acim authors save the most money on their textbooks, half.com may just be their best bet. A pampered child of eBay, half.com, despite its misleading name, is the whole deal when it comes to buying cheap college books online. Offering essentially every book out there (and even some books that aren’t out there), you’ll have the option of choosing from both new and used books at a wide smattering of prices.
Half.com works a lot like eBay (big surprise) in that it lets the people selling books choose their asking price and then lists all of these book options in an online marketplace for buyers to shop in. If you’re thinking about buying your college books on half.com (and clearly you’re already thinking about it; you’re reading this article after all), then take a look at these pros and cons before you start book buying willy-nilly:
Finding your required college books couldn’t be easier. Being a man who values laziness as a lifestyle priority (I’m currently writing this in darkness because the sun has gone down and I won’t get up to turn on any lights), finding my college books with as little effort and time on my part is almost as big of a deal as finding cheap book prices is. Fortunately, half.com takes makes this process essentially pain free, letting you quickly search by book, author, or ISBN number (“book DNA”, if you will) and even displays the book cover for those who like to judge a book by its, well, its cover.
Used book prices can be extremely, laughably cheap. Sometimes when I need a good pick-me-up I’ll just head over to half.com and chuckle at how cheap of a price some of the books on there are being sold for. It’s not uncommon to see a normally $30 book being sold for 75 cents, and even if you factor in the cost of shipping (all books from half.com cost around $3.50) you’re still getting a textbook for the price of a quality ice cream cone. Admittedly, if I had to choose I’d still take the cone, but you get the idea.
“Used books” may be more used than you think. Unlike gunpowder and toilet paper, books still essentially serve their purpose even when heavily used. If you’re one of the “as long as it functions, good enough for me” types (a common factor in all my ex-girlfriends), buying a half.com used book at a heavily-reduced price is definitely the way to go. However, don’t be shocked if you receive a book in the mail that has been highlighted to a point the pages weigh more and appear to have been lightly nibbled on from time to time.
