Ordering Books

If you are a science or math major, budget $200 a class for textbooks.  At least.

Otherwise, the best thing to do is get your books from people on campus who bought them used, took care of them, and want to break even.  You don't have to deal with shipping that way and you can look at the book before you buy it (and possibly smell it to make sure that that brown stain actually is soda).  When this isn't possible, amazon is the best place to go.  If your textbook comes with a CD, you really do have to buy it new because the used ones almost never have working CDs with them and then you are screwed.  Buy them all together so that you can save on shipping.

If you have never ordered things from Amazon before, you want to look for the best condition at the lowest price with the highest customer satisfaction rating.  Do your best to only compromise on one of these things.  "Like New", "Excellent", "Very Good", and "Good" are the only condition ratings that you should accept; never buy from anyone whose rating is less than 90%.  Keep an eye on the shipping charges because sometimes it is cheaper to get things new with free shipping than to buy them used plus four bucks for postage.

If the difference between used and new is less than ten dollars, just buy it new.  You'll be able to get more when you sell it back and you won't have to worry about your book randomly being defective (I had one that had one of those plastic spirals for a spine and some loony had taken the spiral out, rearranged the pages, and put it back together - please people, don't be sadists for crying out loud!)

Sometimes books seem way more expensive than they should be on amazon.  When this happens, go look at textbook trading sites to see if the price is in the right ballpark.

Very occasionally, amazon will make your day by randomly having books for less than a dollar in excellent condition.  If you are feeling particularly sneaky, buy like three of those books and then sell them to other people in your class for 10 bucks.  Feel bad for like 2 seconds and then get free starbucks and toast yourself for beating the system in your own small way.  Conniving people win.

If you are counting pennies to survive (who isn't?), start asking for amazon gift cards for birthday/Christmas instead of letting your aunt pick something and ending up with an ill-fitting pair of gloves again.  If you get two or three of these cards per gift-giving occasion, you might be able to cut your textbook costs in half.  Or you could buy a giant poster that says "Keep Calm and Tardis On" on it.  Your choice.