[jhan523]

Buying Textbooks (new & used)
By: Chanele (cjordan)

School is just around the corner, and with the recent release of timetables comes the time to start thinking about purchasing textbooks. You may have heard that textbooks are very expensive, and i’m sorry to say that it is true. You could easily spend close to $1000 just on textbooks! However, if you don’t feel like spending that much (and i’m sure most of us don’t), there are many ways in which you could save alot of money.

It is not necessary to buy the book spankin’ new, and so used books are a great alternative. After you have checked which books you need on the book list (insert URL), there are a number of ways in which you could go about finding textbooks at a reasonable price:

MacInsiders
- Connect with people on MacInsiders using the forums
- MacInsiders Marketplace

On Campus
- Titles Bookstore/The Tank
- Titles Used Book Classified

* Please note that Undercovers (McMaster's Used Book Store) closed as of April 30th, 2010*

Online Bookstores
- Amazon
- Abe Books
- Barnes & Noble
- Bookbyte (sells & buys back)
- eCampus (sells books at discounted rates)
- Chegg (you can buy, sell and rent!)
- moarBOOKS.ca (rental lasts for one semester, and it must be returned no later than 5 days after the end of final exams - you also have an option to buy it)
- LearnLink (Only for students in the Faculty of Health Sciences)

Facebook
- Facebook Marketplace

Digital
- Cafe Scribe (50% cheaper than buying the hard copy)
- Textbook Revolution (helps you find free online versions of your textbook)

Before you buy your textbooks, there are two important things you should keep in mind:
1. It is a good idea (but not necessary) to wait until after the first week to purchase textbooks. This is for two reasons:
- There is a chance that the prof has changed the course materials
- You may realize that you want to drop the class, and so if you don’t have the book, you won’t have to go through the hassle of returns. The lines at the bookstores are going to be a bit crazy for the first few weeks.

2. Custom Courseware – this is when the prof has put together their own “textbook” which consists of photocopied sheets. You can not buy custom courseware online nor is it a good idea to buy it from someone as it usually changes each year. Unfortunately, you have no choice but to pay the listed price in the bookstore.

So, you see. You have tons of options available for you to use. Start checking them out now so you can get the best available deal for your textbooks.

Good luck!

I get my books from Chapters (http://www.chapters.indigo.c a/) as well....if you have the discount card, it can be way cheaper than Amazon.

half.com does not ship to canada

Originally Posted by Abid.Hasan

half.com does not ship to canada

Ok, thanks. I'll take it off the list.

Try looking at Textchangebooks.ca
It's a student made website where people can post ads for books and you can email them and negotiate and all that kind of stuff.
It's free too, so if you wanna post an ad it's great as well!
And it's for most schools so if your a commuting student you might find someone with that book in your area.