Tips for College Freshmen
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Some college freshmen are used to buying textbooks for their studies, and some are not; that depends on whether their high school was public or private and whether they took the AP courses. Former public school students might lack experience and flexibility when searching for the necessary books, as they are usually provided with materials needed by the school district. These schools are generally compelled to purchase books from a small variety of retailers due to bureaucratic regulations instead of opting for the cheapest alternative.
Nevertheless, after the start of the semester, acquiring books becomes each student's personal responsibility, and a search for a cheaper option becomes a logical objective. High school graduates who had to purchase their own books and didn't have a school bookshop are obviously more used to looking for textbooks on the websites like BooksRun. However, that's exactly what every student needs to know: there are many different web sources that sell affordable textbook options.
Fast delivery also makes buying a used book from a third-party seller a beneficial deal. Due to slow shipping, students are afraid of missing some important information during the first weeks. Therefore, they tend to buy much more expensive textbooks in the university bookstore. What the students don't consider is that the long-term experience of the reselling companies in this area makes the delivery process quick and streamlined. However, you should still learn about the books you need as early as possible and leave some time for delivery to avoid rushing to a college bookshop.
Bookstore manipulations
- Be careful when buying textbooks from college bookstores. To sell more and prevent students from looking for other places with better prices, they might use some tricks. While browsing through the official university bookstore website, you might be offered prices for various products, i.e., the price not only for a used textbook copy you were specifically looking for but also for a new or digital edition (which is usually much higher). Such a manner of presenting books makes you think that you're getting the best deal. However, you can find much more affordable offers in other places (like BooksRun).
- The "Online price matching" statement on the college bookstore websites doesn't always guarantee that the prices from the third-party sellers are included, as these offers are frequently more beneficial than the offers at the campus shop. When seeing such a claim on the website, check if it is plausible first.
- When seeing an opportunity for a buyback from a college bookstore, don't be 100% sure that it may actually happen. The store might refuse to take your book because the newer edition was published or the number of textbooks they needed was exceeded. Read more On Textbook Buyback.
