Buying or Renting Textbooks

[Boardwalk Gal]

Hello!!

This is my 1st time i am posting on College Boards. My daughter, is starting a college course through dual enrollement High school (she is a senior) at a local college for the spring semester. She registered for English yesterday and have to get a textbook, but the college bookstore charges 74 BUCKS!!! Someone mentioned to me to go online for renting.

Where is the best place to do this? Is buying or renting better?? How does renting worked?? I would appreciate all tips and suggestions from all the college folks here. I remembered when i went to college, (late eighties) i bought ALL the books at the school store and remembered how expensive they were...yikes!!!!

Thanks for all your help!!!

 

[SportsChick]

74 is cheap. My Operations Management book this semester was $140 to buy. Rental at Chegg was $65. I always buy my books online, they're way cheaper (amazon, buy.com, ebay, barnes and noble, textbooks.com etc.) but I'm finding more and more as I'm getting closer to finishing that I have university specific editions. yuck

If it's not a book she'll ever want to keep and reference, look into rentals, I've had really good luck with them

 

[_givealittlewhistle_]

I personally think the whole textbook issue is quite a racket. Obiviously, buying direct from the school is expensive, and if the book can be rented, I definitely recommend that route. I have found cheaper books on Barnes and Noble's textbook site, and the more damaged (or markings within) the book, the cheaper it is. I personally don't like books that are highlighted, so I skip these. The main problem is that universities are notorious for changing the edition of the book from semester to semester, which is why I call it a "racket", because the next edition often looks very similar to the one before it! And this obviously frees them from the obligation of buying it back. I definitely agree with the previous statement, if you cannot buy it used, and don't want to keep it: rent it.

 

[Iris]

If you can rent the books...go for it. We have used Chegg.com and Bookrenter.com and have been quite happy with the money saved and the books themselves (little wear and tear, no highlighting).

Sadly, as another has posted, as my daughter is nearing the end of her years at college, the books have become more university "specialized" and made only for that particular class/professor. I hate when they do that!

Overall we have been pleased with our experiences with both sites and they offer more than enough time to return the book and will pay for the return of the book as well.

 

[Boardwalk Gal]

Thanks so much...i appreciate all your help above!!

Has anyone dealt with Ecampus???

 

[Iris]

I have never used Ecampus before. Just remember to check about the fees, extended fees, shipping and return policies when renting the books. Usually the websites will have some FAQs that will help. Basically we went with sites that actually had the books we needed to rent. Make sure you have the book number correct and the edition as well. We actually went online to her campus bookstore, put the textbooks in her cart and we were able to pull up all the important information about the book so we would be certain to rent the correct edition.

Also, as some have mentioned, if you can't rent, it is also sometimes cheaper to buy the books online at places like amazon or barnes & noble textbooks.

 

[sirJeffrey90]

Make sure it's the right edition the class is using!! I can't tell you how many people in my classes buy or rent books online and get it only to find it essentially useless for the class because it is outdated.

 

[dsanner106]

My advice is to check edition year on the book you need. If it is 2 yrs or newer, buy it and resell when done, you will beat the rental deal almost every time. Buy online if the price is right, or used from the bookstore. A 100 dollar book can be purchased used for 75 or even cheaper online. If it is a newer book and will be reused, the bookstore will pay 50 at buyback, or you can resell for even more online, so you are out 25 dollars at most. Rental on a 100 dollar book is 50 to 60 dollars, so that is what you are out. The bookstore has no say so on what books are used for courses, the instructors make that decision, and turn their order in to the bookstore to be filled. Pub reps are constantly visiting them to get their book chosen over the competitors. Faculty don't really like to change as that means spending a couple weeks re-doing the course syllabus and reading the book themselves, but will change when new editions come out or the information in the current book is now out of date. The bookstore would LOVE to rebuy your book, it is not an obligation but a smart business decision. Bookstores lose money on new textbooks, where other industries have 50 percent margins and more, (clothing, etc) textbooks are 20 percent. To break even a store needs to make about 30 percent. Used books carry a 33 percent margin. When a book is changed, you may be stuck with one copy, but a bookstore may be stuck with 50, so no way they like a change. You must also remember, to keep their tax free status, Universities either lease out their stores to Barnes and noble or one of a couple other privates, or operate as a not for profit business, so none of your tuition goes to the bookstore, it is a separate entity. Any profit from the store, is given to the university though, normally for campus life or student services. When you go offcampus, you will pay almost identical prices because the publishers establish that, but no profit will go to student services, that is the only difference. The off campus store does not have to carry the exact items the faculty want and do not have to accept returns, as most campus stores do. Most will try to do these things, but they are there purely for profit, so will not take a loss to help you.

Good Luck,
Drew

I personally think the whole textbook issue is quite a racket. Obiviously, buying direct from the school is expensive, and if the book can be rented, I definitely recommend that route. I have found cheaper books on Barnes and Noble's textbook site, and the more damaged (or markings within) the book, the cheaper it is. I personally don't like books that are highlighted, so I skip these. The main problem is that universities are notorious for changing the edition of the book from semester to semester, which is why I call it a "racket", because the next edition often looks very similar to the one before it! And this obviously frees them from the obligation of buying it back. I definitely agree with the previous statement, if you cannot buy it used, and don't want to keep it: rent it.

 

[littlewitch34]

I buy my books used online, and when I go to sell them back, I sell them back online, too!

www.bigwords.com is a site that compares prices on books so you know you're selling it back for the most you can get for it!

 

[Boardwalk Gal]

again, thank you all for your tips and suggestions--i really appreciate it!! I will now be researching which is the best route to go --renting vs buying, and from whom!!

 

[pigletforever]

I am a 40something psych major. I rent my books thru bookrenter dot com. I am in an accelerated program and need a new book every 5 weeks. It is cheaper to rent and return. They pay shipping both directions. I also had my college age son rent his books this semester.

 

[disneymom06]

I use the site bookfinder4u, it searches for the book and gives you site and price options. Make sure that you have the ISBN number, put it in the search and it tells you where the book can be found. I have found great prices. (AN economics book new at 180, I got for 60!)

 

[mystic.wind63]

Hi There

I took a look around at renting vs buying. It was surprising -- renting was not as cheap as I expected. Overall, before buying, good to compare. Sites like Textbook Genius textbookgenius.com help you easily search all the major sites (Amazon, eBay, eCampus) to find the best prices to buy, rent and sell back textbooks.

Best if you know the ISBN but not necessary I think.

 

[BabySimba]

My campus has two stores. One bookstore where you can buy the book new and one store where you can buy it used. One of my textbooks usually cost around 100 dollars! For just one book! So I checked out the used store at the college and guess what I got it for? 20 dollars! No joke. The only thing "wrong" with it was that the person wrote a few notes in it. Which honestly, I don't mind. So I suggest buying it used. If there isn't two stores like at my college, I'm sure there are some postings around the college of student trying to sell their old books.
Good luck!

 

[duffietc]

Amazon.com has been a lifesaver for me. Last year my Economics book that on-campus costed $150 but I found it on Amazon for $7!! I also used CouseSmart.com for the first time this semester. You can rent eTextbooks and I absolutely loved it. Good luck on the search!

 

[indianabrit]

I always buy older editions online.

ex: If we need the 5th edition... I just buy the 4th.

I had a history professor in one of my advanced history classes explain to us that they usually only make minor changes in between editions.

ex2: They will just rearrange the chapters to make a new edition...and more money. Or they'll add a preface...and then take away the preface. Or add a sentence...

I think you get my point. The only problem with this though is that you can't really sell the book back or anything, but I've saved up to $80 doing this.

Another recommendation is to just wait to see if she needs the book at all. I've taken a lot of the classes and the only things I ever used the books for was to press flowers.