By Crystal Gross
The ordeal of buying books each semester awaits all students, but several new Web sites offer help for students looking to save money on book purchases.
By now, most college students have earned their degree in money stretching – the art of making 25 cents last for two weeks. And with trying to finance tuition, room and board, and pay for new health fees and other personal expenses, almost any University of Louisville student could be nearly a certified financial consultant.
Just kidding.
Nevertheless, each semester students must deal with the burden of buying costly textbooks on top of meeting all of their other financial obligations.
In 1997, Steve Loyola created Bestbookbuy.com, a web site designed specifically for comparing textbook prices.
“At first it was just a hobby, and then it turned into a small business,” Loyola stated. “Now there are 500 million books in our database. The site is very popular among college students, which makes sense because they have the biggest need. Over 100,000 students use the site.”
The web site’s search function allows students to find any book title needed. For example, a search for “Black Law Dictionary” spawned a long list, with partner stores such as Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com showing the books available. The list contained information about the books’ costs and physical conditions.
The site also has a feature allowing a student to compare book prices from other stores, thus locating the best deal. A new copy for the “Black Law Dictionary” was $62, compared to $70 price tag found on the University of Louisville bookstore’s web site.
While this may not seem like a big difference to some, a used copy could be bought online for just $53. For a student with scarce pocket change, just a few dollars in price can make all the difference.
A search for a new copy of “Essential Biology” had a listing of $110 on the U of L bookstore website. In comparison to a mere $89 from Bestwebbuys.com, this is a whopping difference in price.
Many sites have extra or hidden fees that could take a serious toll on an individual’s pockets, but ?Bestwebbuys.com shows the final cost of the book up front.
Loyola also went on to say, “half the books on [his] site are used.” Loyola used to compare prices on different sites, considering it a hobby. From there, he decided to make book shopping easier and less time consuming by putting everything all on one site. The site has proved to be quite a helpful idea, and it has been recognized by “Forbes” magazine as “Best of the web,” for online comparison shopping.
Theresa Smith, an employee for Pathway Communications said the site can save shoppers a lot of time. According to information Smith researched, “an average college student can spend up to $800 per year, and that’s not helpful when government is cutting $12.7 billion for aid, and tuition remains to increase.”
For the buyback policy, go to the site’s link, http://www.bestwebbuys.com/book/buyback.html and follow the directions. One can also check the return policy in case a class has to be dropped. And if a student gets an early start, then they can catch the good deals on shipping and sometimes special coupons and offers.
Another helpful hint is buying international editions. Loyola says, “International editions are a double advantage. They are cheaper. Sometimes because they are paperback, or might not have the CD-rom with it. But on the book it will say same as the US version. All you have to do is check to make sure it covers the same content you need. Sometimes you can save up to 90 percent.”
Loyola added that it might be too late for this semester, but next semester, students should order their books as early as they can because the cheaper used books sell very quickly.
Students should take into full consideration the benefits concerning their future book purchases. Some sites can save a student hundreds of dollars and then maybe buying books will not be such an agonizing ordeal.
