How to be Websmart

What to do

1. Get a list of the textbooks you need to buy as early as possible.

2. To save on college textbooks (both new and used), skip your campus bookstore and do a search at the following textbook search sites:

Abebooks.com Alibris.com ValoreBooks.com

We recommend searching via ISBN numbers. Shop among these sites, and purchase from the one that gives you the best value.

A little more

If you are a high school, college, law, medical or MBA student, bookmark this page, and use the three textbook search sites above to find cheap new and used copies of textbooks.

We know college textbooks are expensive. The good news is that some intelligent searching online can save you a lot of money on textbooks. A general rule to follow: if you are willing to buy used books and have enough time, you just about always will find a better deal for your textbooks online than in your university bookstore.

There are six reasons we recommend these textbook sites:

1. There search features are fast.
2. These three sites have return policies. If you are not happy with your books, you can return them. (See Abebooks Return Policy, Alibris Return Policy, ValoreBooks Return Policy).
3. Most of the time you are going to buy your textbooks from a bookstore, textbook company, or official bookseller (as opposed to an individual person). These sites provide accurate listings of available textbooks, and you can have the confidence of buying from a bookstore/company/bookseller.
4. These sites search for both used and new texbooks.
5. These sites search a diverse number of textbook sellers and resellers.
6. Abebooks and Alibris help you easily find stores that offer free shipping.

In short, you can search these three sites quickly, get pretty cheap prices, and the peace of mind of return policies.

It is important to note that these textbooks search engines do not actually sell any books. Rather, these sites aggregate and search a multitude of booksellers that sell textbooks and put it all in one place for your convenience.

How to Search

Here a couple hints to help you in your search for textbooks:

• If possible, search by ISBN Number. Searching by ISBN helps speed up your search considerably and makes sure you get the right book and edition that you want. When you search by author, you sometimes have to wade through results to find the book and edition you want.
• The earlier, the better. We can’t stress this point enough. If you know you are going to take a class, contact your professor’s ASAP to get a book list. Sometimes, shipping on these books can take up to two weeks. You’ll want to move as quickly as possible. Buying textbooks online is likely to save you a lot of money, but you need the time to get the books.
• Keep your eye on shipping costs. Since textbook search engines redirect you to other book stores, it is likely that you will have a separate shipping cost for each store you shop. Nevertheless, you will find that even with these extra shipping costs you are still probably going to save a lot more than purchasing at your campus bookstore.
• Think carefully about how you are going to use a book. Before you make any purchases, think about how you are going to use a book. Do you need it for a literature class? Are you going to read and discuss the book within a week and then move on? Maybe you don’t need to buy the book. Maybe you can just borrow a copy and save on purchasing an item you really aren’t going to use that often during the term.
• Ask your professors. Do you think I need to purchase this book for this course? Good professors will be honest with you about the amount of time you will spend on a textbook and can help you determine whether you really need to buy a book. Also don’t forget to ask professors if they have spare copies of required books for you to borrow.
• Think libraries and friends. One way to keep down textbook costs is to borrow books instead of buying them. There are a couple places you could look to borrow books:
• University libraries.
• Interlibrary loan. Many universities are part of a system called interlibrary loan (or something similar). Basically, that means you can request books from other libraries that are a part of the same interlibrary system. If that’s the case, borrowing a book you need from interlibrary loan can save you from buying the text.
• Local libraries. Check your local library for books you need. While local libraries may not be the best option for university level science textbooks, they tend to harbor literary classics and popular nonfiction.
• Friends. If you know people who have just taken a course you are going to take, ask them if they will lend you their books.

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Full Disclosure: The referral links in this article are: Abebooks.com, Alibris.com, ValoreBooks.com. You should know that we receive a referral commission of 5% for ever referral sale we provide to each of these sites. A ’sale’ occurs when you click through on one of the affiliate links, and make a purchase at the particular store in the applicable session. In other words, if you visit Abebooks.com, Alibris.com, or ValoreBooks.com without clicking through any related affiliate links on Howtobewebsmart.com, we do not make any money.

Please know that we develop the best strategies we can first. Only later do we try to find any relevant affiliate links. This strategy helps us save our users as much money, time, and effort as we can. Our full disclosure policy hopefully shows that our process is honest, and we believe you should consider it when you determine the usefulness of this article.

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