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The main and most important idea to keep in mind for finding college textbooks cheap is this: 'This book is a means to an end, not a personal possession for a lifetime. It doesn*t have to be new because it will only be a part of your life for about ten to twelve weeks.'

Since it doesn*t matter whether the book is new or used, finding college textbooks cheap becomes a simple matter of price shopping.

Every major campus has a book store where you can buy college textbooks cheap. There are some that specialize in them. That's the first question to ask of your roommate, your counselor or your grad student assistant in the class. But if you*re going to search beyond the campus itself, the trick is to start looking a little early and check online.

Some of the best resources to check first are Craigslist and Ebay. Craigslist is a hit-or miss proposition because there is no order to their listed items. But Ebay is a different matter, because you can zero in on titles and authors.

More importantly, the web sites that specialize in college textbooks will do your Ebay search for you. Amazon also carries both new and used versions of books and you can search their site via title or author. Amazon's price listings for both new and used books will also show up in the web-wide price searches conducted by specialty sites that are devoted to finding cheap college textbooks.

It's axiomatic that the web does the walking for us these days when we*re shopping based on price. The internet has also become an excellent resource for used commodities; books, CDs, electronic hardware: there are established websites for used products in a wide assortment of categories. For finding college textbooks cheap, http://www.campusbooks.com/ is a good place to start. They will scan book sales sites for prices, and give you a list of choices for both new and used books.

A random search on an English textbook published by Kaplan that lists for $35 turned up used books as low as $15 and new versions from $22 up. Included in the search were a couple of Ebay listings and an Amazon listing. Don*t forget the shipping factor: it will add three to five dollars to each purchase and you won*t see the book for a few days.

http://www.bookbyte.com/ is actively engaged in buying and selling used college texts. Because they are their own shop, you can get overnight shipping if necessary. http://www.cheapesttextbooks.com/ will do a price search for you, based on title, author or ISBN number - the most accurate search tool for finding college textbooks cheap. You don*t want an identical title by the wrong author, or version II when the class calls for version VI.

Another site to check out for ideas is: http://educationgold.com

Between your local college bookstore and a little time spent online, you'll be able to find college textbooks cheap. All you need to do is put forth a little effort to save a good bit of money.