Bagging Books #2: Online Booking and University of Dallas Freshmen

If there is one thing I want to warn any freshmen coming to the University of Dallas website is Know Your Class Code

It’s bad enough to remember the title of the book you need but another to have to check your class number as well.

A sequence of events is required to see which books you need for the class.

When first seeing the bookstore page there are three drop-down boxes to select

• Select Your Program
• Select Your Term
• Search by Course ID or Select Your Department

The last box is where things can get confusing unless you know your class number. Some courses have different class numbers and so they each have different books that are required for that class.

The classes for the University of Dallas are not distinguished by name on this site but by number. That is the most important thing to remember when searching for textbooks in the UD online bookstore.

Bity Book Bites uno: Amazon.com

One of the sources I use to sell books is Amazon.com. There is a place where you can register and create an account. However did you know that for some books you can get money delivered into a Amazon account?

I did not discover this fact until recently when I was contemplating whether or not to sell a book through my local bookstore or on my Amazon account. It was: The Legal Environment of Business: Text and Cases — Ethical, Regulatory, Global, and E-Commerce Issues Hardcover edition

On January 25, 2010, I paid in total plus shipping $161.70 for that book. Therefore after completing the class in which the book was needed, there was a urge inside me to get the best deal I could get selling back this book without feeling cheated.

I made an account with Amazon a while back and decided to compare the prices in which other sellers were selling their versions of the book. Then on the far right of the screen I saw an option. An option I was sure that if utilized would bring a good deal sooner rather than later.

$50 off the price I originally had paid for it but to me it was a good option and in the long run it worked.

Some things to consider when using this method

1. The book has to be in good condition. They will send it back if the book does not meet their standards.

2. Amazon.com provides an option to use Fedex or UPS to send the book for free. If you are nowhere near these sources (I was) then you would have to pay for the shipping.

3. Amazon.com has a time limit on when the book(s) can be shipped to their address. If you send the book after the time they give you then they will send the book back regardless if it is in good condition.

4. Prepare for disappointment because not every book on the site has this option or a good price for sending the book. You may end up with a trade in costing less than the shipping costs.

5. The money received can only be used for Amazon.com or their related sites. Though it says gift card, the card they give is more or less electronic and there is no option to send that money over to a different account.

More information can be found on their website: http://www.amazon.com/

When searching for details type “trade in” in their search engine or click the “trade in here” button when the option does show up.

Bagging Books #1: Knowing your college website’s layout.

When looking for books to start the new semester, one must know where to look. One of these sources is the college website as this is where a student can check which books they need for the semester. A link is provided that links the student to the bookstore. However a snag hits when one cannot find the link and is stuck for the moment until they find the search engine. What if typing the word “bookstore” in the search engine didn’t find any results…then what?

Well using the University of Dallas as an example I’ve decided to go back to the days where I was a freshman and search for the bookstore link.

Here is a screenshot of the entire website as seen when first arriving.

There are large enough tabs and a photo in the middle but where do you find the bookstore link?

At the bottom, underneath the quick links section, written in small text.

University of Dallas does have a bookstore link but the location is easy to miss. Thankfully their search engine provides a good alternative but would it be nice to have the bookstore link featured as a scroll underneath the big tabs on the top of the page.

At least from this perspective the search would go much easier and without too much hassle.

Working with college books

Every semester books change along with the classes one takes. The question also arises on what to do with those books once finished with them. Some go to the bookstore and grab some cash. Others give or sell them to fellow students who may be taking the class in the future. Then there are book selling sites like Amazon.com where, once an account is opened up, one can sell their books there. I have utilized all these methods and some seem more advantageous than others. The end result though is that cash will be in your hands and that has always been the main goal for me. Hopefully I can expand on this topic in more detail in my next entries but in the meantime that’s my opening issue.