Buying used college textbooks

[hapandpam]

DD just checked her required list of books and found out she needs 4 psychology texts at $180. each. She has used Amazon to buy used books in the past. She came across international editions, which they guarantee has the same information but a soft cover and black and white pictures. Has anyone had experience using international editions, and if so, were you able to resell them? Thanks!

Any other advice appreciated!

 

[pintamino]

DD just checked her required list of books and found out she needs 4 psychology texts at $180. each. She has used Amazon to buy used books in the past. She came across international editions, which they guarantee has the same information but a soft cover and black and white pictures. Has anyone had experience using international editions, and if so, were you able to resell them? Thanks!

Any other advice appreciated!

My professors often recommended the international editions as an economical alternative. I never got them, but friends who did had trouble selling them back on campus.

This year I rented my fall books using chegg.com, except for a few softcover books it was cheaper to buy new.

HTH!

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

I had an international edition and it was the same as the regular edition.

Also try half.com for books too, its powered by ebay.

I also had many professors who, if we asked, they would say we could purchase the older edition, and some professors would say "Sure" and I'd get a book for $2.00
Doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[cpdrn7]

I am on my second child in college...so far, this has been our experience...if you look at the books that state are required,,,and search for the best deal...you get to class and some of them are not required, or a different version of it....so we just go to the university bookstore on the first day and buy the used ones..and at the end of the year, we just sell them back unless we feel the need to keep it. But then again, we are in Iowa...perhaps it is just this university that we are having issues with!

 

[nortney]

My professors often recommended the international editions as an economical alternative. I never got them, but friends who did had trouble selling them back on campus.

This year I rented my fall books using chegg.com, except for a few softcover books it was cheaper to buy new.

HTH!

I used chegg.com this year too and loved it! It was about 1/3 the price and they sent a prepaid box to mail the books back in when the semester was over. It was a $$$$ saver!

 

[tommya60]

In some case the international editions will hae the end of chapter questions/assignments in a different order than the US edition. This can be a problem...but your student can check with other students or in the library (schools usually have a reserve copy in the library) to see if they differ.
I have used half.com, bn.com and amazon to get the best prices.

 

[TeaForTulips]

I am also a chegg.com user. An example is one of my books are $180 to buy new this fall. If I were to sell this back to my school afterwards I would maybe get $20. I have sold some books on ebay before, but its just a hassel. I have rented this $180 book from chegg for about $30. They also plant a tree for every book you rent and the returned shipping is included.

Love it!

 

[jmillanon]

I've found bookrenter.com to be cheaper than chegg.

 

[TeaForTulips]

I've found bookrenter.com to be cheaper than chegg.

I just did a price comparison with my fall books and you were right! The free shipping is a nice kicker too!

Glad I didn't get mine from Chegg yet! Thanks!

 

[StephMK]

I went back to school last fall & it has been eye opening to buy textbooks! One syllabus had the wrong book listed so the bookstore had the wrong one on the list, teachers require the online portion but then it's never really needed, etc. I have never paid for the online portion of the text (which usually doesn't come w/used books). While you can buy the online access if needed, I have never needed it.

I have done ok with older editions and can find almost all my books far cheaper online than the campus store. Chegg.com is wonderful but I'll have to check that new site posted above. I've also used textbooks.com, half/amazon & some others. Between textbooks.com & chegg. I have been able to save a bundle. I figure if there are any books I decide I want to keep later, I'll buy them when a new edition comes out & they're dirt cheap.

 

[ugadog99]

We have used chegg and bookrenter wiyh great results. Hoever, we found that campusbookrentals is the cheapest overall.

 

[BubMunkeyBles]

I've used chegg the last few times for books. It's great for books you will just have to sell back (or may not be able to sell back). For books that I knew I should keep (I kept a lot of my major classes books) I bought off half.

 

[dthogue]

you can also rent from ecampus.com and they have free shipping. Also check with your school bookstore - many are starting to offer rentals as well - I know this is the first year my DD's school is doing this.

tammy

 

[leshunlenese]

For my books ive discovered that i could get brand new books from amazon cheaper than used books at my bookstore and if the school deosnt buy them book. amazon deos. just take the isbn and see of they take them back. I ve just sold back textbooks from my sister had in college that the bookstore would not take back. here it is almost 8 years later and amazon took them. However, amazon deos not give cash back, they give you an amazon credit and i just use that credit to buy the next set of books.

 

[windycitymom]

I do comparision shopping on GetTextbooks.com (they also have an iphone app so you can compare the price while at the campus bookstore if you want). It lists all the various sites (Amazon, Half, Alibris, etc.) and their prices. You can click to the merchant right from that site.

I bought two books tonight from CampusBookRentals.com. For example, one book NEW would have been $141 or $106 used from the college bookstore. From CampusBookRentals, the cost was $50. They ship at no charge and send you an envelope so you can ship it back at no charge! The second book was about the same....so I spent $100 for two book rentals when each used book was $106.

I also had a stack of college books that I had bought used, and I sold them back to BookByte.com. It doesn't matter where you get the books. I made $112 from no longer needed college books. They give me a price, send the box, and I ship it to them at no charge to me. It's convenient as I don't have to list, ship out individually, deal with people paying me, etc.

I also have another stack of college books that I can't sell back and wonder what to do with them. It seems such a shame to toss them in trash, but I don't want to keep them in the house...and I don't know if Goodwill wants old college books.

 

[blessedby3]

I checked around on a few different sites and ordered from the one that had the cheapest price or rental for my dd's books.

We rented one from campusbookrentals.com and I also used code "couponss" and got $7 off my order.

We also used textbooks.com and they will give you a definate buy back on certain books. One book was $50.73 with a guarenteed buy back of $39.78, so only $10.95 in the end. Second book was $40.31 with a buy back of $27.55 so only $12.76 in the end. Third book was $88.53 with a buy back of $68.83 and only $19.70 in the end. They also have a "marketplace" area with cheap prices from private sellers. We ordered 2 others from that area.
I checked chegg.com, but found better prices at the two I used. There are lots of great rental and purchase sites out there for used books.

 

[windycitymom]

P.S. I just went and compared prices on the two books. I found CampusBookRentals.com (CBR) to have the better price on two books I ordred today than BookRenter.com (BR)

Book One rented for $50 on CBR vs. $88 on BR
Book Two rented for $47 on CBR vs. $57 on BR

Both offer free shipping both ways. I'm happy I made the right choice

CampusBookRentals was listed on GetTextbooks.com but the other rental places weren't.

I also went to BookByte.com to see what they would pay for Book One (i.e., if I bought it and wanted to sell it to them). It was $50...so I decided to rent it instead of buying elsewhere used.

 

[windycitymom]

We rented one from campusbookrentals.com and I also used code "couponss" and got $7 off my order.
QUOTE]

That's good! I saw the coupon code "textbooksavings2010" to save $4 off each book.

 

[windycitymom]

DD just checked her required list of books and found out she needs 4 psychology texts at $180. each. She has used Amazon to buy used books in the past. She came across international editions, which they guarantee has the same information but a soft cover and black and white pictures. Has anyone had experience using international editions, and if so, were you able to resell them? Thanks!

Any other advice appreciated!

I have a Psychology Book (7th Edition) ISBN 0-618-527-19-2 that is leftover from a class my son took...if by chance she needs that one let me know - I'll give it to you I also have a Calculus and Chemical Principles and MicroEconomics books. These books were used within the past two years.

 

[ajh88]

I just stumbled across www.bigwords.com.

It is basically a meta-search engine. Type in the ISBN and it will pull up all the sites where you can buy the book and you can compare prices. I believe it includes Chegg (and other rent sites) as well. When it is time to sell, you can do the same thing to find the sites that will pay you the most for your textbooks.

I had fantastic luck using it when I sold some books awhile back - ended up getting almost double the money by selling to a couple of different sites rather than all to the same place.

I would advise against international textbooks unless you're really just stuck for a book - primarily because most places will NOT buy them back. If it is something you want to keep, or for a class that the book isn't super critical, maybe I'd try it out, but not in general. I also 2nd the idea of inquiring about older editions, and I don't know if anyone has suggested ebay, but I've had some luck there too.

ETA: I'd crunch the numbers before renting as well - for many of my books, renting did not turn out to be much (if any) cheaper than buying and re-selling - and I always bought new books in case I decided to keep them. It's a great idea and probably just depends on the book (maybe I just had bad luck!).