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www.beat-the-bookstore.com

Buy your texts for class while aimlessly surfing for internet porn.

A trip to the University Bookstore at the beginning of the term is a familiar experience for college students, as is the requisite shock over the price of textbooks, and the feeling of a lighter wallet upon leaving the bookstore. The option of buying used copies at the Bookstore or Smith Family Books exists, but used copies are often nowhere to be found after the first week of classes, frequently due to two words: New Edition.

Authors of college textbooks often add extra appendixes and/or revise chapters in order to repackage their books and sell them all over again, rendering older versions obsolete. A used textbook can cost around $40, a new one can reach as high as $100 or more. In the past year, online web sites offering college textbooks at discount prices have become a competitive alternative to traditional university bookstores like our own at the corner of 13th and Kincaid. Below is a look at some of the best known textbook sites and an assessment of their qualities in a number of categories. The primary considerations were the availability of books and the speed of delivery from the time of ordering.

Many sites allow you to search for books not just by title, author, or ISBN number, but also by an option that narrows the search first to the school of your choice, your department, course, professor and to the books required by the professor of your course. Most importantly, there is a breakdown which details the amount of money you save by ordering online (including shipping) in comparison to the Bookstore's price.

It is worth noting that the Bookstore does give students a 10 percent discount off the retail price of textbooks. This is calculated at the register when you buy your books and not on the price tags on the shelves. This assessment was compiled from a listing of four required books for a single University class. The aforementioned variables were considered in evaluating the offers of each site.

Ecampus.com

This company recently launched an ambitious advertising campaign, launching spots on MTV, during "The Simpsons," and on other television stations or programs the average college student is likely to watch. While Ecampus offers decent discounts on textbooks - 12 percent less than the Bookstore's price - only two of the four books used in this evaluation were available through the site. Shipping is free for standard ground delivery (four days from their headquarters in Kentucky), but Second Day UPS ($3.95 for one item and $5.95 for multiple items) and Overnight UPS ($10.95 for one item and $14.95 for multiple items) are also available. The option to search for books based on the course you are taking is available, but the University of Oregon is not currently listed on this site.

Bigwords.com

This site carries a better selection than Ecampus, but at the cost of higher prices. Shipping is still free for standard ground delivery in three to five days. However, UPS shipping prices are standardized ($5.90 for two to three business days and $11.90 for next business day) no matter how many books you order. The school course listing option is available and the University of Oregon is listed, but only the Economics, Business, and Mathematics departments are listed. Even if your classes are not in one of those departments, Bigwords still has a wider selection than Ecampus. All four of the books used in this assessment were available. At a total of four percent less than the Bookstore's price, it is relatively inexpensive, though not by a great deal. Bigwords does mention the availability of discount coupons, though they do not mention the types of coupons they have available.

(One note of warning, however: one University student interviewed for this assessment reported ordering a book listed at Bigwords as available, and expected to receive it in three to five days following the transaction. Instead of receiving his book in the allotted time period, he instead received an email from Bigwords saying that his book was out of stock, but they would ship him a copy when they received more. Since it is often important to have your books right away when taking certain courses in college, occurrences such as this should be considered before purchasing anything online.)

Varsitybooks.com

Varsitybooks carried all four books used in this assessment, and at the lowest prices. It had a comprehensive listing for the University of Oregon that narrowed the search from the University of Oregon to the department of the class, to the course name and number, and finally to the books needed for the course. (The listings even included the instructor's name and the optional texts recommended for the course.) There is no free shipping at Varsitybooks - UPS prices are $4.95 for two-day delivery and $17.95 for overnight - but they are still the cheapest, even when factoring in shipping costs. The Oregon Daily Emerald recently featured an insert advertisement that offered $10 off any purchase over $25. Overall, Varsitybooks offered savings of 15 percent off the Bookstore's prices. Yet, it isn't perfect. Another University student did run into a problem with Varsitybooks when his order arrived. One of the books listed was an older edition, and while

Varsitybooks lists the edition for textbooks, this book was a companion workbook. The publication date of this book was listed, but not the edition. There was no way of verifying the specific edition, short of going to the Bookstore first and looking at the publication date. The book was indeed usable, but the chapters had been completely reordered in the new edition. A little inconvenient, but tolerable. It could have been worse, but buyer beware.

Efollett.com

This site claims to be the first company to sell textbooks online (circa 1995) but has only been at its current address since January 1999. Only one of the four books used in this assessment were available, and at full retail price. Even without their shipping costs, which are by far the most expensive, it's cheaper to buy your books at the Bookstore than at this site. (UPS Ground is $3.95 for the first book plus $0.95 for each additional book. Add $8.00 to the base shipping cost for UPS Second Day and $12.00 more for UPS Next Day.) With a setup such as this, the only advice is: don't bother.

All of the sites reviewed, except for Varsitybooks, claim to offer used books, but none of the books were available as such. This may be due to anything from the used books selling out quickly to the fact that most of the sites have only been online for a couple of terms. Used book availability on these sites might improve with time.

There are also a number of sites out there that offer student-to-student book exchanges. (Bookswap.com or Stubex.com are two examples.) On these sites you can search for the title of the book you are looking for and receive a list of books that other students are trying to sell. Often students will use this service if they are disappointed with the amount of money offered by the university bookstore for their textbook. These sites give students the opportunity to sell their book for a little bit more than their bookstore offered, but less than the used price of various textbook sellers. This system works well in principle, but the sites that currently offer this service don't give any guarantees as far as delivery of either books or money. It is largely based on the honor system.

Until such sites adopt some sort of system that promises the delivery of goods, in ways such as eBay and various auction sites do, they probably won't do too much business. What may be a good concept in the battle against high textbook prices, has several current flaws in its execution. Don't be surprised to see better versions of this service in the future. When it comes down to it, the best way to save money is to shop around. None of the sites could beat the used book prices at Smith Family Books or the University Bookstore, but if you don't have time to shop around, then ordering your books online is definitely more cost-efficient than buying all of your texts new at the Bookstore.

Buy some of your books online. The more people who purchase books online, the more pressure the Bookstore will feel to lower their prices in order to continue to compete in the textbook market. That means lower prices all around, which can mean the difference between calling DDS and another round of whiskey and Cokes. It's up to you.

Ben Nahorney, a senior majoring in Journalism, can be seen at the Laff Factory from March 8 through the 11th.