One of the most daunting tasks at the beginning of every semester is buying textbooks. When I was in college, I remember looking at the prices of my required text at the college bookstore and cry a little on the inside. The best way I was able to ease the pain was from buying and renting my textbooks on various websites. I would save hundreds every semester; it was fantastic!
After four years of buying textbooks in college, here are my top recommendations for saving money when purchasing or renting your books:
Bigwords
I always came to this website first before any other textbook site because it compares all of the cheapest possible options for buying, renting, or even selling books online. It’ll pull pricing information from sites such as Amazon, Abebooks, Chegg, and many more. This way you can easily choose the lowest cost for each book all in one place, instead of searching around in various windows and tabs on your browser.
Amazon
Definitely my most commonly used site to buy used textbooks online. If you’ve never shopped on Amazon before (which would surprise me, honestly), this website offers almost every textbook online from various vendors. The quality and details of each book is given in the description next to its affordable price. Amazon also offers book rentals, which I haven’t personally tried.
Book Renter
I used this site quite a few times for textbook rentals. Usually, renting textbooks is the cheapest option, and Book Renter makes the entire process incredibly easy. All you have to do is login to your account on the site to print out a return label and packing slip, use the package that was originally sent (or any box), and ship it off from any postal office, UPS, or retail store!
Textbook Rentals
I personally haven’t used this website but I’ve heard good reviews. It seems to be very similar to Bigwords where it compares the prices of different websites, but for textbook rentals specifically.
Do you have any favorite websites for renting or buying textbooks? Let me know in the comments!
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