How to get a Waterstones student discount?

Pay full price for books? Not on our watch.

Books are a huge part of uni life. Maybe you’ll study textbooks. Perhaps you’ll curl up after lectures with your fave thrillers. Either way, you’ll need to buy at least a few.

(We’ve seen the student reading lists. We know they’re longggg.)

But the cost of books can add up. Fortunately, stores like Waterstones offer discounts that make it easy to get them cheaper.

Here’s how to claim your Waterstones student discount and money off at other bookstores.

Is there a Waterstones student discount?

Yes, there’s a Waterstones student discount. There are two ways to get your hands on it:

1. Through UNiDAYS – to get 10% off
2. Through Waterstones – to join their loyalty programme

You can’t use the two book student discounts together, but they’re both pretty good.

How to get the UNiDAYS Waterstones student discount

You can make or log in to your UNiDAYS account to get a Waterstones student discount code. This code will give you 10% off when you shop at Waterstones online.

Waterstones also offers a loyalty programme, which works like this:

• Sign up (in-store or on the Waterstones website) using your uni email address. Verify your account by showing your student ID at any store
• Get a stamp every time you spend £10 in-store or online. When you get 10 stamps, you get £10 in your ‘Plus Balance’
• Spend your Plus Balance in-store or online. You also get 5% off each purchase. And there’s no minimum spend to claim your discounts

Your Waterstones student discount will be valid for 36 months from the day you sign up.

Where else can I get cheap books with a student discount?

Waterstones isn’t the only shop where you can get a UNiDAYS student discount on textbooks and novels. You can also save at:

• WHSmith: get 10% off books, stationery, and more when you shop online
• BookBeat: listen to audiobooks and read e-books for free on a 90-day trial
• Audible: stream audiobooks from the world’s largest collection during a free 30-day trial
• Kindle: access unlimited books from a collection of over one million titles and thousands of audiobooks over a free 30-day trial
• Rakuten Kobo: save 30% on select ebooks and audiobooks
• Perlego: claim 25% off over one million e-textbooks for four months
• Scribd: get three months’ access to millions of e-books, audiobooks, podcasts, magazines, articles, and other documents for £5.99
• WeBuyBooks: save 10% on hundreds of thousands of second-hand books

Maybe you prefer a hard copy where you can turn the pages and feel the paper in your hands. Or maybe you prefer to listen to an audiobook while going for a run, cooking for flatmates, or enjoying a late-night bev in your room.

Either way, we’re here to help you save on books, e-books, and audiobooks.

Where can you sell your books that you don’t need anymore?

You won’t need to keep many of your uni books when you graduate. That’s why we’re keen to help you buy them at great prices. But you can also sell these books later.

Not only can you use your 10% book student discount when shopping with WeBuyBooks, but you can sell your books back to them for cash.

WeBuyBooks is one of the UK’s leading book recyclers, and the average customer makes around £30 when they sell. That’s a week’s food shop, a round of drinks, or a date night out.

Treat yourself and disconnect from tech with a good book

When getting a great student discount on textbooks, remember to treat yourself too.

We know you already have a hefty reading list. But reading a book you love in your free time can be a relaxing, inspiring alternative to gaming and social media. Especially given that most of us spend more than an entire day online every week.

Unsure what books you’ll enjoy? Try our recommendations of books that will change the way you think.

UNiDAYS student discounts to help you save on books and more

Books aren’t the only thing you’ll need to buy at uni. Our Learning and Earning student discounts will help you save on other study costs. We’re talking discounts on:

• Productivity software like Notion and Freedom
• Writing tools like Grammarly and QuillBot
• Study tools like Quizlet, Knowt, and StudySmarter
• Art supplies from providers like Cass Art and Ryman
• Note-taking tools like Glean and Evernote
• Book-summarising and study notes platforms like getAbstract and Studydrive

The list goes on. Check out all of our Learning and Earning student discounts.