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College Planning

Top-rated college textbook websites

Before purchasing textbooks at the campus store, be sure to do research on several textbook websites to ensure you are receiving the best deal.

Savvy students are getting smarter about how to pay for college textbooks without breaking the bank. When it comes time to head back to class, it may be beneficial to check out these websites for deep discounts on college textbooks before you visit the campus bookstore.

Amazon.com
In addition to print textbooks, Amazon also gives you the option to rent or buy eBooks that you can download on a variety of electronic devices, saving you some serious cash. Another plus is that when your class is over, you can list your books back on the site.

Chegg
In addition to boasting rock-bottom prices on textbooks, Chegg offers students some very helpful benefits that other sites may not. For one, if you need a book immediately for a class, you can have instant access to many popular titles while you wait for your physical copy to arrive in the mail. Chegg also has a very liberal return policy that takes the risk out of returning a book in the event you were to drop or change a class.

BIGWORDS.COM
Much like popular travel sites such as Kayak, BIGWORDS is a service that uses a search engine to compare prices on many different textbook websites, helping you find you what you need at lower prices when possible. It even compares shipping rates.

eCampus.com
Boasting a broad selection of books (and of course, eTextbooks) that you could rent or buy, eCampus also offers a book selling service that operates much like Amazon does. Buying from eCampus allows customers the option to earn reward points for every purchase made. These points could be redeemed on future book orders, saving you even more.

BookScouter.com
Ready to sell back some of your textbooks? By comparing prices from over 60 book-buying websites, BookScouter can help you locate buyback vendors so you can find out who’s willing to pay the most for your used textbooks. The service is free, but they also offer a paid subscription to BookScouter Pro that offers high-volume users some additional features such as tracking and notifications.

College can be expensive and these websites may help you make the most of every dollar when it comes to purchasing textbooks. For more information on paying for college, visit the Protective Learning Center. 

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All Learning Center articles are general summaries that can be used when considering your financial future at various life stages. The information presented is for educational purposes and is meant to supplement other information specific to your situation. It is not intended as investment advice and does not necessarily represent the opinion of Protective or its subsidiaries.

Learning Center articles may describe services and financial products not offered by Protective or its subsidiaries. Descriptions of financial products contained in Learning Center articles are not intended to represent those offered by Protective or its subsidiaries.

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Companies and organizations linked from Learning Center articles have no affiliation with Protective or its subsidiaries.