I just wanted to show you the proof of how my posts will really help in real life. This semester, as usual, I followed the procedure I described to you in, “Is This a Book or a Brick of Gold? “ and saved a boat-load of money.
I was lucky and only needed three books for this semester (one class doesn’t have a book and I took it light on the course-load since I’m nearly finished with my degree [I will graduate in the spring]). If I had bought brand new books at my university’s book store I would have spent $386.75 and if I bought those same books used at my university’s book store I would have spent $290.25. Only two of the three books I needed for the semester were available for rent at my university book store.
So what did I end up doing? I bought one book used called Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos on Chegg.com for $41.90 (including shipping and taxes). This was $16.10 less expensive than the new book at my university book store and $1.60 less than the used book. I rented the other two books Materials Science and Engineering an Introduction, and A First Course in Probability on ecampus.com. The materials science textbook was only $66.14 compared to the new book price of $193.25 and the used book price of $145.00 (there was no option to rent) at the university book store. The probability book was $39.84 compared to new book price of $135.50 and the used book price of $101.75 or the rental price of $67.68 at the university book store.
So in total I paid $147.88 for all three books. As you might have noticed that is less than the new price of just one of the books. I also can figure in additional savings because I went through the Upromise website to “purchase” this semester’s textbooks. Chegg.com gave me 4% back of my total purchase and ecampus.com gave me 3% of my total purchase. There were several other well-known textbook websites to choose from on Upromise, but I went with the sites that gave the best overall prices (this was a combination of cash back and total purchase price).
After figuring in the Upromise money I saved a total of $243.73 compared to buying new textbooks at my campus book store and saved $147.23 compared to buying used books. Granted I have not figured in sell back prices, but typically when you sell a book back you can’t expect more than 50% of the used book price back. Even if I factor the sell back prices in with the 50% best case scenario I still saved money over buying new or used books on campus.
I bought these books on Friday (8/5/11) and will be expecting my last book to arrive on Monday (8/15/11). I did not pay for expedited shipping and I won’t have to worry about my books not arriving in time for the start of classes.
I just thought I would share this information with you to show that with a little advanced planning and a small amount of research significant savings can be made. The other plus to this whole method of getting books for the semester: I didn’t have to wait in line or fight for a parking spot on campus. I got to buy my books in my pajamas!
