Cheap-Textbooks.com Reports a 300% Increase in Student use of Textbook Price Comparison Services

Aug. 3, 2010 - PRLog -- Students returning to school this fall are finding many more options for buying textbooks. In the past the choices for buying textbooks was new or used; the local bookstore or online.  Today textbooks are available as new, used, rental and eBook from a growing number of online sites. “What use to be an easy task of visiting a couple of websites has broadened out to require students to visit over a dozen sites for used textbooks and then to visit just as many for rental textbooks”; says Bob Jones, founder of Cheap-Textbooks.com.  “Students seeking the lowest price on a textbook have so many online sites to visit that the task becomes very time consuming. Students who do not use a price comparison aid will find themselves overpaying for their textbooks simply because they did not find the lowest source.” Mr. Jones explains.

Smart students are responding to the complex online textbook market by using price comparison tools at an explosive rate. Cheap-Textbooks.com reported a 300% increase in orders placed through the site in July 2010 compared to last years orders. The site was recently expanded with the addition of more textbook rental, eBook and used textbook sellers information. This permits students to see the cheapest new, used, eBook, rental and even international version prices in a single report, simplifying the comparison process.  A contributing factor to the increased use of online price comparison tools is a new federal law that went into effect July 1, 2010. This law requires publishers to sell all textbook “bundles” as individual books and supplemental materials allowing student to shop for the individual pieces.  Second, the bill asks colleges to inform students which textbooks they need a full semester ahead.  These changes provide students the information they need to shop for textbooks earlier, students will have time to shop around for the best deals.

Another change reported by Cheap-Textbooks.com is that for the first time a textbook rental company has become one of  the top five low price sites based on total order volume.  “With the popularity of textbook rentals I was not surprised to see a textbook rental site among the leaders. What did surprise me was it was not the rental company receiving all the press but another site that was winning customers with even lower prices for textbook rentals” Mr. Jones reported.  “Without our textbook price comparison service students would probably not have known about the lower rental rates offered by this site.”  

The site also helps students with the decision on whether renting textbooks is cheaper than buying used and reselling textbooks. Students can quickly use the cheap textbook price comparison tool located on the sites home page and then use the “Click Here to Sell Textbooks” link to access the textbook buyback quote tool. The buyback quote tool provides current quotes that can be used to gauge used textbooks sell back value. Students can then compare the net used textbook cost against the rental price.  

The ability of Cheap-Textbooks.com to display the cheapest rental, used, new and other prices in an easy to read report that includes shipping costs makes the students job of shopping for textbooks easier and less costly. The website is at http://www.Cheap-Textbooks.com and has a fan page on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/CheapCollegeTextbooks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXWNic0kwdk



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Cheap-Textbooks.com is a free service that searches the Internet for the lowest prices on new, used, eBook and rental textbooks.