Comments on: Why Are College Textbooks so Expensive?

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:07:02 +0000

I use http://www.mybooksforcheap.com it’s free to sell and you exchange from others at your school. For buying books its nice because it searches a bunch of site with just one search.

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:17:56 +0000

thanks Jessica, I buy 2 textbooks from Cocomartini.com online bookstore. Save me $200. Thank you very much.

YoYo

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:34:57 +0000

I have purchased books from many different sites but I use a textbook price comparison site like campusbooks.com to see which site I should use. It is free.

To save myself time at the end of the semester I use the buyback tool on the site to see what the book is worth before I head to the buyback counter. That way when they offer me nothing I know I have other options.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:23:39 +0000

I will select some online bookstore for buy textbooks. E.g. Cocomartini.com

Big discounts and all textbooks are Brand new. I save more then $300.

Then, I no need to worry about how to sell back. Good!

By: Making Our Way

Making Our Way — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 15:32:54 +0000

I’ve had the pleasure of taking classes pre-amazon.com / pre-half.com and more recently.
It’s amazing how different things are.
I have to admit I usually save my texts for future reference, so I focussed on buying cheaper – usually used books.
Even in the old days there were used bookstores off campus that offered good discounts. You did have to look around for them.
I agree that the library copies were seldom available.
Today I go to http://www.abebooks.com to find cheap used books. It’s a metasearch of the various used bookstores. For the class I’m currently taking it worked well. Amazon is also helpful, but I think it’s a bit more expensive than abebooks.com.

Here’s an article I wrote in March on the cheapest ways to buy books:
http://makingourway.blogspot.com/2006/03/cheapest-way-to-buy-books-on-line-or.html.

Have a wonderful Thursday,
makingourway

By: MoneyDummy

MoneyDummy — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 03:11:52 +0000

I’ve always loved the textbook story my father told me. This was, of course, YEARS ago and there was no Amazon, Internet, or anything.

Like us, he hated getting messed over by the buy-a-used-book-for five-cents-and-sell-it-for-25.00 scheme, so he sauntered into the bookstore one day, opened up the cover of one of the sales versions of a textbook he owned, and slid a card in. The card said, “Want to buy this book for 15.00 less than you can get it here? Call . . . ”

I’ve always thought that was a great story.

By: Cecilia

Cecilia — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 01:48:06 +0000

There was a class I took that had 3 “required” books and 15 “recommended” books; it came to a grand total of ~$600. Ouch. What we did was a “mini-library” — the three of us each bought one of the required books and two of the recommended books. The rest, if actually needed, we figured we could obtain through swapping or borrowing from the campus library. It worked out beautifully. Not only did we save money, but we learned more from studying together.

The downside to relying on the library is that the books are always checked out. Some required texts were checked out even before the semester started!

By: Swintah

Swintah — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 20:37:14 +0000

I do what Brian does – I quit buying texts. There either unnecessary, on reserve at the library, or easy to borrow. Thie semester I saed over 400 dollars. BTW, I’m a Personal Finance Major – and I enjoy the blog.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 19:52:31 +0000

Toward the end of my college career I just stopped buying text books all together… you learn after a while that most classes didn’t really use them (tests were based of in-class lecture material) and if they were required (usually for assignments) I’d be sure to join a study group with others that did have them.

By: Unknown Professor

Unknown Professor — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 18:18:57 +0000

I’m by no means an expert in this area. However, I have talked with colleagues on occasion. So let me respond to a couple of the commenters.

JLP was correct – the pricing scheme is due to the fact that textbook sales were a “local monopoly” in the pre-internet days. Bookstores could repurchase books in bulk and even trade them between themselves. With no outside options, the students had little sellijng power. Now, with the web (and sites like those mentioned), prices get driven down closer to their costs.

Vladimir: I doubt that “we” could do much to pressure distributors. Remember ECON 101- prices are not driven by costs (whether of production or distribution), but by the interaction of supply and demand. As online alternatives become more well known, prices will of necessity drop to compete.

MB: the typical royalty for textbooks is probably between from 12-25% (at least based on conversations I’ve had with colleagues. For most faculty (at least in law opr business), a textbook is not a real money maker. For a few (i.e. if you have the leading text in a required core course), it can run into the mid to high 6 figures.