12/21/2008

Textbook Revolution

Textbooks are more expensive today than ever before. New textbooks sold in brick and mortar bookstores that is. The Internet, on the other hand, is leading a Textbook Revolution that is changing the way merchants sell and students buy. Buying textbooks online is every student’s dream come true. They can buy them cheap, fast and easy and, on top of that, sell them back when they’re done. What else could they ask for?
Buy them cheap, fast and easy. Get cash back when you are done.

I’m not a student anymore. That’s a shame because my years in college were, hands down, the best years of my life. No responsibilities, lots of parties, sports, booze, some study and very little money to spend.

All good, with the exception of the little money part, of course. I remember myself having to pass on stuff I really wanted because I had to spend a lot of money in a bunch of textbooks that I wouldn’t use more than 10 times, at most. Back then, I had this strange cheeseburger scale to measure spending level. Each time I went to the campus bookstore and had to spend $100 in a book, the only thing I could think about was those 30 cheeseburgers I wouldn’t have because some guy somewhere was profiting out of students like me with little money and even less options.

That’s why I wish the Internet had arrived just 3 years before. Just 3 years and I would have had the money for more cheeseburgers than I could have ever eaten.

Because when the Internet arrived prices just deflated like a balloon in a cat party. And college textbooks weren’t the exception.

Not just because bookstores from all over the country compete among themselves in the most consumer-driven market on Earth; or because new textbooks can now be purchased online for a fraction of the store price. But also, and foremost, because used textbooks can be found easily online and can be bought for as little as 10% of the value that the exact same book has in a brick and mortar bookstore.

Furthermore, the moment the term ends and you get ready for spring brake or summer vacations, you don’t have to begin thinking what to do with those darn books that you probably won’t open again, ever.

Because now you just have to send them back to an online bookseller (the one from where you purchased them from if you’re smart), and then you will get cash (money, dough, dinero, currency, dollars), back so you can use it to... well, whatever you feel like using it for.

And, of course, you can also feel good about it because you are polluting less by purchasing online instead of driving to the bookstore, saving trees by purchasing a used book and extending the life value of it by using the cash back program.

You don’t believe me. You think this is too good to be true. Well, for all those non-believers I have nothing but the facts below. You want the truth, plain and simple, then just keep reading.

This book: Principles of Macroeconomics (ISBN: 0324319169), has a list price of $152.95, the NYU Bookstore sells it new for $146.00, and Abebooks.com lists it used from $7.00 + $4.49 shipping within the US. You save 92%!

Or, let’s say you like new books, which is perfectly fine. Then you could get a brand new copy of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine (ISBN: 0071466339), for $106.90 + $3.00 shipping within the US at Abebooks.com (sold at the NYU Bookstore for $199.95). You save 45%! And then, at the end of the term, you can sell it back to Abebooks (at buyback.abebooks.com) for $80.28. Sweet!

How many chances you have to help the environment while saving money and getting paid at the end? Not many, I’d presume. So, what are you waiting for? Go online, search for next term’s textbooks, sell your old ones, and stop wearing the same freaking outfit for every party because that math book cost 200 bucks!

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