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Last update: September 3, 2005 at 12:43 PM

John Ewoldt,  Star Tribune

College students can blow nearly $500 per semester on new textbooks. The lifelong lesson here? Professor Enrico says, "Why buy new, when slightly used will do?"

It's a no-brainer to check for used copies in the college bookstore, but those get snapped up quickly. The odds are better online.

Students can buy or sell their current textbooks at many sites. If you're selling, you'll get the best offers for the latest editions. The most money can usually be made by selling online, but some used-book stores in college neighborhoods such as Half-Price Books in St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood might buy some texts. You can also try one of the eBay dropoff stores. For a list, go to www.ebay.com/ta.

If you're buying, shop early. Get the syllabus ASAP so you have time to shop online. Get the ISBN to put in the search field for a quick check, but also have handy the author, title and edition.

To comparison-shop for the best price, try sites such as http://www.addall.com/, www.bestbuybooks.com, http://www.bigwords.com/ or http://www.textbookhound.com/.

Popular sites that sell used textbooks include http://www.amazon.com/, www.bn.com, http://www.efollett.com/, www.varsitybooks.com, http://www.half.com/ and http://www.collegebooksdirect.com/.

John Ewoldt's "Word of Mouth" features shopping bargains, consumer trends, products of superior quality and answers to readers' questions. Ewoldt may be contacted at jewoldt@startribune.com or at 612-673-7633.

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