20 Places to Buy, Sell, and Rent Cheap Textbooks Online

Textbooks
photo by Plutor

This guest post is by Karen Schweitzer from OnlineCollege.org

Buying university textbooks from a campus bookstore is expensive, and selling never yields as much as one would expect. Students who are looking to save money should go straight to the web. There are tons of places online offering deals that cannot be found in a campus store.

Here are 20 places where students can buy, sell, and rent cheap textbooks online:

Buy

JS Campus – JS Campus is the UK’s leading student bookseller. Students can receive regular deals on textbooks and shipping.

Better World Books – Students can buy both new and used textbooks through this online book seller. Shipping is cheap–only $3.97 worldwide.

Amazon Textbooks – Students who shop Amazon can save from 30 to 90 percent on new and used textbooks. Amazon is also a good source for study guides, reference books, and prep guides.

Buy.com – Buy.com is a great place to find cheap textbooks online. Students can choose from new and used books and can save more 10 percent off Amazon book pricing.

Powell’s – The largest independent book store in the world, Powell’s offers a wide variety of in-print and out-of-print textbooks at discounted prices.

Waterstone’s – Waterstone’s offers significant discounts on books and free shipping in the UK.

Blackwell – Nicknamed the "knowledge retailer", Blackwell has one of the largest collections of academic texts online. Books can be purchased new or secondhand.

Biblio – With millions of new and secondhand textbooks, chances are Biblio has the text you need. Biblio also features wonderful customer service for students who need help with textbook buying.

The Book Depository – This online book seller offers free worldwide delivery on textbooks and other academic texts.

iChapters – This unique site allows students to decide how they want to purchase textbooks. Students can buy an entire textbook or single chapters.

Sell

AbeBooks – Although they are better known for selling books, AbeBooks also has a buyback service for students who want to sell their textbooks. More than one million titles are eligible for buyback.

Student Books – This site offers a free place for students to auction their old textbooks. Sellers can also bid on other items.

Half.com – Students can use this eBay company to sell their textbooks to other people around the world. Half.com allows sellers to set their own price.

PriceMinister – PriceMinister is an excellent place to sell textbooks. Listing items is free and sellers are allowed to set their own price.

PlayTrade – PlayTrade is another favorite among students who want to make money off their textbooks and other old stuff. Selling on the site is easy and commissions are low.

UniTextbooks – Students can list old textbooks for free on this site and then arrange to meet the buyer face-to-face to avoid paying a seller commission.

Preloved – Preloved makes it easy for students to sell secondhand textbooks. There are no listing fees, no selling fees, and no commissions to pay.

Rent

YungJunk – This site offers more than one million textbooks that can be rented for free. Students pay only for the shipping.

Zilok – Students who want to find cheap textbooks online can rent books from other students through Zilok. The site allows buyers to name their price and decide how far they want to travel to get the books.

Find Guru – University students can search for rentable textbooks on Find Guru. Site members can also use Find Guru to rent out books.

Guest Post from Karen Schweitzer, the About.com Guide to Business School. Karen also writes about accredited online colleges for OnlineCollege.org.

12 thoughts on “20 Places to Buy, Sell, and Rent Cheap Textbooks Online

  1. Great list. I generally check out Dealoz.com before buying or selling any textbooks; I saw a flier for the site posted on a bulletin board at school and have been using it ever since. Dealoz.com shows prices from several online merchants all on one page so you can find the best price possible whether you are looking to buy or sell books. It reminds me of Pricewatch.com, but for books specifically…
    .-= Anna´s last blog ..By the way… =-.

  2. Rent your University and College textbooks in UK at Penpee.com and save up to 80% off the retail price. You can also sell your Used Textbooks at Penpee.com

  3. Dont buy or sell books at yungjunk. I sold 2 books at yungjunk and have been completely ignored by them. those were expensive books and its been 5 months. they never answer their phones or emails.

  4. You can also rent books at http://www.fishicle.co.uk. They offer a great service and the prices are very competitive. Students can rent their textbooks either for a Term or Semester. You can also renew your books if you need more time! The service is excellent!

  5. I only know that books could be bought from Amazon. But I think this list is very great for students who would like to buy or rent books. I wonder if there are some sites, which deliver books internationally.

  6. Other good places to buy cheap coursework or text books can be places like http://www.bookex.co.uk allow students to post up their books or post up “wanted” adverts so that students at that uni can buy books for the right course (if the book is from someone at that uni safe bet its for the same course/right course)

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