Buying used college textbooks

[xCourxCorex]

I'm a big fan of chegg as well! This year my school's bookstore is also offering the rental option, and one book actually turned out to be cheaper to rent from the school than chegg! I think rentals are a great option, especially if you think you won't keep it/need it for future reference!

Half has been pretty good for me in the past as well.

Last fall I spent almost $750 for one semester.. and that included renting some, and buying most (no option of renting those).. this fall I spent a grand total of ..... $140! All rentals, so I don't even have to worry about selling them back at the end of the semester!

Good luck

 

[ugadog99]

$140? That's great! Even renting and buying from ebay, we are spending $335. That's much better than the over $700 it would have been from the bookstore. Of course, she is taking two science courses and the 2 history courses require multiple smaller books. The cheapest class she's taking is the math class!

 

[bianca]

I try to buy international editions for any class possible. Not all texts are available in international, though. My experience is that they can take quite a while to get here, so I always get my book list for my classes about 3-4 weeks before classes start. I have had fantastic luck in selling them at the end of the semester. I list them on Craigslist the week that school is starting up again and they are always gone within the first week for the same price I paid for them. Essentially, I am only paying for shipping on the books. Just do your best to keep them tidy and you are all good!

 

[Shleedogg]

International editions are awesome! Exactly the same. You can sell them after the semester online, but not at the campus bookstore.

Renting is becoming big. Check out valorebooks.com. My husband heads their technology dept. It started in Fredonia, NY by a bunch of college students that were sick of the campus bookstore prices. They just started a rental program and because of their competition with Chegg, they're planning to undercut them on every rental price, even if they take a loss. I think they're offering free shipping too, but I could be wrong on that one.

Where is your DD going to college? I see you're in upstate ny. Any chance SUNY Fredonia? If it's in Fred, Rochester or Buffalo, Valore Books/Bucks 4 Books has physical store fronts where they'll sell and buy back books so she can get cash for her books at the end of the semester.

 

[ajk912]

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!).

Thanks! I have also had good luck buying used or new off the cheaper websites and reselling at the college bookstore. I stalk the sites for cheap ones to be listed...and buy, and then at the end of the semester I sell them back.

 

[hapandpam]

International editions are awesome! Exactly the same. You can sell them after the semester online, but not at the campus bookstore.

Renting is becoming big. Check out valorebooks.com. My husband heads their technology dept. It started in Fredonia, NY by a bunch of college students that were sick of the campus bookstore prices. They just started a rental program and because of their competition with Chegg, they're planning to undercut them on every rental price, even if they take a loss. I think they're offering free shipping too, but I could be wrong on that one.

Where is your DD going to college? I see you're in upstate ny. Any chance SUNY Fredonia? If it's in Fred, Rochester or Buffalo, Valore Books/Bucks 4 Books has physical store fronts where they'll sell and buy back books so she can get cash for her books at the end of the semester.

Thanks, everyone, for the great advice. DD bought all her books using the suggestions she got here.

Shleedogg, thanks for the heads up on the stores. Both daughters go to Nazareth College in Rochester so I will pass on this information to them.

Once again, the budget board comes through. Thanks!

 

[Hannathy]

Just to hear it again sorry I sometimes need to hear things twice to be sure....

International editions are the same? If they are different it is in the questions at the end of the chapter but not the text? and they are usually paperback from what I'm seeing.

My DD has a lot of science classes where the books are over $180 new and I have seen the international cheaper and more available than the I guess US edition.
That could really be a lifesaver!!!! I love this board!

 

[windycitymom]

Just to hear it again sorry I sometimes need to hear things twice to be sure....

International editions are the same? If they are different it is in the questions at the end of the chapter but not the text? and they are usually paperback from what I'm seeing.

My DD has a lot of science classes where the books are over $180 new and I have seen the international cheaper and more available than the I guess US edition.
That could really be a lifesaver!!!! I love this board!

I am not sure what the differences are, but I can tell you that I have bought several international editions over the years (two in college), and it hasn't been a problem.

I have also bought books that weren't the latest editions either. I.E., buying a 6th edition book even if the current book is a 7th edition. My son just emailed his professor and asked if a past edition of the book was acceptable and he said yes.

 

[Taqwus]

International editions are awesome! Exactly the same. You can sell them after the semester online, but not at the campus bookstore.

Well I just finished a Mech Eng degree and I know the cost of books very well
What I use to do was email the professor for each class as soon as I could and ask for the book, which edition, and if the previous edition could be used
Then I would go hit up www.half.com and get them really cheap
The international editions are good, but you need to watch out since some might be in metric and the teacher may be using the IP system

Previous editions work wonders since there is usually very little change. My energy management book cost me 7$ when the correct edition was 130$.

 

[MAGGIED]

we have been buying my DD books on line the last few years... what a savings... we have purchased some of the international books and she had no problems with them and her bookstore bought them back from her!!!! Worked out well for us!!

 

[Shleedogg]

Just to hear it again sorry I sometimes need to hear things twice to be sure....

International editions are the same? If they are different it is in the questions at the end of the chapter but not the text? and they are usually paperback from what I'm seeing.

My DD has a lot of science classes where the books are over $180 new and I have seen the international cheaper and more available than the I guess US edition.
That could really be a lifesaver!!!! I love this board!

Yep! The only difference is that they have black and white pages, no glossy and no color. I wish I had known about them in college. The only reason I do know is because my DH is in the college book business and they had a huge legal issue with publishers about being allowed to sell international editions on their site.

Publishers print fancy books for us her in the US with full color pictures and glossy pages. Apparently they think we can afford them. Then they print the same exact text book on plain paper, without glossy pages and color pictures and no hardcover outside and sell them in Europe or elsewhere outside the US. Then, people buy them in those countries and sell them to US students. Same exact content in the books.

 

[Hannathy]

Yep! The only difference is that they have black and white pages, no glossy and no color. I wish I had known about them in college. The only reason I do know is because my DH is in the college book business and they had a huge legal issue with publishers about being allowed to sell international editions on their site.

Publishers print fancy books for us her in the US with full color pictures and glossy pages. Apparently they think we can afford them. Then they print the same exact text book on plain paper, without glossy pages and color pictures and no hardcover outside and sell them in Europe or elsewhere outside the US. Then, people buy them in those countries and sell them to US students. Same exact content in the books.

Thank You very much! Her one Bio book is $192 new and since it is a new edition even used is way over 100 but I have found International editions for about $64 a big difference and she has lots of Science classes.

Thanks again.

 

[Sweety_tweety]

Yep! The only difference is that they have black and white pages, no glossy and no color. I wish I had known about them in college. The only reason I do know is because my DH is in the college book business and they had a huge legal issue with publishers about being allowed to sell international editions on their site.

Publishers print fancy books for us her in the US with full color pictures and glossy pages. Apparently they think we can afford them. Then they print the same exact text book on plain paper, without glossy pages and color pictures and no hardcover outside and sell them in Europe or elsewhere outside the US. Then, people buy them in those countries and sell them to US students. Same exact content in the books.

I just recently purchased an International version for a Chemistry book--the book was softbound instead of the US hardbound version--I prefer the softbound. The international version for this book also had full color pictures and gloss pages.

I guess maybe it is hit or miss whether the international versions have full color or not.

 

[TLuvsD]

Be sure and double check that the end of chapter questions/problems are in the same order in international editions. It is fairly common for them to be in a different order for the international editions. The school library should have a copy of the required text on reserve, so it's fairly easy to check.

 

[bianca]

All of my international editions have been identical to the US version. They have had color photos and the same problems in the homework sections. This could be due to the fact that my books are more chemistry/anatomy related and they all use metric. Regardless, the only difference that I have noticed is the soft cover ..... which I greatly appreciate.