Buying Books at a Discount

Do you enjoy reading? It can be for pleasure, learning, research, or just something that catches your eye.

Do you buy your books at the local bookstore and pay the full retail price? That's good to support the local merchants, but there are times that I like to keep some of that money in my pocket. Well, let's say not just sometime, but for me that is all the time...

As for local book stores, I enjoy going to Barnes and Noble or Borders. They have everything under the sun and I wish I had the knowledge packed in all of those books.

If you frequent Barnes and Noble, you probably know that you can buy a membership card for $25 which gives you 40% off their best sellers, 20% off other hardcover books and 10% off most everything else. Now combine that with a coupon and you can save some money on books.

Where do I get coupons? If you take their membership, they will send you coupons from time to time. Sometimes for an additional 15% or 20% off one item. Another source is to google "Barnes and Noble Coupon Code". I have used codes from CouponAlbum.com when I am ordering online. You enter the coupon code near the end of finishing your order for an additional discount. If one code doesn't work, try another from their list.

Let's use an example and do some shopping. The number one book on the NY Times Fiction bestseller list is Nora Robert's "Tribute". List price is $26.95, not including taxes. If I were to order this book at the list price, it would be about $28.57 including taxes.

On Abebooks.com, it is $19.04 including shipping. On Barnes and Noble it is about $23.98 including shipping and taxes for members, or $25.36 for non-members including shipping and taxes. Shipping is about $3.99 to my house, and taxes are 6%, your situation may be different. I find a coupon for 15% off and apply it and my book total is now $18.79 for a member or $20.98 for a non member. So Barnes and Noble is the best deal if you are a member, or Abebooks.com is the best one if you are not. Not a great deal, but better than paying full price plus taxes!

There is one more place that I would like to mention for used books and new as well. The website used.addall.com searches many book dealer sites including Abebooks.com. Many times I see a book that I am interested in which is selling for the full retail price and I find it on this site at more than 50% off. For example, I saw a technical book that I was interested in and it was $26.95 plus tax. But using used.addall.com, I found a used copy for $10 which included shipping. I didn't mind that someone else had read it, or made notes in it. I might find them helpful.

I was pleased with my purchase!

For text books, there are many sources. Such as ecampus.com, campusbooks.com, half.ebay.com and many others. Just google "used textbooks", and you will get a whole list.

In fact, if you would like me to help you find the best price on a book, post a comment and I'll see what I can do. If I get a lot of suggestions, I will pick a few and go through the techniques that I used to find the lowest price.

Plus, do you have favorite sites for books that you visit? Or do you have certain bookstores that you enjoy visiting? Let us know, we would love to hear from you.

Happy Book Hunting!!!