Please wait while oh, faq!
If you have any questions that this FAQ doesn't answer, contact us with the link at the top or bottom of every page.
BIGWORDS and you...
- What does BIGWORDS do?
- What is best single store price?
- What is best possible combination?
- What is all pricing info?
- What are student access codes and how can I buy them?
- Bookbag options:
- High Quality Used vs. Lowest Priced Used
- What is an Uber-BOT and where can I get one?
- Buyback / Selling (How?)
- What if I have a problem with a book order?
- Do you have? (inventory):
- ISBN (can't find my book):
- Who is Mr. Squish?
- What does he do?
- Books: used condition?
- Music: used condition?
- DVDs: used condition?
- Games: used condition?
- Privacy Policy?
BIGWORDS and business...
- How do I add a site to your comparison?
- Does BIGWORDS have an affiliate program?
- Do you sell advertising?
- May I purchase the BIGWORDS.com® mailing list?
- Hey, aren't you the...
BIGWORDS and you...
What does BIGWORDS do?
BIGWORDS: Protecting the Universe from High Textbook, Book, DVD, Game, and Music Prices!! BIGWORDS is a price comparison tool. Using BIGWORDS, you can find the best prices for your entire order. You can also find the highest buyback prices at the end of the semester or quarter. Here's how it works...- Add ALL of your textbooks and other stuff to the bookbag by searching for them and clicking either "buy" or "sell"
- Start the price comparison
- BIGWORDS searches all the best stores for your new and used textbooks, and everything else you've decided to buy.
- You will see the total price of your order shown several different ways. Choose one. If you want to know about each of the ways that BIGWORDS compares your items... click here.
- After you've made your decision, click on the appropriate buy or sell button.
- A to-do list shows up on the left. Do each of the steps in order. MAKE SURE you don't forget to checkout!
- Tell all of your friends and cohorts how much money you just saved. This is how you do your part in Protecting the Universe from High Textbook Prices!
What is best possible combination?
BIGWORDS takes every possible combination of items and stores, and determines what the total cost would be for that combination, considering price, shipping cost, and promotions. We use this information to figure out the absolute lowest price for all of your items. In a lot of cases, although an item might be cheaper at one store, another store's promotion will make the overall price lower. If you are not seeing this on the pricing page, it is because there were so many possible combinations that we simply couldn't run them all or it would take too long. If you remove an item or two (cheap ones) from your bookbag, and try again, you'll see the best possible combination.What is best single store price?
BIGWORDS figures out which stores have all of your items. We then calculate the price, the total shipping amount (including special deals that give you free shipping), and subtract any possible coupons or bonuses that you might be able to apply to the order. After we do all this, we show you the single store with the lowest total price.What is all pricing info?
BIGWORDS shows you every item you want, and how much each store is selling it for. It does not figure out total prices for you, but gives you all the info you need to figure it out for yourself.Bookbag Options:
Don't be confused by the options. The first option (high quality used or new) is the best way to shop for the vast majority of people, because it allows us to use our experience with our merchants to give you the best deals on high quality books, DVDs, games, and music.- high quality used or new: This is the BEST way to shop, which is why it's selected by default. We filter out textbooks and other items that are being sold by people with low feedback ratings, and figure out the best price using used items when they are cheaper than new ones. You will get the best deal on the best books if you shop this way. Read the next question to understand more about how we ensure the quality of the books we compare.
- new items only: If you only want new items, then choose this option. You don't have to worry about the quality stuff, since all of the new items we compare are high quality.
- no 3rd party sellers: some stores, like Amazon Marketplace, half.com, and TextbookX eXchange, allow people to list items for sale. This is a great way to find low prices and the books generally ship by the next day, which is why we cover those stores by default. However, if you don't want to purchase from individuals you can choose this option.
- cheapest used or new: We use the lowest priced books, regardless of the seller's feeback rating. If you're an experienced online shopper, this might be the best way for you to shop. ("But probably not," Bad Kitty says.)
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High Quality vs. Lowest Priced Used - Protecting the Universe from Crappy Textbooks!
In order to ensure that you get not only the lowest price, but that the item shows up in a timely manner, that it isn't all ripped to shreds, and that it's the right edition, we assess the quality of the used textbooks, CDs, DVDs, and games that we compare. If you want the lowest price possible, regardless of the condition, then choose "cheapest used or new" at the top of the pricing page. We use the following guidelines when choosing which items to compare:Amazon Marketplace
- items must be in "Good" or better condition. "Acceptable" items are the lowest possible categorization, so we don't list them by default.
- seller must have at least a 4 star rating, and must have received at least 10 ratings from buyers.
- YOU should read the description of each of the used books from Amazon Marketplace, because occasionally a seller will list an earlier edition of the same book for sale. If your professor has required a specific edition, you should NOT purchase a previous edition. Because it is impossible for our site to read and understand what sellers have written about their books, we show you the info so you can make the call. Uber-BOT is wicked smart, but not that smart! Mr. Squish, on the other hand, has no discernable intellect whatsoever.Half.com
- items must be in "Good" or better condition. "Acceptable" items are the lowest possible categorization, so we don't list them by default.
- seller must have at least a Yellow Star rating, which means that they have a very positive feedback standing (10 more positive feedbacks than negative)TextbookX eXchange
- sellers must have a feedback rating of 1.5 or better, or no feedback at all. We use slightly different criteria when assessing the quality of TextbookX eXchange titles: TextbookX is specifically a textbook site, most of their sellers are individual students like yourself without a slew of feedback, and their eXchange program does a really good job of weeding out lousy sellers.Other Merchants
- All of our merchants have to pass our test. We monitor every merchant constantly to ensure high availability, fast ship times, excellent customer service, and great prices. If you ever have a problem with any of our merchants, let us know, and we will follow up with a high level person at their company and get it sorted out for you.
What is an Uber-BOT and where can I get one?
An Uber-BOT is like a pricing bot, only burlier, surlier, and a heckuva lot brawnier. You have to build your own. You can't have ours. So don't even ask. BOT would be angry if he knew we were talking this way about him. Then again, if you want to "borrow" the Uber-BOT for several million dollars, call us. We'll talk. We'll have our people mind-meld with your people to assess core competencies in order to find out if our synergy might constitute a strategic fit if we were to think outside the box and work proactively to fast track a win-win game plan.Buyback / Selling (How?)
Enter the ISBN (preferably), title or author of the book you'd like to sell. Add the book to your book bag. Then, search for all your other books and add them to your bookbag. Then click "price these books".There are two different types of companies out there, ones that buy your books directly, and listing services that put your book up for sale on their web site.
In the case of the companies which buy directly, it's simple… You ship them the books (many times they pay shipping), and they send you a check. If they pay shipping, we'll tell you that they do, but they'll tell you HOW to get the shipping paid for on their site. This is a simple approach to selling your books, but not all books are being bought directly, and you might be able to get more money for your books if you sell them directly to another individual.
This is where companies like half.com, amazon.com, and textbookX.com come into play. These companies list your books for sale on their web sites. They have millions of visitors, and so if it's a popular book, there's a really good chance that some other student will buy them (in fact it might be another BIGWORDS customer since we show all those books as used on our site).
On BIGWORDS.com®, we show the minimum price that anyone else selling your book is asking. We figure if you want to have the best chance of selling it, you'll probably want to undercut (or match) your competition, but that is up to you. If a book says "not currently listed", it means that no one is currently selling that book, which is a GOOD THING, because you'll be the only game in town.
You can list your book for sale at as many of these companies as you'd like. We recommend listing your book for sale at every one of the sites that we list. That way, you will increase your book(s)' exposure, and increase your chances of selling it. However, once your book sells, MAKE SURE to de-list the book from the other web sites, because they will reduce your seller rating if someone tries to buy a book from you and you no longer have it.
Whew! Thatsalottainfo. Please let us know if you need more assistance (click contact at the bottom of any page).
What if I have a problem with an order?
Please contact the company with whom you purchased the item directly. We show you where the best prices are, but you need to contact the other company for the info you're looking for.If you have problems with any company that BIGWORDS lists, please let us know. We follow up directly with a high level person at the store in question whenever we get a complaint. This has the effect of not only solving your problem, but ensures it doesn't happen to others as well. We delete any company from our site that continues to be a problem for our customers. This is what we do - make things better for you.
Do you have? (inventory):
We do not have any inventory. We are a price bot designed to help you find the best deals for buying and selling books and other stuff. The best way to search for textbooks is with the ISBN number. If you have that number, use it in the search field. If nothing comes up, then the book probably doesn't exist, or you have the wrong ISBN number :-). Please let us know if you still need assistance.ISBN (can't find my book):
We will show you the prices for any book at every store we search. However, sometimes it's tough to find the exact book you're looking for to begin with. In this case, you need to get the ISBN number of the book (that's the unique 10 digit number that's assigned to every book in the world usually located by the UPC Barcode). If after entering the ISBN you still can't find your book, it is because none of the stores we search carry it.Here's a little tip; if you find your book at ANY online store, copy the ISBN number of the book (it'll be listed on the book's web page), and paste it into the search form at BIGWORDS.
Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.
Who is Mr. Squish?
No one knows. He showed up here one day, and won't leave. In fact, we don't even know if that's really his name, since he doesn't talk. He just sort of makes this squishing sound.What does he do?
He makes that squishing sound.Books: Used Condition?
BIGWORDS constantly monitors online merchants who specialize in providing textbooks at great prices, with unbeatable service. All of our vendors who supply used books meet our high standards for quality and customer service. You should expect your books to be in very good, very readable condition, without a lot of markings, and definitely no pages missing. We don't show you every used textbook out there because a lot of them are just junky. You wouldn't want them! However, you should still read the descriptions of the books when you buy them just in case. If you get a book that just isn't what you expected, send it back to the seller, and then tell us about what happened! Your feedback is an integral part of our commitment to Protect the Universe From High Textbook Prices (and junky ones, too).Music: Used Condition?
BIGWORDS has the largest selection of used CDs on the planet. We believe this must be true because we cover some of the largest used CD vendors on the planet. If any one of them has the largest selection, then it only logically follows that our selection is a little better... Anyway... We only list used CDs in excellent, fully playable condition. If your CD skips, send it back! We only list companies that have a guaranteed return policy. If you have any problems, let us know and we'll make it right.DVDs: Used Condition?
BIGWORDS has the largest selection of used DVDs on the planet. We believe this must be true because we cover some of the largest used DVD vendors on the planet. If any one of them has the largest selection, then it only logically follows that our selection is a little better... Anyway... We only list used DVDs in excellent, fully playable condition. If your DVD doesn't play right, send it back! We only list companies that have a guaranteed return policy. If you have any problems, let us know and we'll make it right.Games: Used Condition?
BIGWORDS has the largest selection of used games on the planet. We believe this must be true because we cover some of the largest used game vendors on the planet. If any one of them has the largest selection, then it only logically follows that our selection is a little better... Anyway... We only list used games in excellent, fully playable condition. If your game doesn't play right, send it back! We only list companies that have a guaranteed return policy. If you have any problems, let us know and we'll make it right.BIGWORDS and business...
How do I add a site to your comparison?
There are several factors that go into us listing a new site. First and foremost, do they provide a good service… Do they have a good selection? Do the products show up on time? Are their prices competitive? Then there's the business side of things… Do they have an affiliate program? (that's how we make our money), Are they set up to correctly interface with our site?...and lot's more stuff that just gets even more boring. I can tell you one thing that might be helpful. If you want want us to add a site, send us an email. Then, send an email to the prospective site telling them about us and that you think they should be listed with us. It will give them further reason to make whatever changes might be necessary to become a part of the BIGWORDS web site.Do you have an affiliate program?
Thanks for your interest. We do not currently have an affiliate program but we are running a test. Please check back from time to time for new developments, or send us an email, and we'll add you to our list of interested affiliates. If you are interested in testing out our beta program, send us an email with information about your site.Do you sell advertising?
We sell advertising in our email newsletter, and on our on-campus flyers. We do not sell advertising on the BIGWORDS web site. If you'd like to talk to us about advertising rates, click "contact" at the bottom of this (or any) page on the site.May I purchase the BIGWORDS.com® mailing list?
No. Don't even ask. You can advertise in the newsletter, but you can't buy it.Hey, aren't you the...
No, that wasn't me. It was Mario.
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