I hate buying school books

[ryan]

At the beginning of every term I remember why I hate publishers so much. This term I had to buy only two books so far. They are both about 16cm by 23cm and have a thickness of 2cm. They are both soft cover. Small books like these should not cost very much to produce. But to buy these set me back a WHOPPING $275. ON TWO SMALL SOFT COVER BOOKS. It is such a f---ing rip-off. They can charge whatever they please because they know that students need to buy these books. F--- publishers. The funny part is that my professor actually wrote one of the books, and the publisher won't let him distribute copies to his own students at a cheaper price... augh!

 

[xLadyKx]

Did you scour the internet for cheaper used ones? Or did you buy new from the school's bookstore?

Sorry. I know the feeling. I've been to three different colleges, but twice my books were paid by financial aid.

 

[Goshogun1]

It makes no freaking sense to overprice textbooks so much, because students are generally though of being poor. They already pay so much just to get in, and then they are charged $100 for a $30 book. Talk about a racket. Yeah, I can't wait to spend $300 in a few weeks.

 

[ryan]

Did you scour the internet for cheaper used ones? Or did you buy new from the school's bookstore?

Sorry. I know the feeling. I've been to three different colleges, but twice my books were paid by financial aid.

I just quickly checked out Amazon, and the book prices were actually more expensive! So I decided to just give in and get them new from my school's bookstore. There weren't many used copies - the only ones left were absolutely haggard looking, for not that much of a discount anyway. $100 for a disgusting written-all-over creased-up textbook, or $130 for the brand new one...

 

[Lockon Stratos]

Oo good luck finding the book!

 

[JPH]

The good thing about it is that when your courses are over, you can turn them in for a good wad of cash (supplying you keep the books in good condition).

 

[Raven Darkheart]

amazon is only good for softcovered books. check out some college textbook sites instead

 

[Gumble]

amazon is only good for softcovered books. check out some college textbook sites instead

care to give a link to a good one?

The ones I've looked at before, while they do have cheaper prices, the shipping is generally over the top.

 

[xalphax]

use ebooks

there... i said it

 

[ryan]

The good thing about it is that when your courses are over, you can turn them in for a good wad of cash (supplying you keep the books in good condition).

Haha - My school gives you the same flat rate regardless of the condition (they rip you off). It's hard to sell textbooks independently - especially when the editions change so often. Which is why I'm stuck with a microeconomics textbook.

QUOTE(Raven Darkheart @ Jan 6 2009, 05:22 PM) amazon is only good for softcovered books. check out some college textbook sites instead

Most of my textbooks are soft cover... but what other sites are there?

 

[yuyuyup]

Just a few small books, get a cheap scanner, scan em and read em on yer DS/smartphone/pmp/psp/whatever

 

[ryan]

Just a few small books, get a cheap scanner, scan em and read em on yer DS/smartphone/pmp/psp/whatever

By the time you finished scanning and sorting out all those images the term would be over. lol

 

[Raven Darkheart]

The good thing about it is that when your courses are over, you can turn them in for a good wad of cash (supplying you keep the books in good condition).

Haha - My school gives you the same flat rate regardless of the condition (they rip you off). It's hard to sell textbooks independently - especially when the editions change so often. Which is why I'm stuck with a microeconomics textbook.

QUOTE(Raven Darkheart @ Jan 6 2009, 05:22 PM) amazon is only good for softcovered books. check out some college textbook sites instead

Most of my textbooks are soft cover... but what other sites are there?

by softcover i meant like books for english type reading

cheapbooks.com, valorebooks.com?

 

[Doomsday Forte]

The good thing about it is that when your courses are over, you can turn them in for a good wad of cash (supplying you keep the books in good condition).

"I spent $800 on my books, and (when I went to sell them back to the bookstore) I only got $8 back."

I've made out a bit better, nearly $500 total in cost and I got around $35-50 back, but still.

If it's one of those books that has an edition, try to get a previous one. Most of the time, all they do to the newest edition is add a little bit of info and make the previous version generally unusable, but previous editions are usually cheaper. Just the teacher will probably draw reference to the newest one, so it won't be an easy go of things.

 

[Raven Darkheart]

never sell back to the school bookstore
make flyers and post them around campus

list reasonable prices for them

 

[ryan]

Does anybody want to buy a DS game? I'll throw in a practically new microeconomics textbook and study guide! Only $70!

 

[moozxy]

I spent £80 on my textbooks this year. Would've had to have spent £250~ but I bought mine second hand from second year students.

 

[nin10do]

most students never bother to go to the one place where they can get FREE BOOKS. thats right such a place exists. its called a library. and no it's not just for making out in the back room. there is usually some good stuff you can find in there... i'm still talking about books.

also... torrents=free ebooks (and pr0n).

 

[Canonbeat234]

Me too! I hate buying books from college and you can't sell those back without hearing the cashier going like 'no someone bought us with pages torn out' or 'this book isn't resalable' something along those lines.

 

[ryan]

Me too! I hate buying books from college and you can't sell those back without hearing the cashier going like 'no someone bought us with pages torn out' or 'this book isn't resalable' something along those lines.

Even if they do take it back, you only end up getting 20% of it's worth, while they turn around and resell it as used at 75%.