always beats new, except when the used book is in “bad” condition, or has water damage. This is because used textbooks are always significantly cheaper and often come with a few extras (such as a previous owner who may have underlines or highlighted all of the important paragraphs, and may have written down answers to problems in the textbooks margin). Trust me, I know that this may not sound entirely fair, but when you are taking a full course load and have a part time job (to pay for your textbooks) it is good to have any help you can get.