OKWUeagle.com

by Megan Mueller
OKWUeagle.com Staff Writer

As students prepare for their next semester of college, a list of responsibilities is ready to be accomplished before the first day of classes.

Among the many tasks to be completed is the necessity of finding the right textbook for the right price.

Buying textbooks in a local bookstore can be convenient, but shopping for books online can save students a considerable amount of money, even if they have to wait an extra week or so.

Beginning to search for the necessary textbook can be somewhat overwhelming because there are so many online dealers to choose from, but knowing where to start can save students time.

A good location to start is www.amazon.com. Amazon allows you to search for a book by title, author or ISBN number. Amazon lists the prices and shipping dates for the books, and students can choose from new or used books; used texts are often significantly lower in price than new books.

Another site students is www.valorebooks.com. Using Valorebooks.com, students can buy their books from over 10,000 book sellers based on the condition of the book, the book sellers rating, location and the price of the book.

When the student no longer needs the textbook, they can see them back using Valorebooks.com’s online sell back program.

Sunshine Wharton, senior Physical Education major from Warrenton, Mo. uses both Valorebooks.com and Biblio.com frequently when buying her textbooks online.

Biblio.com allows students to search for used or out of print books. If students have trouble finding the textbooks, Biblio.com offers an advanced book search.

“I use these sites because they’re usually cheaper than Amazon,” says Wharton. “The books usually come right away.”

For Wharton, as occasionally happens to other people, the books have not always arrived on time.

“The only bad experience I’ve had with ordering books online is when I ordered one that promised me it would be free if I didn’t get it after 60 days,” says Wharton. “I got it on day 59.”

The fear of textbooks arriving late or never arriving is a valid fear, but many students have received their textbooks on time and in the expected condition.

Roxanne Lindgren, junior Elementary Education major from Bartlesville, Okla. has been ordering her textbooks online for most of her college education and has consistently received every book in the condition and time promised.

“I have never had to pay more than $100 per semester for all my books combined,” says Lindgren, who frequently uses Cheapbooks.com.

Affordabbook.com also searches over twenty sources to find the lowest prices on textbooks both new and used. Students can search for a book by their college or university name, ISBN, title or keyword to ensure they will discover the exact book they need.

Cheapesttextbooks.com is a good place for students to order textbooks online. Cheapesttextbooks.com allow students to look up certain books and then compares the best prices from different sources like Amazon, Half.com and Textbooks.com, among others. The website shows both the lowest new and used prices for each book.

Along with listing the price for each textbook, most sites often offer customer feedback so students can gauge whether or not the standards set for the book will be met.

If students do not want to buy the textbooks because of the expense, they may also rent textbooks.

Chegg.com allows students to rent a textbook for a semester, a quarter, 60 days, or if needed, students may pay for an extra amount of days to ensure they have the textbook as long as they need it.

Chegg.com lets students rent the book for the allotted time and when the time has expired, the book can be sent back free of charge. Chegg.com also plants a tree every time a book is rented, bought or sold.