Do comparison shopping for college textbooks online

Clark Howard's Tips

August 27, 2007

Clark has one bit of advice for anyone who doesn't want to pay those hefty prices for college textbooks. His daughter's roommate spent $580 on books for class, while his daughter has to pay $135 for one book! Clark says to shop around for the books online.

CheapestBookPrice.com, AllBookstores.com, Biblio.com, AbeBooks.com, A1Books.com, BookFinder.com, ValoreBooks.com and Textbook411.com are all good sites for this purpose.

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Consumer Tips
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Find more consumer advice in Clark Howard's book, "Get Clark Smart"

Amazon is also doing big business selling college text books, and there are some British book websites that offer science textbooks for about 40 percent off the domestic price (even when you factor in the cost of international shipping.)

Don't buy your books before class starts. Go the first day and ask your professor if you can buy a prior edition and try to find it used.

More Clark Howard Consumer Tips

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Is it time to raise your homeowner's coverage?
A bust, a bailout and new mortgage lending rules
Pay attention to foreclosures at the risk of missing other deals
Hotels deals, baggage warning for travelers
GM launches 2 new sales initiatives
Cost of a vehicle at all-time low
J.D. Power's Vehicle Dependability Study released
Clark eats humble pie over SUV leasing advice

Full list

Consumer advice courtesy of