I have bought books couple of times on Amazon. However, I also notice that the price on Amazon keeps fluctuating. If I check out the book today and then after a few days, the price of the very same books increases. Although I have no idea why this happens. Never has there been a time when the price of the book has decreased. It is really frustrating to see the increase in price every time. I would love to know if there is an alternative to Amazon, which provides better prices. I do not mind buying second hand books also as long as they are in one piece.
I've only gotten books from Amazon, Abebooks (once because it was the only place I could find a textbook) and eBay. I think Abebooks is owned by Amazon but may have different prices. They have both used and new books. eBay can be a source of cheap books, sometimes if they list them auction price and no one bids you can snap it at a low price. And if it's a Buy it Now then it's easy to compare with Amazon and see which one is cheaper.
It really depends on what you are looking for and when. I think that if you are looking for a new book (as in, in new condition), you are likely best off searching on Amazon.com, however, if you are looking for a used textbook, you can find them at AbeBooks, Biblio, or Bookbyte for good prices if you are looking for bulk orders...also, there are some textbooks that just aren't available on Amazon, and you need to use a service like Follett.com. Overall, you can't go wrong if you use Amazon first. You are likely to get a good deal, even if it isn't the best one.
You can get great deals on books if you look around. I generally don't buy new books so to be honest, I wouldn't say I know the best sites to get your books cheap but if you don't mind buying used books then ebay's half.com is the one site you can books at ridiculous prices. I've seen books selling for as low as $0.99. There's no other place on the net you can buy books that cheap.
