With the majority of colleges now resuming classes, students will be thinking about buying textbooks, and parents will be thinking about paying for them.
The Bigwords free iPhone App works to take some of the sting out of the experience through a complex calculation to find the best textbook deals, whether than means buying new, used or digital, or just renting.
Students search for books on Bigwords by title, author or ISBN code. They drop their selections into a virtual book bag. When they are done with the list of books the professors are mandating, they hit the price-comparison button.
This is the part that is complex. Searching about 30 sources, such as Amazon, CourseSmart, textbooks.com and sellbackyourbooks.com, it then figures out your best deal, factoring in shipping costs and discounts you are eligible for.
Searches can be customized to look only for books by condition, you can exclude books from third-party sellers, like those on eBay, or from specific stores.
Purchases can be made directly through the app, but if you don’t want to order from the phone (Mom and Dad might appreciate the bigger type on a computer screen), you can e-mail your book bag and then finish the purchase on the desktop from a link in an e-mail sent by the app.
The company claims average savings is 66 percent over new books, and a savings of more than 35 percent over buying online without its search engine.
If they could only find a way to search for discount tuition.
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6 Comments
It’d be great to hear that this app is available for the Blackberry.
— DadSites like Bigwords and Chegg seem to work best with used books. The prices on Bigwords were great for the one book I’ll need this fall that’s available used, by the two books that are in new editions were the same price there as they are in the student bookstore, and Chegg didn’t have them in stock yet.
— RussAlso sites such as http://www.theperfectpages.com offer great deals on textbooks.
— Karolina-SlimTry textbookx.com they have big savings on textbooks. Enter promo code cvw1999 and get free shipping!!!
— sandyb53This is a good app, but I’m leaning toward another one called iBookstore. Similar but a bit more streamlined and grown up. Still comparing.
— MargoI agree, iBookstore hit it on the head with its 2.0 release. you should review that as it offers more features for serious book buyers and students who want to save.
— James