1) Plan ahead, purchase early. Use our textbook price comparison tool and order online with as much time as possible prior to the course to ensure you receive your cheaper textbook on time. The closer the seller is, the sooner you will have your college textbooks. Do not buy books that ship from India unless you are prepared to wait as long as you would think it would take for textbooks to get to your home from India (in other words, ordering from states close to you is smart).

2) Ask your professors about older editions. The bookstore could be carrying a new edition although an older edition may be acceptable. If an older edition is acceptable, you can save extreme amounts on college books!

3) Plan on purchasing your texts according to the course syllabus. Often times college textbooks will not be scheduled for reading until six or seven weeks into the quarter. If timeliness of arrival is a concern, using textbook price comparison ordering these titles online leaves plenty of time for arrival.

4) Beware of customized editions! Publishers will occasionally encourage professors to assign "custom editions" to their courses; these university-specific texts are costly and provide virtually no buyback value after use. These school-specific texts are nothing more than abridged versions of the original text. Check the SlugBooks student listings for textbooks - often the full version of the book is available for less, in addition to a higher buyback value.

5) ALWAYS COMPARE PRICES. There isn't one site or option that is always the cheapest. Factor in the total cost of ownership when you buy or rent a book (buying a book and then selling it to someone when you're done with it might return more money than if you rent the book or downloaddiscount eBooks. Digital textbooks in particular are tricky - when compared with the new price, they seem like a great deal, but they are often short term rentals and rarely are they cheaper than used books.

6) Get higher buyback rates, sell to other students. There are many ways to maximize your return on books at the end of the quarter. You can keep your used textbooks and save them for the next quarter the textbook is offered. If you are impatient, list your cheap textbooks for sale on Amazon.com's marketplace. Similar to how you can SAVE hundred of dollars by comparing prices, you can also MAKE hundreds of dollars by selling your textbooks to other students. For a step by step of how to create a marketplace account and begin selling books, click here.

7) Pay attention to seller location and seller ratings when purchasing from Amazon's or other third party vendors. Pay attention to the seller's location, overall rating and the quantity of ratings. A higher value in both ratings results in a more pleasant buying experience, and a closer seller drastically reduces the amount of time you are waiting for your book; take note of the seller's state before purchasing your textbook.

8) Check your college's libraries for your books before anywhere else. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you find. The textbook price comparison option with the lowest price might be free!