If you aren't checking the prices of your textbooks online, you are probably spending too much money.
Buying used textbooks online is quickly becoming an attractive alternative for students facing rising prices on already expensive books at Hanover's more traditional booksellers.
Websites that allow students or retailers to sell new or used textbooks directly to other students who need them offer significant savings over textbooks at the Dartmouth Bookstore and Wheelock Books in Hanover.
"I would do the same thing if I were a student," said David Cioffi, president and general manager of the Dartmouth Bookstore, when asked about online student book exchanges.
"There's no way we could do that. We need to make a certain profit. But there's a trade off."
Students prefer the Dartmouth Bookstore because it tries to guarantee that all the books for every student in a class are available in the store, Cioffi said.
Also, online retailers usually require that the buyer pay for shipping costs, and Cioffi claims that returning books if, for example, a student drops a course, is more difficult. "That's the hidden cost," he said.
Savings over used books online, especially on expensive books such as those for hard science classes like physics and chemistry, can sometimes easily offset these 'hidden costs."
For example, a hardcover book for Physics 48, "Principles of Electronics," was being sold for about $105 at the Dartmouth Bookstore and $92.40 at Wheelock books. The same book was available through subscription site booksamillion.com for $78 and used through amazon.com for $39, including shipping costs.
Not all textbooks are cheaper online -- books like paperback English class novels may not be expensive enough to offset both the cost of shipping and the need to get books in students' hands quickly.
Also, some things, like the software for an Engineering 22 class or an out-of-print book for this term's Shakespeare course, are not widely available enough to able to be bought used online for less money than the price in a Hanover bookstore.
However, online sellers are still changing the textbook business, and bookstore's profit margins, in a revolutionary way.
Textbook prices have always been high -- Cioffi explained that the price of making these books is higher because they are specialized and go out of print more quickly than other books.
But Cioffi also claims that the wider availability of textbooks through multiple sources is partly responsible for the increasing price of books.
He says that because books are available from more places, wholesalers have had to buy back more books. Consequently, they've imposed 'buy-back charges' on retailers who have to return unsold books.
As a result, retailers' profit margins are getting thinner. Cioffi admits to rethinking his selling of textbooks each term, but stops short of saying that the Dartmouth Bookstore is getting out of selling textbooks any time soon.
Cioffi points out that a similar thing happened to the bookstore's once-extensive music section once Napster spread around the College.
The amount Dartmouth students save may end up being a factor of how much time they are willing to spend looking.
Searching for the price of a book on Bigwords.com, a website that compares textbook prices among multiple websites to find the best bargain, takes only a few minutes.
However, the time it takes to check prices between the web and both main Hanover bookstores may end up being several hours if a student insists on checking the prices for every book for his or her courses.
Even comparing prices between both major bookstores at Dartmouth is often worthwhile -- a large textbook for Organic Chemistry being sold at the Dartmouth Bookstore for $146.75 was priced $60.68 at Wheelock Books, competitive with prices online.
Other books were more closely priced.
Students may be able to quickly develop a more sophisticated sense of where to look. For example, a search of Left Bank books revealed a half dozen discounted books for an English class this term.
Also, half.com, a website affiliated with eBay, and amazon.com usually offer the best prices for used books.
Wheelock Books declined requests for an interview for this article.
