Cheap Textbooks for Rent and Purchase

Best Textbook Prices

Affordabook searches over 10 partners to instantly find you the cheapest college textbooks and other school books.

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College students know us as the #1 source for cheap college books, whether they are new or used, for sale or for rent.

Why Textbooks Cost So much?

price of textbooksTextbooks aren't cheap. The cost of college books for a full year of college and university can be over $1,200.00, whether you attend a community college or an expensive ivy league university.

The main reason for the high cost of textbooks is specialization.

Another reason, is that some professors want their students to purchase their own research books, which are usually under contract through a publisher in much lower numbers than what may be found at a mainstream bookstore. And further, limited edition printings required by some course syllabus, may cost more because the press run is smaller than what is normally done by large publishers.

Also, some universities, although diverse in their programs, have set curricula every few years, and have set a listing of special titles students must purchase for each class. And within these set curricula are several text listings that stay in the reading list for one to ten years at a time... continue reading

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Our Partners

We are happy to work with some of the most student-friendly college book sellers in the industry to find you the cheapest textbooks online:

Chegg

Chegg is a great online textbook retailer for those students who prefer renting over buying books. Not only do they have a variety of textbooks for rent, they also have a 21-day satisfaction guarantee. If you're not happy with your purchase, or if you decide to drop the course, you can return the book to them and get a refund minus the shipping cost.

Chegg also offers a convenient buyback program, so, if you have some old college books collecting dust, you can sell them to Chegg and make some money. It's very easy - you get an instant online quote to find out how much your books are worth!

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Amazon

Amazon has nearly anything you could want, and textbooks are no exception. Whether you want to buy, sell, rent, or just browse, Amazon makes it easy to find the perfect book for you.

The Amazon Student program is a great deal for college students. With an eligible university email address, you can get six months of free Amazon Prime. That means free two-day shipping on millions of items. It's great for procrastinators and those needing a last-minute book for class.

Valore Books

ValoreBooks understands the high cost of college. That's why they offer students the best online option to purchase or rent textbooks from over 18,000 verified sellers and rental providers.

Prices are super competitive, and the average student saves up to $500 annually when they buy or rent all their books using this partner.

Plus, ValoreBooks gives you the opportunity to sell textbooks back to us at the highest buyback rates online.

As they say: "ValoreBooks is and always will be dedicated to making your college experience better".

How To Save On Your College Textbooks

The best way to save on your college books, is to compare prices among a few online textbook sellers and renters, and find the cheapest prices that way.

While textbook prices have dropped around 15% over the past three years (as of March 2023), prices are still very high for the average college student.

That's where Affordabook comes in - we compare prices at the most trusted and reliable online textbook websites to help you save some dough! To get started do a book search at the top of the page.

There's always your school's library as a source for finding free textbooks. Many university libraries have school books available, and they can also obtain the specific textbook you need from another library through the interlibrary system.

$100 Textbook: Where Does The Money Go

chart of textbook costs

Expense Percentage Of Cost
Printing Costs 32.4%
Bookstore Costs 17.9%
Marketing Costs 15.4%
Author Royalties 11.6%
Publisher Costs 10%
Publisher Profit 7%
Bookstore Profit 4.2%
Shipping Costs 1.5%

Student Discounts & Promos

Amazon Prime Student Offer

Included with Prime Student:

  • FREE One-Day Delivery on more than 10 million items with no minimum purchase.
  • Prime Video
  • Prime Music
  • Amazon Photos
  • plus much more

Check out the latest discounts available for college students.

Buy or Rent Cheap Textbooks