Phat Campus: can they save you money on books?
Another player in the crowded textbook website market is Phat Campus.
To test the savings, I searched a book on Phat Campus and found the same one on Amazon. One thing I noticed in searching is that the selection of Phat Campus was poor compared to Amazon, although I am pretty sure that Amazon has anyone beat when it comes to selection.
Phat Campus promises to deliver cheaper text books. I did a random search for three common textbooks and compared prices. Here’s how they stacked up:
Book one:
Economics: Principles and Practice by Gary E. Clayton
Amazon: $80.43 (new) $7.25 (used)
Phat Campus: $75.45 (used)
Amazon: 1 Phat Campus: 0
Digital Journalism: Emerging Media & the Changing Horizons of Journalism by Kevin Kawamoto
Amazon: $29.95 (new) $7.95 (used)
Phat Campus: $18.75 (used)
Amazon: 2 Phat Campus: 0
HarperCollins College Outline Introduction to Statistics by Susan F. Wagner
Amazon: $0.45 (used)
Phat Campus: $15.75 (used)
Amazon: 3 Phat Campus: 0
Turns out PhatCampus can actually cost you cash when you shop for books. Frankly, I have yet to come across a better deal than the Amazon marketplace. However, I will note that I did not get shipping rates for each marketplace item but there is such a profound difference anyway, and it usually matters where you live. I went through the checkout procedure with Phat Campus and they seem to not add any shipping.
One thing that get me is the name “Phat Campus”. Not only do they deliver a sub par product, but they try to pander to youth slang.
Bastards.
If you are still interested search Phat Campus for yourself.