by Leigh Goessl

Created on: October 19, 2009   Last Updated: February 24, 2011

Buying textbooks online is a great way to save money. Finding additional ways to save money is especially welcome for most college students who tend to be strapped for cash.

While saving money is a good thing, when buying used textbooks online a good general rule of thumb to follow is be careful what you pay for. Purchasing a textbook is often a fantastic deal, but once you receive it you might not be happy with the results. However knowing what to look for ahead of time can avoid potential problems.

Here are a few pros and cons of buying used textbooks online and some tips you can try in order to avoid falling into the pitfalls:

• Pros of buying used texts online

Its cheaper

Hands down the biggest advantage to buying used textbooks online is the price. If you purchase at the school bookstore you're going to be paying top dollar for books, whereas purchasing online you can get the same textbooks for a fraction of the price.

Shop from home

Convenience is another advantage to buying used books online. This is especially true for non-traditional students who only come to campus for evening classes when the bookstore may not be open or for distance learners who never set foot on campus.

When you buy texts online you can do so at your convenience and don't have to worry about racing to the bookstore at school before popular texts sell out.

Same quality as new

While some used books are in poor condition, many websites advertise the quality of the book being sold and if you want something new or gently used, you have this option online.

• Cons of buying used texts online

Delayed or non-delivery

Occasionally you may not receive your book on time. This could happen for a variety of reasons. It could be the seller turns out to be a non-reliable, it could have gotten lost in the delivery process, or not been mailed out on time. While often the problem is eventually resolved, by then the class has usually already started and the book needed.

Receive wrong edition

Publishers often quickly put out new editions and colleges are quick to adapt new versions of texts. As a result students typically canot resell their books on campus and will put them up online to sell. While in most cases older editions work perfectly fine for a course, sometimes there is new information or different problems in the text and this could cause you a problem.

International editions

International editions are soft cover versions of U.S. based texts. A good amount of the time they are identical

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