Don’t just take my word for it, the personal finance editor on CNN recommends AbeBooks.

Perhaps the biggest tip I can offer is buy early. Our inventory is constantly changing during textbook season and it’s common to see a cheap used textbook at 12 noon and by 1pm it’s been sold. The early birds catch the best prices.

If you want to learn more, check out our section dedicated to students and textbooks.

In the same way that checking online prices can help you save money when buying textbooks, checking the online buyback prices for textbooks is another really good way to ensure you are getting top dollar for your used books.

To sell your books you simply enter the ISBN(s) on AbeBooks buy-back page and you are instantly offered a competitive buy-back price. When you accept the offered price you open an account, complete your contact information, print the pre-paid mailing label and packing list, and mail the book(s) at any UPS outlet. A confirmation number is then issued and a cheque or online money transfer is sent to the student when the book(s) arrive.

All you have to do is go to http://buyback.abebooks.ca.
The Canadian textbook buyback will now join our UKand US buyback programs.

Students simply enter the ISBNs of any books they wish to sell on AbeBooks.co.uk’s buy-back page and they are instantly offered a competitive buy-back price. When the student accepts the offered price they open an account, complete their contact information, print the pre-paid postage label and packing list, and post the book(s) via the Royal Mail. A confirmation number is then issued and a cheque or online money transfer is sent to the student when the book(s) arrive.

Online textbook buyback has been running successfully in the US for some time, and we are quite excited to now have the option available for students in Britain.

Just because your school wouldn’t want to buy your textbooks back doesn’t mean that they are worthless. AbeBooks textbook buyback is on a national scale, so even if your local professors stopped using your book it may have value to a student in another state.

Also if you missed your buyback dates at the beginning of summer that’s ok our textbook buyback is year round.

According to the survey most students spend between $200-400 on their textbooks for one year, but an astounding 29% spend over $600 on textbooks alone.

Another interesting fact is that 23% of the students surveyed have purchased an electronic textbook in the past. While they are catching on students want to see a discount on the purchase price of the e-books with 32% of students expecting at least a 40% discount and a further 52% of students requiring a range of discounts from 60% and up to shed the physical copies.

I can definitely see e-books catching on as more people buy e-reading devices and laptops keep dropping in price however when it comes textbooks being able to write in the margin, trade with your classmates, and get out of a stuffy classroom and read under a tree are all features students desire.

So like I said in my last posts, go to AbeBooks , buy early, and find those cheap used copies!

Ask the professor if an old edition is acceptable. The best textbook deal I ever found was a $5 statistics book that I was able to use for two classes, and because a friend of mine had taken the class the semester before I knew that an old edition was acceptable for the class early enough to buy the cheap copy; $2.50 per course in textbooks was worth the bit of snooping in that instance.

Checking with classmates is also a good way to find out which books are really required and which books you can share with a friend.

Another often overlooked area for cheap books is English classes. The books are a lot cheaper then science texts but the poetry collections and classics like Chaucer and Shakespeare and be picked up dirt cheap on the internet. They may only be $5-$10 in the bookstore but they’re only $1 on AbeBooks.

1. Ask your profs to supply reading lists as early as possible, many of them have websites or blogs and a quick email could save you hundreds.

2. Compare AbeBooks prices to the bookstore prices, this will ensure you have found the cheapest textbooks and let you copy the ISBN to ensure you are getting the right textbook.

3. Search by ISBN, this way you are sure to have the exact book you are looking for and not a different edition

4. Compare our prices again – our stock changes hourly.

5. Order your textbooks early, by doing this you can ensure you buy the cheapest textbooks before other students, and you can save money with cheaper shipping methods.

6. Double up on your orders, most AbeBooks sellers offer discounted shipping when you order more then one item. So a book may be $2 cheaper from a different seller, but you might save $4 in shipping by ordering a second book from the same seller. So double check your orders.

7. Free shipping - look for booksellers offering free shipping

8. Buy local – choose from a bookseller in your area. The book will show up faster, and leave less of a carbon footprint if you choose a local bookseller. Plus you will be supporting a business in your own state or province.

9. Consider used textbooks – used copies will save you lots of money. You can take this one step further as well and ask your professor if an old edition will work for their class, and many old editions can be had for a couple dollars.

10. Sell your old textbooks to AbeBooks Buyback or another student at your school.

Today I want to explain why the early bird gets the cheapest textbooks. Just like with your local collage bookstore the cheapest books on AbeBooks are the used textbooks. These used textbooks are often 50% to 80% cheaper then their new counterparts, and are you best bet for saving the most money; which means everyone else will be gunning for the used copies as well.

Even though its only July check to see if your reading lists have been posted, the earlier you can order your textbooks the more money you will save.

The other bonus about buying early is you can order with standard shipping which also costs less!