Spring Break
Students Look For New Way To Get Books
Rob Barry
Issue date: 8/31/05 Section: News
Some students have begun exploring alternate ways to buy their books. Due to online used book services like Bigwords.com, half.com and Amazon.com, students can save on their books - if they can wait a few weeks for them.
Darcey Kane, a 5th-semester marketing major, said she shops around to compare prices before buying.
"I have bought books from the Co-Op, half.com, Bigwords.com and a few others," Kane said. "Bigwords.com is great because you can compare the prices of the different books that you need."
Bigwords.com offers a search engine that pours through a host of online used bookstores. The easiest way to search online for books is to use its ISBN, a 10-digit number usually next to the barcode.
The search engine groups its results first by the store with the best deal on most or all of the books and then by store-to-store comparisons of the individual books. The web site claims it saves students about $71 per order of textbooks.
Others are finding the Amazon.com Marketplace a useful tool for acquiring textbooks. Through Amazon.com private sellers (even students) can list a textbook for whatever price they please. The lower the price is, the higher the likelihood of a sale.
Amazon is a popular place to buy older editions of books. Since there is much less demand for earlier editions, sellers must set prices very low to move their books. This is where a student can save big - provided his or her professor doesn't update the texts too regularly.
As long as buyers know the ISBN on the back of the books they seek, they can be confident they will get the right edition when ordering online. The only major drawback seems to be the wait. Most books bought online are shipped via USPS Media Mail, an inexpensive but slow method. A student ordering online may wait several weeks before getting the books they need for class.
Darcey Kane, a 5th-semester marketing major, said she shops around to compare prices before buying.
"I have bought books from the Co-Op, half.com, Bigwords.com and a few others," Kane said. "Bigwords.com is great because you can compare the prices of the different books that you need."
Bigwords.com offers a search engine that pours through a host of online used bookstores. The easiest way to search online for books is to use its ISBN, a 10-digit number usually next to the barcode.
The search engine groups its results first by the store with the best deal on most or all of the books and then by store-to-store comparisons of the individual books. The web site claims it saves students about $71 per order of textbooks.
Others are finding the Amazon.com Marketplace a useful tool for acquiring textbooks. Through Amazon.com private sellers (even students) can list a textbook for whatever price they please. The lower the price is, the higher the likelihood of a sale.
Amazon is a popular place to buy older editions of books. Since there is much less demand for earlier editions, sellers must set prices very low to move their books. This is where a student can save big - provided his or her professor doesn't update the texts too regularly.
As long as buyers know the ISBN on the back of the books they seek, they can be confident they will get the right edition when ordering online. The only major drawback seems to be the wait. Most books bought online are shipped via USPS Media Mail, an inexpensive but slow method. A student ordering online may wait several weeks before getting the books they need for class.