Catch Web deals to avoid costly textbooks

Purchasing textbooks should not cause one to feel bitter or
indignant. One should not have to rhetorically ask,
“That’s the USED price?”

And after the transaction, one should not be forced to eat
cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next few weeks.

If you are suffering from any of the above symptoms, then you
are doing something wrong.

Chances are you are placing yourself in perilous territory:
A-level Ackerman, the home of the Associated Students of UCLA
textbook store and its counterpart, the textbook buyback store.

While I think it is incredibly unwise to be spending money at
the textbook store and then trying to get it back at the textbook
buyback store, I have much empathy for those who make this costly
error.

You see, my first two quarters at this university, I spent a
combined total of $531.50 purchasing books from the campus textbook
store.

When I went to sell them back, I was told some of my books had
been replaced by newer editions, and would not be bought back,
while others were worth less than a dollar.

I did receive almost 35 percent of my money back for some larger
textbooks, but come spring quarter, I was sheepishly asking
relatives for money.

Fortunately, this would never happen again, because shortly
thereafter I made some new friends: Half.com and Amazon.com.

But before I tell you about the wonders of online stores, I want
to tell you a few things about my former friend, the ASUCLA
textbook store.

First of all, ASUCLA is not an evil company plotting your
financial ruin one textbook at a time. That’s what publishers
do.

Second, the student-run organization is a nonprofit that
provides many services that probably go mostly taken for
granted.

That convenient Web site that neatly displays all the books you
will need for your classes? Yup, provided by ASUCLA. Other perks
include wireless access at campus hot spots and free coffee during
finals week.

It’s undeniable that ASUCLA graces the campus with its
many services. But this fact makes me terribly sad because I just
can’t support the organization by buying its textbooks or
selling them back.

For students who must rely on themselves to pay tuition, rent
and any number of other things, the Internet simply provides the
better deal.

For example, the fourth edition of “Abnormal
Psychology,” complete with CD and InfoTrac, is a required
textbook for Psychology 127 and is currently being listed under
“Very Good Items” on Half.com for $75.

Even with shipping and handling, which is $3.25 per book, the
total is about 10 bucks less than the used price at the textbook
store, which is $88.75.

But how are you supposed to know if a book really is “Like
New”?

The first time I bought a used textbook off the Internet, I was
afraid it would have loose, coffee-stained pages. But Internet
sellers are actually pretty honest.

While I would love to attribute to their decency to an honorable
nature, my slightly more cynical side tells me it’s probably
the rating system, which allows buyers to rate transactions and
keep sellers accountable. Sellers know that future business depends
on their ratings.

And if you really want to be savvy, become a seller
yourself.

This isn’t as easy as just going to the buyback store, but
there are monetary incentives in seeking delayed gratification
rather than the instant kind.

Fourth-year electrical engineering student Derek Fong was able
to sell “Engineering Electromagnetics,” a book he used
for his electrical engineering class, for $100 from Half.com. He
had bought it new for $155 and would only have been able to get
back at about half of that through the textbook buyback store.

True, it will take additional work to list your textbooks and
ship them out, but I know I would gladly put in a little more
effort for a lot more moola.

“After listing the book for a week, I sold it for
approximately $30 more than UCLA buyback’s best offer. And
the process I took was simple and quick,” Fong said.

So get to know your online stores, especially if you hear your
wallet growling at night.

You will be able save money through purchasing textbooks for
less and selling them for more.

And if you are a penny-pincher like me, they just might become
your new best friends.

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