Being a student might turn out to be an expensive activity that might drain your family's budget, so you should always look for a way to save money. What some people don't realize is that textbooks are some of the most expensive things you'd spend your money on. One of the ways to save money on books is to find the cheapest place around and buy new and used textbooks at the lowest price possible. There are lots of places selling books at stellar prices, but you need to find the place where the books are cheap, so you could save your cash. Today, we will take a look at some tips on how to buy books cheaper and avoid redundant spending. Books are essential for your education, and you cannot really go far without them. Oftentimes, the professors would literally force you to buy books, so you have no choice but to look for the places where they sell books at lower prices.
Don't Buy at the Campus Store
These guys prey on lazy guys who don't want to make an extra step and go beyond the comfort zone. Usually, campus bookstores are much more expensive, so you should try to avoid those at all times unless there's no other place where you could buy a specific book. The prices there are much higher, so if you don't want to spend extra and are ready to spend some time looking for the textbooks you need, you should probably go check another bookstore.
You should also avoid bookstores around your university. Usually, any store a couple of blocks away around your campus and university would also target students and raise their tags to gain as much money as possible. If your goal is to save some cash, stay clear of these stores and buy either really far away from your educational facility or try other ways to find the book you need.
Contact Graduates
Graduates often resell their old textbooks, which is a great opportunity for you to get half price books in good condition. Just go online and find people who've just graduated from your university and ask if they have any textbooks left. In most cases, they will be more than happy to make an extra buck and they'll sell you their books at a much lower price. If the book you need is really common, something like Othello by Willian Shakespeare, you can contact almost anyone, maybe even some of your relatives or friends and get that read. Sometimes, they might even be so generous as to give you free books, if you are really lucky. Their books might be as good as new, and what makes them even better, is that they are either really inexpensive or completely free. You should totally try this tip out.
What you can also do is sell your old textbooks to younger students. Give them a low tag and you are sure to sell some and make some extra buck to buy the new textbooks for yourself. Not only will you financially benefit from it, but you will also help the next generation of students who might struggle to buy their textbooks just like you had. To make sure you get as much as possible from selling your book, keep it in good condition; this will keep its value higher.
Check Online Stores
Buying online is a good idea when you want to buy cheap books, so you should totally visit online bookstores that deliver to your place and order from there. No-print versions go at low prices, which is also a great option for you. Just download the pdf version of the book you need to your reader or laptop, and you'll have yourself that same book. Apart from being financially beneficial, it is also more convenient as you would not have to carry all the heavy textbooks around. Instead, you'll have a reader or a laptop with all of your textbooks saved on it.
Compare Prices and Choose the Lowest
When buying cheap textbooks online, you'll need to check out several stores as some of them might be even more affordable. Use a price comparison tool to find cheap books online - these can help you compare the prices at different online stores that deliver to your place and see which one is more affordable. More so, these price comparison tools can help you find a discount and get an even better deal. There are different apps you can find in your App Store and download for free to keep an eye on the new books you want to buy and save tons of money.
Another little tip here is adding the book you need to your wishlist. That way, you'll get a notification once it gets a discount. After that, you can order that book immediately and save yourself a good amount of money. This does not take much time but the benefit is immense.
Consider Buying Older Editions
If we are talking about disciplines that do not change much over the years, it might be reasonable to buy an older edition of that book you need. Of course, you should first ask your professor whether that older edition would suffice or not, and if it does, you can buy it. Older editions might have only slight differences compared to newer, so you might use those too. As said, you should first make sure whether that older edition is still relevant because you surely don't want to end up using an outdated book.
You should also consider international editions. If the book was published in several countries, chances are it might be more affordable abroad than it is in your country, so you might just order it from abroad. For instance, if you live in the US, ordering a book from Europe might be much more affordable.
Wrap Up
Books are essential for your learning, so you can't get far without those. Unfortunately, buying tons of new textbooks every year might be a real blow to your wallet. That is exactly why you should use those tips and tricks on how to buy affordable textbooks or even get some for free. Yes, it is more time consuming and less convenient than just going to the nearest store and just buying everything you need, but it surely is more cost-efficient.
