Need Help With College Textbooks

daughtersrus

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Joined
Feb 26, 2002
Messages
6,658
I've been searching for DD's textbooks for this semester online and it seems like most people are either selling "Instructional" editions or "International" editions.

I know that I have the correct ISBN# because we went to the campus bookstore for the list.

I've been buying the books online for a few years now and this is the first time that I've come across this.

Some are so expensive for the US edition that I'm thinking that it may be worth it to buy them even though I won't be able to resell them.

I'd like to hear from those that have used either an International or Instructor edition. Are they really the same?
 
DH had an instructor's edition for one of his classes.

It wasn't a big deal, he said it just had some extra info in it.

Good luck, I just ordered all of ours for the fall last week! :)
 
Oh goody... I have a related question. I am trying to find textbooks for my DD and the online bookstore lists the ISBN number. When I look on ebay and other sites the pictures match, and the ISBN is identical except the last 2 digits. If the number is xxxxxxxxx77 the number of the ones on ebay etc.. are xxxxxxxxx67. Any experts out there know what this means?

I have been lucky and able to buy all her textbooks used at the school used book sale. This year the Spanish 4 and the AP U.S. History books (both college level) are new. They are $180 and $118.:scared1:

I am hoping to be able to find them elsewhere.
 
Oh goody... I have a related question. I am trying to find textbooks for my DD and the online bookstore lists the ISBN number. When I look on ebay and other sites the pictures match, and the ISBN is identical except the last 2 digits. If the number is xxxxxxxxx77 the number of the ones on ebay etc.. are xxxxxxxxx67. Any experts out there know what this means?

Possibly different editions. :confused3
 

I rent my textbooks from bookrenter.com. Usually I get one for $35-40 for 8 weeks. It's so nice not having to sell them later and they are soooo easy to work with.
 
Possibly different editions. :confused3

Meant to add, they are both listed as 9th edition. Rental is a great option but we need them for the entire year. Worse comes to worse, I can buy them and sell them next year. I'm sure they won't change from a brand new book in one year. We have really been lucky so far, both years I have only had to spend less than $300 each for books.
 
I'm sure they won't change from a brand new book in one year.

They can and most likely will. That's why college textbooks are so expensive. They come out with a "new edition" and charge you a ridiculous price and teachers insist that you *must* have the "new edition", when hardly anything has changed in the book. And then the college bookstore won't take back the "old" edition textbook at the end of the semester. It's quite ridiculous.
 
If you are sure that the editions are the same, then the slightly different ISBNs usually mean that the book was originally sold as a package deal...with study guides and/or cds etc. This is a ploy by the textbook companies to get the students to buy the books new rather than used. The departmental secretary at the college could probably tell you if the one you are looking at will be suitable.
 
I rent my textbooks from bookrenter.com. Usually I get one for $35-40 for 8 weeks. It's so nice not having to sell them later and they are soooo easy to work with.

I am also renting this semester, but from Chegg. Their prices are very reasonable, and shipping to return the books at the end of the period is free. You can choose to rent for a summer term, quarter or full semester.
 
They can and most likely will. That's why college textbooks are so expensive. They come out with a "new edition" and charge you a ridiculous price and teachers insist that you *must* have the "new edition", when hardly anything has changed in the book. And then the college bookstore won't take back the "old" edition textbook at the end of the semester. It's quite ridiculous.

We are using these books in a high school. Our school knows how difficult sending our daughters there in this current Detroit economy is and they are holding costs where they can. They usually use their textbooks for several years before changing.

I do remember what you are talking about going on during my college days. What a waste!
 
If you are sure that the editions are the same, then the slightly different ISBNs usually mean that the book was originally sold as a package deal...with study guides and/or cds etc. This is a ploy by the textbook companies to get the students to buy the books new rather than used. The departmental secretary at the college could probably tell you if the one you are looking at will be suitable.

Thank you! That is what I was figuring or maybe a different printing of the same edition. The first 11 numbers are the same then the last 2 are different. I would not be happy to save money by spending $55 on the wrong textbook.:rotfl:

Still sitting the fence on this one though. I don't know if the teachers would know or not. Most likely they would advise me to buy from the online bookstore to be safe.
 
I ran across the same thing with the "Instructors" edition -- at first I thought, oh maybe it'll have sample tests or something. But then when I was looking at some of the sellers comments, I realized that for this particular book, it would not have an online "access code". I think this means that as part of the purchase of the students edition of the book, you get an access code that you use to go online to do homework exercises. The instructors edition doesn't have the access code.

So, in my case, we're just going to pay full price and buy it at the college bookstore.
 
I ran across the same thing with the "Instructors" edition -- at first I thought, oh maybe it'll have sample tests or something. But then when I was looking at some of the sellers comments, I realized that for this particular book, it would not have an online "access code". I think this means that as part of the purchase of the students edition of the book, you get an access code that you use to go online to do homework exercises. The instructors edition doesn't have the access code.

So, in my case, we're just going to pay full price and buy it at the college bookstore.

DD got an e-mail from her soon-to-be math professors with a link to the on-line exercises. I went on to check it out, since I bought her book used from Amazon. The site had a way to pay for access using a credit card for those who bought a used book. I didn't check to see how much it was for the access.

I just rented the rest of her books from Chegg.com. I googled for a coupon code before I ordered, and saved an extra 10%.
 















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