Monthly Archives: March 2012

Textbook Buying Tips

Posted by Jules Mariano in College, Textbooks |        on | 10

With the cost of textbooks rising every year, it’s not surprising that college students are doing everything possible to save. Publishers are notoriously trying to come up with new ways to make books a necessity for students, creating new editions yearly so that students are forced to buy yearly as well. While we can’t keep in line with how publishers do their business there are plenty of ways to really save on textbooks costs using sound textbook-buying methods and tips.

You can buy new books, used ones, rent, swap, or even request a copy of some pages just to get you going in class. Let’s take each of these one by one and see the pros and cons that comes with them. Here we go.

Buyback

Buying used textbooks can be very cost-effective especially if you’re trying to cut back spendings. Most students would go selling their used textbooks in hopes of getting enough money to fund their next purchase.

Get in touch with your college or university library if they are having a book buyback soon and see if there are selling used textbooks you will need for the next semester.

Buying new books

Buying new books may not sound like something you can do to save money but this should be the last option in your list. Reserve this for subjects that require intense use of textbooks for your major subjects where hardbound and paperback textbooks are required.

One thing you can do to reduce the price of new book purchases is to find deals and use coupons for some author books around. These coupons are available online or are sometimes given to students in libraries or college and private bookstores. Keep an eye on them as you visit these places.

You may also take advantage of bulk ordering where students come together to find fellow students who will need the same textbook. Order them from your university bookstore and get discounts from the publisher.

At the end of the semester or school year when you no longer need the textbook and you find yourself needing extra money, you can sell them online at BookGator.com or swap instead with people who has a textbook that you will need for the next semester. Amazon, Valore, Half.com, and Barnes and Nobles and whole lot of big names in the book publishing industry also conduct buyback on used books but they don’t offer much return on the initial investment people made on books so the search for companies that will make buying and selling of books easier and more profitable continues on the web.

There are some companies with web apps and mobile phone applications that you can download in your smartphone devices as well as in tablets like the iPad.

Rent textbooks

If buying a new book sounds a scary for your budget you can rent instead. Renting can be a huge assistance for students who don’t have the luxury and resources to buy new ones. We’re working really hard to make renting possible at BookGator.com so that students won’t have to go anywhere else to find books for rent.

But renting commands everyone to take good care of the books because getting them marked up has a corresponding fee. Vandalizing a book can get you pay more than actually buying a new book so make sure that you keep the book in excellent shape while it’s still with you so that you can have the highest appraisal for it once you join textbook buyback in your university or college.

Buy International Edition Textbooks

International edition textbooks are international counterpart to a US textbook.These textbooks have the same contents and pagination with page numbers having the same content as the originally printed US editions and often of the same paper quality. Due to a different manufacturing costs in the US and in countries outside the US, the costs to a textbook generally decrease which explains the wide difference in terms of cost.

eBooks

You may also take advantage of the eBook version of the textbook where you download it electronically and open it in your iPad or similar tablet devices and even smartphones. eBook versions are sometimes cheaper than the printed ones. It is important to realize at this point that not all type of books look great in eBook version so only the books that are heavy on text and not on images are best in this version.

Getting the best deal

All of the options above are good and choosing which ones best for you depends on your budget and present need. But not because you have all the means to buy all the books for your enrolled subjects doesn’t mean that you will need to buy every single book that you will use for the entire semester.

Think about other ways you can save money either by renting, buying, or swapping your books online. You may have better ideas. Tell us by leaving a comment below.

How it works

Posted by bookgator in Book, Books, College, Discount, Education, School, Student, Textbooks, University |        on , , , , , , , , , , | 17

www.BookGator.com is a social platform where students, instructors, and student interest groups can work together to reduce cost of textbooks and education in general.

So here’s how it works:

In three easy steps you can save tons of money on your textbooks:

Step 1 - Get registered with Bookgator.com with a simple registration process, or use your social network account (Facebook, twitter, Google)

Step 2 - Add textbooks that you are studying in the current term or studied in previous terms and still own in your Bookshelf, and add textbooks that you want for next term in your wish list.

 

Step 3 - Start trading books with your friends, students on campus, or nationwide. Each book you give to another student will credit your account with the full value of the book. You can use this credit to request books in your wish list from other students.

Also, if you don’t want to trade your textbooks for credits, you can still sell your books to students directly from the BookGator Marketplace.

Why Trading?

Today, students have many choices to buy textbooks, however, none of them are economical:

  • New textbooks cost an avg. of $175 (after discount)
  • Used textbooks cost an avg. of $145
  • e-Textbooks cost an avg. of $125 (with no buyback)
  • Rent textbooks cost an avg. of $80 (with no buyback)

The average buyback value of textbooks by online and college bookstores are around 50% of the used textbook’s market price.

So above chart shows that combination of Trading with other options can save you tons of money.

Your social bookstore!

Save money. Save time. Save trees.

We believe that every term textbook shopping should cost < $99 and not take > 9 minutes

Will Technology Replace Textbooks?

Posted by Jules Mariano in Books, Education |        on , , , | 5

With the coming of a new wave of technological innovation in mobile technology, the way people access educational resources such as books has changed. Much of the content that can be seen in books are now readily available on the web and this has forced many book publishers to start publishing books in eTextbook format instead of the usual print.

Mobile gadgets such as the iPad and other similar tablets has replaced the traditional textbooks and serve students with rich multimedia content. Applications which run in tablets and smartphone add features which further enrich the students’ learning experience.

Guilford Technical and Community College, Salem College, Wake Forest University, and Winston Salem State University have recently developed BioBook to Biology 101, a software that served to replace the traditional classroom books like life sciences and allow access to them in popular tablets available in the market today.

There has been a tremendous increase in how the books are used as well as the performance of students who are using them. Because the books are downloaded and stored in mobile gadgets, they are readily available and encourages more students to bring their textbooks in classroom no matter what mobile platforms they are used to using.

An overwhelming positive response was received by the participating universities about the use of the software and how it made learning easy for many students.

Similar educational programs such as the Bookshelf Project paved the way for old textbooks to join the ranks of the newer ones by reintegrating them into the stack of books available for students to read. The project aimed to make textbooks accessible by being able to read them remotely and eliminating the need to print hardbound books thereby saving trees. Also, the problem with having to take heavy books for home use is now eliminated. Thanks to downloadable eTextbook format of these reference books.

iPad, Nooks, Amazon Kindle, and other electronic reading devices are starting to see a promising future for the electronic versions of textbooks. Students now longer have to find textbook, it finds them.

Educational policy makers now understands that students actively participate in the creation and sharing of information as they participate heavily in social networking websites. The schools need to go where the students are to encourage learning and keep the students interested to learn. The Bookshelf Project understands this challenge and so they go where the students are.

The technology is fast replacing the many things we use to see and do in schools. Is this a bad sign or is this novel direction only form part of the natural evolution of education as a whole? Tell us in the by leaving a comment below.

About BookGator.com

Posted by bookgator in Book, Books, College, Discount, School, Student, Textbooks, University |        on , , , , , , , | 5

About 18 million college students in the United States buy an average of 8-10 textbooks each year.  Every term students have to go through the same painstaking process of buying and selling their textbooks. This takes much of their valuable time and money from their tight budget.

The textbook market is complex, and students have to pay for each piece of pie:

Furthermore, publishers release new editions of textbooks every 2-3 years on average. This reduces the older edition’s value owned by students by 90%. Students have no choice but to buy new textbooks at a high price and sell their copies at a very low price.

Nothing much has been done to resolve these problems.  Students still feel helpless. Some just skip buying textbooks altogether. Just imagine education without books!

But it’s time for a change! www.BookGator.com is now here to help students, faculty and student interest groups to break this status quo.

“www.BookGator.com is a social platform where students, instructors, and student interest groups can work together to reduce cost of textbooks and education in general.”

So here’s how it works:

In three easy steps you can save tons of money on your textbooks:

Step 1 - Get registered with Bookgator.com with a simple registration process, or use your social network account (Facebook, twitter, Google)

Step 2 - Add textbooks that you are studying in the current term or studied in previous terms and still own in your Bookshelf, and add textbooks that you want for next term in your wish list.

Step 3 - Start trading books with your friends, students on campus, or nationwide. Each book you give to another student will credit your account with the full value of the book. You can use this credit to request books in your wish list from other students.

Also, if you don’t want to trade your textbooks for credits, you can still sell your books to students directly from the BookGator Marketplace.

Why Trading?

Today, students have many choices to buy textbooks, however, none of them are economical:

  • New textbooks cost an avg. of $175 (after discount)
  • Used textbooks cost an avg. of $145 
  • e-Textbooks cost an avg. of $125 (with no buyback)
  • Rent textbooks cost an avg. of $80 (with no buyback)

The average buyback value of textbooks by online and college bookstores are around 50% of the used textbook’s market price.

So above chart shows that combination of Trading with other options can save you tons of money.

Your social bookstore!

Save money. Save time. Save trees.

We believe that every term textbook shopping should cost < $99 and not take > 9 minutes

Everything that Students want…

Posted by bookgator in Book, Books, College, Discount, Education, School, Student, University |        on , , , , , , , , | 7

YOUR SOCIAL BOOKSTORE!
Save money. Save time. Save trees.

We believe that every term textbook shopping should cost < $99 and not take > 9 minutes

To make your student life easier, BOOKGATOR will be introducing following features for you…

  • Swap/Trade with Members
  • Student-2-Student Marketplace
  • Your Online Textbook Bookshelf

Process is as easy as 1,2,3….

Flow diagram

 

Sign up now and save 99% on your textbooks.