Tips for Maximum Textbook Savings
1) Plan ahead, purchase early. Order online with as much time as possible prior to the course to ensure you receive your book on time. The closer the seller is, the sooner you will have your book. Do not buy a book that is shipping from India unless you are prepared to wait as long as you would think it would take for a book to get to California from India.
2) Ask your professors about older editions. The bookstore could be carrying a new edition although an older edition may be acceptable. If an older edition is acceptable, you can save extreme amounts! In questionable cases where a new edition has come out recently, the SlugBooks.com team tries to e-mail the professor for the most accurate information.
3) Plan your book purchases according to the course syllabus. Often times books will not be scheduled for reading until six or seven weeks into the quarter. If timeliness of arrival is a concern, ordering these books online leaves plenty of time for arrival.
4) Beware of customized editions! Publishers will occasionally encourage professors to assign "customized editions" to their courses; these university-specific texts are costly and provide virtually no buyback value after use. The customized editions are nothing more than abridged versions of the original text. Check the slugbooks.com listings for cheaper alternatives - often the full version of the book is available for less, in addition to a higher buyback value.
5) Get higher buyback rates, sell to other students. There are many ways to maximize your return on textbooks at the end of the quarter. You can keep them and save them for the next quarter the book is offered. If you are an impatient slug, like us, list your texts for sale on Amazon.com's marketplace. Similar to how you can SAVE hundreds of dollars with more information, you can also MAKE hundreds of dollars. For a step by step of how to create a marketplace account and begin selling books, click here
6) Pay attention to seller location and seller ratings when purchasing from Amazon's third party vendors. Pay attention to the seller's location, overall rating and the quantity of ratings. A higher value in both ratings results in a more pleasant buying experience, and a closer seller drastically reduces the amount of time you are waiting for your book; take note of the seller's state before purchasing your book.
7) Check your college's libraries for your texts before anywhere else. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you find.