The Best Place to Save on Books

In the January issue of Consumer Reports magazine they list the best places to shop for books and save money while doing so. The magazine shopped for 23 titles, new and old, best-selling and not -- a complete mix. The list prices for the books they wanted was $565. So what's the place to save the most money when getting these books? Here's what they paid for their 23 books at various places:

• Amazon.com $360
• BN.com (Barnes and Noble online) $456
• Barnes and Noble $537
• Borders $543

This holds true with what I've found as well -- Amazon is the cheapest. BN.com (and the stores) have a book club membership savings option that takes 10% (I think) off the prices of all your purchases, but you have to pay $25 for it. So in this case, even if you had the membership, Amazon.com would be cheaper.

Costco has great prices on books, but their selection is much smaller than any bookstore. That said, they often do carry the best-sellers -- the books  most people are looking for. It's a great place to pick up inexpensive but wanted books for birthday and holiday presents.

Comments

[Adam]

For people who go through many technology related books, safari.oreilly.com is a pretty good deal. I always ran into two problems with computer books, 1.) they are quickly outdated, and 2.) they are usually project related, meaning after the project is done, they usually just sit on the book shelf until they are outdated.

[Nick]

Do those prices include shipping? I've found that Shipping typically runs around $3.50 per book. For 23 books, you're adding an additional $80 which would make B&N online the same price as the brick and mortar store.

Also, Amazon.Com has a "New and Used" section where you can buy books second hand for as little as $.01 plus shipping.

[FMF]

I'm sure it does. Amazon.com regularly offers free shipping for purchases of $25 or more and I NEVER pay shipping with them.

[Katy Raymond]

I enjoy Zooba.com, which sells hardback books for a flat rate of $9.95, with free shipping. You can add titles to your pipeline and have them send you one per month, in the order you've chosen. Or you can ask them to ship today. At any rate, since many of these books have a retail value of $25, I can often resell them to HalfPrice books for what I paid, should I decide not to add them to my more permanent collection. I've been happy with this company!

Try Campusi.com It is like an expedia for books. It searches every book website for the best price

[grsing]

Or just buy used books. You can get fine books, with no markings, and perhaps just a few bent corners, for a fraction of the price of a new book, particularly with older books. Even if shipping isn't free (it usually isn't for these), just include it in the price of the book in your figuring, and it's still a huge savings (those $.01 books on Amazon are actually $3.50, but that's still pretty cheap for a book that lists for $20 or more).

[DK]

The best site of them all is Paperbackswap.com. If you want to trade books you can, or purchase credits at $2.75 each.

You can add books to your wish list if they aren't immediately available. I added my whole amazon wish list and have gotten 30 books in a year this way.

Getting all your books for a buck less than Amazon charges *just for shipping* -- nothing can compete. Check it out.

[FMF]

Grsing --

Or just check them out from the library. ;-)

[dianefromPA]

My method is to check the library first. If it is really new often it is not there. Then I'll check used books, either Amazon or halfprice.com. If not available at those sites then I'll usually buy from Amazon at the new price and make sure I have a $25 order.
When I get the book I'll read it fairly soon and decide if I want to keep it. If not, I put it up for sale on Amazon used. They have a very easy way to sell your books/cds/videos. If I don't take too long before putting it up for sale I'll get just about as much as I paid for it.
I have no idea how much I've saved but since I am a reader of all sorts of books it is probably a lot.

[MMM]

Join Borders Rewards club (it's free) and you get coupons almost every week for 20-30% off. As long as you only buy enough to use the coupon (could be one item or sometimes $10 or more), it's a great deal.