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In this review:
  1. Cheap College Textbooks
  2. Cheap Textbooks Online
  3. Textbooks Websites Reviews
  4. Discount College Textbooks Features Comparison Table
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College Textbooks Features

Cheap Textbooks Online: Rent or Buy?

If you decide to go with a cheap textbooks online service, you have two options: buy or rent. Most sites do one or the other, but some, such as eCampus.com and Chegg.com, do both.
There are pros and cons to each choice.

An About.com guide on college life recommends that you consider how you'll use your books before deciding whether to buy or rent. Your major may require that you reference old material even as you move into advanced courses, or you may be an English major taking a required math course and will never need the textbook again. Buying a book means you keep it as long as you want, whereas cheap textbooks online rentals like Chegg.com let you keep the book for only a semester (or the dates that coincide with the actual course). You may prefer to buy because the prospect of getting money back at the end of the semester is appealing. Or you might choose to follow the advice of a Wall Street Journal reporter who asserts that renting is cheaper than buying either used or new books.

Textbooks price comparison:
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But bear in mind that sometimes you can't sell a book back. If a new edition is coming out, if the book is seriously damaged, or for no obvious reason, a site may refuse to purchase the one you own. Cheap textbook rentals sites seem less forgiving of damage or heavy writing or highlighting but some charge fees if you return the book in worse condition.

A blogger at Debtfreescholar.com writes that major cheap textbooks online rental sites, such as BookRenter.com, CampusBookRentals.com, and Chegg.com, sell new and used textbooks at 50% to 85% off list price. ECampus.com claims that it shaves 20% to 50% off the retail price, while CampusBooks.com reports a whopping 95% discount in some cases. At Textbooks.com, for example, you can buy a new copy of Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism for $178.92, the highest price for this book we could find; used, the book costs $127.80. Renting the same book from Chegg.com for $77.49 would save you heaps. In looking at prices for new books alone, CampusGrotto.com found the cheapest textbook rentals at Chegg.com and the cheapest textbooks purchase prices at Bookbyte.com.

Cheap Textbooks Shipping.

Cheap textbook websites charge shipping fees, but some offer deals depending on the size of your order. Textbooks.com, for instance, offers free ground shipping for orders costing more than $25, and eCampus.com drops the shipping fee for orders totaling more than $59. Also, check whether the cheap textbooks online service charges to ship books back. It's great if you can make back a lot of what you paid when you sell the book, but shelling out $30 for shipping will put a damper on that. Some cheap textbooks online rentals allow you to return books for free; Chegg.com lets you print a prepaid shipping label straight from the site.

Review continues below

On-time delivery matters in this business because you typically need your books the day the course starts. Most cheap college textbook websites use third-party sellers to expand their lists of titles, which means you might receive shipments at different times. This may not matter if you plan and order ahead, but if it's the week before class starts, you could be out of luck. Although TextbooksRUs.com earns high marks from Campus Grotto for selling new books cheaply, several students posting on Epinions report that their orders did not arrive on time, and sometimes not at all.

It's also worth checking if the potential site charges to send books back, regardless of the reason. CampusBookRentals.com, for instance, has a 30-day risk-free returns policy (if you haven't damaged the book); most other sites we researched have similar rules.

Textbooks price comparison:
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Back to School, Books, College, College Textbooks, Digital Readers, eBook Readers, eBooks, Laptop Bags, Laptops, Netbooks, Students, Textbooks

Best Cheap Textbook Websites

Chegg.com
Gold Medal

Chegg.com

Chegg.com is primarily a textbook rental site, though it does let you buy discounted books as well as sell textbooks on the site for credit or cash. And you can ship books back at the end of the term for free, which is a huge bonus for the cash-strapped. Users report customer service representatives are helpful with questions or issues concerning their orders. Read more »
College Textbooks Deals
Rent Textbooks & Save 65-85%
Textbooks.com
Gold Medal

Textbooks.com

Textbooks.com generally sells books at lower prices than the competition and earns good marks from student reviewers for customer service, book condition, and delivery. Other standout features include a large inventory of more than 7 million books and free ground shipping for orders over $25. Read more »
College Textbooks Deals
Textbooks.com

Good Cheap Textbook Sites

eCampus.com

Although the prices are a little higher than the competition, eCampus.com has a good stock of books and other items, according to student customers. This textbooks website offers free shipping on orders of $59 or more and lets you buy, rent, or order ebooks, which you can use immediately. Some reviewers complain about problems with delivery. Read more »
College Textbooks Deals
eCampus.com - Easy. Fast. Cheap.
 
 
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Don't Bother Cheap Textbook Websites

Textbookx.com

Textbookx.com sells books at higher prices than most other web vendors, and draws negative reviews from students about limited access to customer service. Read more »

Bookbyte.com

Bookbyte.com has a history of refusing to buy back books without explanation, causing students to lose money they were expecting to see again. Read more »

 
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