Cheap Textbooks

It doesn't matter if you're an incoming student or a current student, anybody will tell you that book prices are a drag. Nobody likes continuously being owned by super high bookstore prices. In this post, I'll be talking about how I've learned to work the system and avoid being owned by the bookstore.

Buy Online
If you already know what books you need before the quarter begins, simply search for the book online ahead of time so you'll be ready for the upcoming quarter. The website that I used throughout my entire college career to compare book prices online was DealOz or formerly CampusI.com. This website is kind of like a Google Product Search where it compares prices of a lot of popular merchants (i.e. Amazon, eBay, Half.com, etc) and gets the best prices (after shipping) for you with coupon codes and everything.

If you don't want to deal with shipping costs, check Facebook Marketplace or other websites like Uloop. Students will usually post the books they're trying to get rid of on these websites and would be willing to meet up to do the transaction. Therefore you avoid shipping costs and waiting for the book to actually get to you.

Search Online for eBooks/PDF versions of the book
Search torrent websites or just Google textbook titles adding "pdf" to the end of the search keyword. If you're lucky you'll find that some of your books have been uploaded by somebody else online and that you don't have to fork out any money to get the book. Usually these eBooks are hosted by Rapidshare or Megaupload or something, but beware, some of these websites might have viruses on them. The safest way is probably downloading these books via torrents. But I won't get too much into detail for that, just Google search it up yourself.

Use the Bookstore's Return Policy to Your Advantage
Unless it has changed, the bookstore's return policy states that you're able to return your book to the bookstore for a full refund before the end of the second week of a quarter. This allows people to return books if they decide to drop a class within that period. And that is where the loophole exists.

If your class has already started, and you lagged on getting the book for that class, just go to the bookstore and buy that book first (make sure that you buy one that is NOT in shrink wrap, or else you can't return it). Now you have that textbook for 2 weeks to stay on track for your class. Within that period, look for that book at a cheaper price online at DealOz or on Facebook or something and order it. When the book arrives, simply return the first book to the bookstore for your full refund and you basically get back the difference of the bookstore list price and the online price. You can usually find books online for 50% the price of the books in the bookstore, so although you fork out a lot of money initially, you'll be getting more money back in the long run.


Consider this post as a "SCREW YOU" to the publishing companies that release new editions every damn year and to UCSD bookstore's soaring prices. Take advantage of the system and I hope this post helps you save some green.