Used Textbooks or New Textbooks?

At this time of year, it’s always a struggle to decide if you should save money up front by purchasing used textbooks (when they still apply, that is, given how often they change) or if you should pony up the extra dough for new ones that will have a higher trade-in/buy-back value at the end of the year. Decisions, decisions…

Of course, you can always hedge your bets by finding places to purchase new textbooks at a discount… In the past, I’ve usually done a mix. (Not always by choice – again, schools and especially teacher/writers like to change the material often to create built-in obsolence, thus future sales!!) I don’t like to buy used books if they have a ton of highlighting/underlining by someone else, but I also hate paying full retail when I don’t have to.

If you’re looking for a great price, here are some of the places I’ve found that often have great used books, new books and a mix of both. There’s even a place where you can read them in a digital version or print them out for yourself at an amazing discount:

Amazon.com Textbook Store – Up to 30% Off

iChapters – eBooks are always 50% off the textbook print version

eBay – Over 130,000 New and Used Textbooks