It's Time to go Back to School!
Written: Sep 30 '02
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Purchasing college textbooks is a pain and a financial debacle for many students. Prices for textbooks are much higher than for other types of books, forcing students to either seek out better deals on new books, or buy books that have been previously owned.
Many web services offer textbooks for sale. Traditional sites like Amazon.com are always there to lend a helping hand to the textbook buyer, but there are also sites that specialize in the buying and selling of textbooks. One site is textbookx.com, an on- line resource for students looking to cut down on the high cost of college.
What Does This Site Have to Offer?:
Buying a Book-Textbookx.com is primarily a resource to buy college textbooks. To look for a book, you need either the author’s name, title, ISBN#, or a keyword. The search engine will look for books that most closely match your criteria.
If you don’t have any of the above information, or if you would rather just browse through the categories, you can elect to search by subject instead. There are about 50 different academic subject areas to choose from, such as economics, engineering, photography, education, political science, and most any other subject that relates to college study.
The search results give the buyer several options (if they are applicable). You will see a quoted price to buy the book new (if it’s still in print), a price to buy the book used, directly through the site, and possibly a price to buy the book from another person who wants to sell that title. Don’t expect that you will always be able to purchase a book used, because it may not be available as used.
Selling a Book- Textbookx.com also has an area that handles book sales. It works in a similar way to Amazon.com and other on- line web services. You just establish an account and enter the relevant information about the textbooks that you want to sell. Your books are then added to the database where they will remain until a potential buyer is located.
If you manage to sell your books, you can choose to receive the money directly or receive a store credit. If you decide that you want a store credit, Textbookx.com will add 5 percent to the value of your proceeds.
Other Services:
Besides college textbooks, this site does offer other books for sale, too. You can buy general books on subjects that relate to college courses, but you won’t necessarily find books on any generic subject. For example, you might be able to find a book about comparative economic systems, written by a well- known author because this relates to a college subject. On the other hand, you won’t be able to find a biography on your favorite Hollywood star because that has nothing to do with college or university courses. If you want books like that, you will need to consult a different source.
Buying/selling books is the only thing offered in Textbookx.com. You can’t buy supplies, calculators, or other college- related materials. Books are it, with this service.
Shipping Charges:
Textbookx.com does add charges for shipment and the level you will have to pay depends on the shipment method that you select. If you choose economy shipping, the current rate is $2.59 per order plus $.99 per book and you can expect your delivery to arrive between 4 and 14 days. If you need faster service, you can choose standard shipping which costs $4.49 per order plus $.99 per book. The fastest service offered is Airborne Express, which will cost you from $7.00 on up, depending on the weight of the order. With Airborne Express, you can expect to receive your order in 1 or 2 days. The credit cards accepted are Visa, Master Card, American Express, and Discover.
Textbookx.com cannot ship any orders outside the United States, so its services are limited to U.S residents. Also, if you need to make a return, you have 30 days to send back the unwanted books, but you need to keep in mind that it will cost you a fee equal to 10 percent of your original order.
Final Thoughts:
College textbooks are expensive, so it isn’t surprising that many college students turn to the internet to shop for bargains. I teach junior- level finance at a local university and I am always looking for ways to help save my students a little bit of money. I was told about this site from a fellow professor who said that it sometimes contained some good bargains.
I had no problem finding my textbook in this site. The search function was fast and easy to use. But I discovered that the quoted price of $111.98 was exactly the same as the university book store. The site also offered a used version for $74.28 (about $2.00 more than my college’s book store) and a used version being offered for sale by another student for $70. Only this latter offer was lower than the price that I could pay in the university bookstore. When shipping is factored in, the price that I would pay, using this site, is $115.56. There is no sales tax to pay (unless you live in Connecticut) so the overall price is a little less than I would pay for the same new book at my college store. With 6% sales tax, my bookstore would cost me $118.70. So, using Textbook.com would save me a total of $3.14 over the university bookstore price. The used versions offer similar savings. This isn’t a very large amount of money, but given the financial conditions that some students face, a savings of even three dollars or more could prove to be a gold mine.
Prices on other books in this site, however, are not discounted and many of them are, in fact, higher than one would pay using a different service. Compared to, say, Amazon.com, I found that textbooks are a little less expensive but regular books are more expensive. Because of this, I recommend using this site only for textbooks.
If you decide to use a site like this, you need to be careful. College textbooks often come in many different editions. You need to make sure that the one you are buying is the correct edition. As a general rule, if you come across a price that seems to good to be true, it’s probably because the edition is outdated. Also, you need to consider the time factor. If you need your book asap, then using this site might prove to be impractical. They do offer Airborne Express shipping, but the charges could very well make the overall price higher than you would pay at your local college bookstore, even with the sales tax added in.
Overall, this seems like a decent site. I like it better than other college textbook on- line retailers. It doesn’t offer a huge selection of miscellaneous books, but it does offer a wide selection of college textbooks and the prices are competitive. If you don’t need your books in a very short period of time and/or if you have several that need to be purchased at once, then Textbookx.com could prove to be a wise and frugal place to shop for books. It’s a helpful resource for students.
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Member: Bryan Carey
Location: Houston, TX
Reviews written: 3614
Trusted by: 1570 members
About Me: Beer Drinker and Libertarian Political Activist. Great Combination, eh?
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