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.