Use coupon code rent for 5% off Use coupon code gobblegobble for 5% off Use coupon code rentit for $5 off $50 rental
Was looking for a cheap place to purchase my law textbook and ran across Chegg.com featured on BigWords.com where you can rent your textbooks for the semester or college quarter. Included in the price of shipping is a prepaid label to ship the book back to them at the end of the semester (125 days).
My book was $128 list price, Chegg had it for "rent" for $46.08. They offer regular and express shipping and source their books from several sources all across the US. Mine was sourced from Amazon.com. I chose express shipping- 2-6 day ($7.98) and my book will be here Tuesday (2-day shipping from Amazon).
No worries about reselling it, just ship it back at their expense. That's what appealed to me. They will also allow you to highlight in the book without penalty.
Oh yeah, for what it's worth, they plant a tree for every book you rent.
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posted: Jan. 19, 2008 @ 8:32p
SlightlyManic
Tired Member
posted: Jan. 19, 2008 @ 8:47p
Arrrggghhh! The book I just bought yesterday for $52 could have been rented for $22.36. Renting textbooks is a great idea. I wish I'd thought of it first.
Jpmanska
Member
posted: Jan. 19, 2008 @ 8:50p
I used to buy my books from TextbookX.com and then sell them at the same site after. Alot of times I got back 60-80% of what I paid and I bought them used for a big discount.
i just bought a 70 dollar one that woulda cost 41 to rent.....sigh.
mantalcore
Senior Member
posted: Jan. 19, 2008 @ 8:58p
Chegg used to be good when they had large sales on items. Renting books? It's at the same price as if you bought a new or used one off of half.com or eBay! That's outrageous! Hmm... rent or own for the same price? Seems like a no-brainer there.
In my case, the textbook that I needed was just published in October '07. Consequently, there are no used books on the market and there are even vendors selling them above the suggested list price. So, renting the textbook was an excellent option for me.
Plus, I don't want the darn thing after the semeseter is over so I don't have to worry about trying to sell it. Although, considering it is a brand new (newest edition) law book, I probably wouldn't have any trouble getting rid of it.
The school I went to had a rental system for books that they planned on using for a few years. They charged $5 per credit hour so those huge, expensive science books only cost $25 to rent. It was a great system.
captainbozo said: The school I went to had a rental system for books that they planned on using for a few years. They charged $5 per credit hour so those huge, expensive science books only cost $25 to rent. It was a great system.
What school was that??
captainbozo
Member
posted: Jan. 19, 2008 @ 9:33p
farang said: captainbozo said: The school I went to had a rental system for books that they planned on using for a few years. They charged $5 per credit hour so those huge, expensive science books only cost $25 to rent. It was a great system.
What school was that??
Missouri Southern State University. I see they've raised it to $7/hour since I left.
Thank you I will have to remember this for next semester. It sill pisses me off when I buy a $100 book to use it once but we are "required" to have it all the time. I swear that they get a kick back for telling their students to buy XYZ's books.
chimera194
Thrifty Member
posted: Jan. 19, 2008 @ 11:20p
I've looked at this, but not a good deal.
As previous posters stated, used books are about the same price.
Second, if your book is new (as in OP's case), it should be exactly why you don't want to rent from chegg! It is because since it is a new book, your book will definitely be used next semester and that means you can sell it used to someone on your campus, craigslist, online, etc. You can recuperate about 80% of your book purchase, so you are only spending about 20% for books that semester. With renting from chegg, you have to pay 50% of the MSRP and then lose it afterwards????? Geez, most bookstores don't even sell MSRP, so you are losing more! Geez.... I feel my stomach churning thinking about the people who rented from chegg...
rt80639
Member
posted: Jan. 19, 2008 @ 11:31p
I'm getting my MBA right now, and over the last five semesters I've probably broken even on textbooks. Buy from the cheapest site, then sell it on Amazon when you're done. Most of the time, you'll be within $20 of your original buying price, and I even made money on a few of them. Renting a $100+ textbook for $40? Why not buy it, use it, and resell it for $100?
rt80639 said: I'm getting my MBA right now, and over the last five semesters I've probably broken even on textbooks. Buy from the cheapest site, then sell it on Amazon when you're done. Most of the time, you'll be within $20 of your original buying price, and I even made money on a few of them. Renting a $100+ textbook for $40? Why not buy it, use it, and resell it for $100?
It depends. Some obscure textbooks on oddball subjects have no resale value. It's probably better to rent them.
Don't the libraries have any copies of the textbooks you can borrow?
In Ottawa the university library had at least 2 copies of every text and you could borrow them overnight for free
Also many of the city libraries have a lot of the textbooks too- even the obscure ones.
I took some poltics courses and english also and there were at least 20 copies of each book and no one borrowed them exept me...you can check the book status online and even borrow from libraries in other cities for free....
I usually don't like to pay for books and that includes even books to read for fun.
The university profs, they usually get a couple copies of the books from the publishers and many other free books....I doubt they get any actual money out of it...
I know my aunt is a university teacher as are other family members.
fiven9ne
New Member
posted: Jan. 20, 2008 @ 9:14a
their prices are high.. you can BUY those books cheaper online if you look in the right places......oh and then sell them too
TheFrugalGourmet
Happy Member
posted: Jan. 20, 2008 @ 10:24a
chitoan said: None of my books is available.
Those would be English books, right?
macki123pi
Senior Member
posted: Jan. 20, 2008 @ 4:37p
TheFrugalGourmet said: chitoan said: None of my books is available.
Those would be English books, right?
LMFAO!
Gorillascientist
Senior Member
posted: Jan. 20, 2008 @ 5:44p
I'm a professor.
We get free books, both the ones we are using as well as others that the publisher hopes we will use. I got 4 or 5 last week, but we are just getting into the season where they send out bunches of them because we'll be reviewing books for next fall soon.
The books often have weird publication dates. I'm looking at a book with a 2008 publication date that I used last summer in class. I got my copy of it in April, 2007 as it was published. The book has previous publication dates of 2001, 2004 and 2006. It's pretty typical (in my area) for books to go to new editions every 2 years. That, of course, is because of the used book market. When professors and students sell books into the used book market, it means the publisher won't make any money off the book after the first sale.
Something to be aware of--many college bookstore have the name/author of a required book online, but leave off the edition and, particularly, the ISBN. I had 3 students bring up different editions of a textook that I am using this semester; all had gotten them online. One had bought an edition that was from the mid-90's for $2. It just wouldn't work, although the other students had modern enough editions that it was fine--they just had to figure out the page numbers themselves. Professors have to submit our book lists a couple of months in advance. Many are happy to let students know the name/author/edition of textbooks if you'll email and ask (nicely!).
We don't make any money off using books that others wrote (unless we sell them to used book buyers), although there are a couple of publishers that will contract with us to take one of their pre-written books and "modify" it--you can change nothing or a lot--and make $15-20 per book when students have to buy it. Those contracts require the professor to require that students use new books each semester. That way the publisher will make $ off each book sold. The mainstream publishers don't do this, and many of us feel that it is unethical to do such a thing. I had a colleague do it for a couple of semesters and it caused a big stink--my college has just put a rule in place to prevent it happening again.
ahsq
Loyal Member
posted: Jan. 21, 2008 @ 1:25a
nice post when i was in college there were rumors professors have deals with publishers. I used to pay for those $150 new textbooks good for ONE semester. Then i got smart and say f it and bought older versions and made copies instead.
Thanks for the information. So far, because of health care fields, it's made my kids more comfortable buying the most recent edition. But for fun one day we bought a non-medical book, the current edition and the most recent previous edition -- not one change that we could see except for the cover. I was told a while back also that it's the publishers that pretty much 'push' the frequent change-of-editions...
I think that renting is a viable option in certain situations and will certainly look into it in the future!
Gorillascientist
Senior Member
posted: Jan. 21, 2008 @ 2:11p
Thisiswhaticanafford said: Thanks for the information. So far, because of health care fields, it's made my kids more comfortable buying the most recent edition. But for fun one day we bought a non-medical book, the current edition and the most recent previous edition -- not one change that we could see except for the cover. I was told a while back also that it's the publishers that pretty much 'push' the frequent change-of-editions...
Many books in my area are relatively unchanged from one edition to the next. In the preface (or on the website), you might find a statement that there are "450 new references!" in the book. One thing we find is that a core topic is left essentially unchanged, but with more current references that support the old idea. The problem with the old editions, however, is that you just don't know...
As a matter of interest, my kid is at Vanderbilt University as an English/Political Science major. Each semester, I encourage her to go to the bookstore before the previous semester is over to look at the ISBN numbers of the books she will be using the next semester (they don't put the ISBN numbers online). Then we look. This semester, the big score was a $80 used book (Vanderbilt bookstore price) that we got for $17 new on Amazon!
But, as much as I want to be cheap, I don't have her buy old editions without the instructor specifically saying it's ok. My feeling is that college is difficult enough that I want her to have every advantage; the cost of current editions is very cheap in comparison to the cost of walking through the door of the college.
And, yep, the publishers put authors on a short time frame for new editions.
Gorillascientist said: Thisiswhaticanafford said: My feeling is that college is difficult enough that I want her to have every advantage; the cost of current editions is very cheap in comparison to the cost of walking through the door of the college.
I couldn't agree more We do something similar about finding ISBN #s ahead of time to get a jumpstart on used books online, etc. Our threshhold of supporting the college bookstore (feel a bit obligated due to scholarships she received) is approx. a $20 difference. It's a fun game, though, last semester her 'net' cost for buying from non-bookstore sources and what she got paid at buyback time was $40 for 3 textbooks! That being said, we were also lucky that all books were being used the following semester of course...
I do think the renting concept has merit for alot of people though.
SweetDreems19
Member
posted: Apr. 29, 2008 @ 12:23a
I just buy the book, photocopy it, then send it back.
OrygunSunset
Ancient Member
posted: Apr. 29, 2008 @ 4:04a
After being burned by 80% drop after the release of a "New Edition" ( 3 pages changed ) The $190 Medical text book - My school would not buy it back- "Obsolete Edition" but they had no problem selling me a brand new one - the class the semester before mine was offered less than a Dime on the dollar for used. ( but they still sold the used ones that they did buy back for 80% of list ) My school also stickers the back of the books with their own SKU, and then they Shrink wrap all the books - if you remove the Shrink wrap- you can't return it - you have to wait till the end of the semester to sell it back or sell it online.
So I then started to either buy on line or from someone currently taking the class.
I now take all my notes on Computer or for math or some science, I scan the paper notes later. ( Evernote does a fantastic Job with OCR of handwriting. ) I have scanned in all my old handwritten notes and imported them to Evernote. ( It is nice that if their is long formula on the Overhead I can just turn off my flash and snap a photo. )
Technology is starting to Amaze me. I now rarely buy on line unless I have to.
Photocopying is a pain - and it can expensive ( unless you get free copies- but you have FAT notebook --
I don't LUG a heavy backpack around anymore - I can carry all my books and notes on my Notebook - With Google Desktop and other indexing software I can find anything instantly. I carry a thin Timbuktu zippered sleeve that holds my power cord, my BT mouse and a few pens. It is about as big a textbook and weighs about the same.
Nothing unethical about it - Buy it new - take pictures of all the pages - scan to OCR - sell it Like new but used Text book online or to a friend. ( I am talking for personal use - I don't give away copies or share them - they are just a backup -
Better yet buy it used, sell it used. Cheaper yet - Check it out of the Library - Not like the Publisher was going to make money on it a second time around.
The Omnipage Professional 16 blows me away - I used to just take photos and use a Folder in Picasa and label the pages - and Zoom in to read ( I took photos at 4-5Mp each. The searchable PDF is even better.
It blows me away, how many classes I have taken that we hardly even opened the textbook, I took an elective class in Welding - caused my HS did'nt have a Shop class - The used textbooks were like new and I doubt that they were ever used or read. The were the cleanest and nicest used books I have ever seen.
At first I was shocked at the Price of Textbooks, Now I just get pissed off, they they can't even correct their mistakes and proofread it version to version - I have seen 3 editions all with the same typos and errors in the Formulas, and other mistakes. I guess that they do what ever it takes to turn a buck.
As well I think that we will see more and more of the Digital textbooks in the days ahead ( only it will be with a special education "Kindle like device" The Textbook publishers will follow in the footsteps of MicroSoft, with limited licenses and force our hand and elimante the Used textbook market.
Thanks for sharing your insights, etc. Kindle, interesting thought. Imagine how many natural resources would be saved by publishers/schools utilizing a similar method, would love to see something like that become a reality!
How about scanning instead? Also, If I have access to the e-book version of the textbook during the semester, I make "printouts" to OneNote and have kept the digital version for future reference.
Just my $0.02
SweetDreems19 said: I just buy the book, photocopy it, then send it back.
ritanlt
Member
posted: Apr. 29, 2008 @ 8:13a
american professors are worse than lawyers or car mechanics...
so it is not surprize that all IT Engineers are from India
While I respect your opinion, I strongly disagree.
Sure there are levels of competence, but I submit that they apply to all demographics proportionatelly. There is also a significant percentage of successful foreign graduates from American colleges.
ritanlt said: american professors are worse than lawyers or car mechanics...
so it is not surprize that all IT Engineers are from India
dodgeman007
Senior Member
posted: Apr. 29, 2008 @ 11:08a
chitoan said: None of my books is available.
i have a fifth grade english book avail for you to have free.
dodgeman007
Senior Member
posted: Apr. 29, 2008 @ 11:10a
OrygunSunset said: After being burned by 80% drop after the release of a "New Edition" ( 3 pages changed ) The $190 Medical text book - My school would not buy it back- "Obsolete Edition" but they had no problem selling me a brand new one - the class the semester before mine was offered less than a Dime on the dollar for used. ( but they still sold the used ones that they did buy back for 80% of list ) My school also stickers the back of the books with their own SKU, and then they Shrink wrap all the books - if you remove the Shrink wrap- you can't return it - you have to wait till the end of the semester to sell it back or sell it online.
So I then started to either buy on line or from someone currently taking the class.
I now take all my notes on Computer or for math or some science, I scan the paper notes later. ( Evernote does a fantastic Job with OCR of handwriting. ) I have scanned in all my old handwritten notes and imported them to Evernote. ( It is nice that if their is long formula on the Overhead I can just turn off my flash and snap a photo. )
Technology is starting to Amaze me. I now rarely buy on line unless I have to.
Photocopying is a pain - and it can expensive ( unless you get free copies- but you have FAT notebook --
I don't LUG a heavy backpack around anymore - I can carry all my books and notes on my Notebook - With Google Desktop and other indexing software I can find anything instantly. I carry a thin Timbuktu zippered sleeve that holds my power cord, my BT mouse and a few pens. It is about as big a textbook and weighs about the same.
Nothing unethical about it - Buy it new - take pictures of all the pages - scan to OCR - sell it Like new but used Text book online or to a friend. ( I am talking for personal use - I don't give away copies or share them - they are just a backup -
Better yet buy it used, sell it used. Cheaper yet - Check it out of the Library - Not like the Publisher was going to make money on it a second time around.
The Omnipage Professional 16 blows me away - I used to just take photos and use a Folder in Picasa and label the pages - and Zoom in to read ( I took photos at 4-5Mp each. The searchable PDF is even better.
It blows me away, how many classes I have taken that we hardly even opened the textbook, I took an elective class in Welding - caused my HS did'nt have a Shop class - The used textbooks were like new and I doubt that they were ever used or read. The were the cleanest and nicest used books I have ever seen.
At first I was shocked at the Price of Textbooks, Now I just get pissed off, they they can't even correct their mistakes and proofread it version to version - I have seen 3 editions all with the same typos and errors in the Formulas, and other mistakes. I guess that they do what ever it takes to turn a buck.
As well I think that we will see more and more of the Digital textbooks in the days ahead ( only it will be with a special education "Kindle like device" The Textbook publishers will follow in the footsteps of MicroSoft, with limited licenses and force our hand and elimante the Used textbook market.
im pretty sure all textbooks have copyrights on them so what your doing is illegal. maybe your doing this on books that aren't protected but i seriously doubt it. just like i can't back up a dvd or CD then sell the original, everything is usually ok until you are no longer have the original and reciept.
I appreciate the heads up, OP. I have been sooooo frustrated by the cost of summer session textbooks that are not bought back because different books are used for fall classes. Until Kindle is full speed ahead, renting books could be just the ticket.
Gorillascientist said: ...It's pretty typical (in my area) for books to go to new editions every 2 years. That, of course, is because of the used book market. When professors and students sell books into the used book market, it means the publisher won't make any money off the book after the first sale...
I think its incorrect to say that updates occur because of the used market. The practice of slightly modifying a text and making a nearly identical, past edition obsolete existed long before the internet created such a massive used market. While its true the publisher makes no money off these used sales, their gouging practices have certainly contributed to the health of the used market.
OrygunSunset
Ancient Member
posted: Apr. 29, 2008 @ 2:43p
dodgeman007 said: im pretty sure all textbooks have copyrights on them so what your doing is illegal. maybe your doing this on books that aren't protected but i seriously doubt it. just like i can't back up a dvd or CD then sell the original, everything is usually ok until you are no longer have the original and reciept.
First, from your post offering a free 5th Grade Grammar book I think that you should keep it. BTW it is spelled receipt vs "original and reciept."
The rule with an exception goes:
i before e except after c we live in a weird society.
I guess that it is a good thing that RIAA hasn't teemed up with the Textbook publishers of America, I sleep just fine at night, again I am not distributing to anyone, not even buddies. If the Textbook publishers made their money where is the damage? No damage, No liability. It would be different if I was selling, or seeding it as a Torrent. ( Which is something that I think we will see in the days ahead, as the OCR software gets even better and cheaper. )
A Study of Fair Use, the First-sale doctrine, theLimits and exceptions to copyright; exhaustion of rights,: the doctrine of exhaustion, is a concept in intellectual property law whereby an intellectual property owner will lose or "exhaust" certain rights after the first use of the subject matter which is the subject of intellectual property rights.
Part of the reason that we have 2nd hand book stores, why we can pay to rent video's (as opposed to buying them) why I can record copyrighted TV, movies, and music that is broadcast over the airwaves. Why we can also buy used CD's, DVD's, books, 2nd hand unused software from 2nd stores, e-bay, pawnshops, etc. To give you an example I can download and burn to CD some of my textbooks that are in Audio format from my local public library, I can checkout software as well from my local library and install it on my computer.
I have licensed software with a legal keys, of Microsoft Operating Systems (XP, Vista, NT4, Win 2000, Win2K3, DOS6 and other MS products; all legal for me to own and use on my personal computer, that I downloaded when I took one(1) computer course at my school - Through MSDN - but I can't sell them. or install more than one, on more than one computer.
Again this would be a whole different story if I was sharing it with others.
As well, if I buy an International edition that is shipped in from outside of the US then all bets are off as well. It changes the legal ground.
OrygunSunset
Ancient Member
posted: Apr. 29, 2008 @ 3:07p
BargainActivist said: So many trees, so little time!
How about scanning instead? Also, If I have access to the e-book version of the textbook during the semester, I make "printouts" to OneNote and have kept the digital version for future reference.
Just my $0.02
SweetDreems19 said: I just buy the book, photocopy it, then send it back.
Scanning is an option, as I have a USB powered Canon LiDE 70 flatbed scanner (notebook size) and a Fujitsu Scansnap S510 -(An amazing ADF scanner for the home user or small business). It is about the size of a football.
BUT,
I initially tried, using the flatbed, slow and awkward to use on more than 15-20 documents unless you have a ton of time - with a Digital camera and a Tripod - the process goes quite quickly.
My Scansnap S510 is really fast but anything wider than a letter is not possible, as well since it has a document feeder like on a Xerox machine, you have to remove the pages from the book or have the binding cut off at Kinko's. then you have to have a way to store all the loose sheets.
That is why I fell in love with the Digital Camera and Omnipage Professional 16, it can even OCR text in Digital photos that are skewed, or is in non-white background, etc. The cheapest way to purchase it is to upgrade from OP15.
I have never used MS Onenote ( But I do own both the 2003 and 2007 Versions ) but I do use Evernote, same principle, If it is a Class that we follow along in the textbook, then I just use Acrobat Standard 8.0 and use the Comment and Markup tools (i.e. Sticky note, Highlight Text etc.)
Heck, I can even record the lecture and attach the audio file to the Acrobat page. ( Talk about great for review later) I got my legal copy with my Fujitsu Scansnap. In the past I thought that Acrobat reader was a resources pig ( the Free reader is because it is based on the Standard and Professional engines). If all you are doing is printing to PDF, then their are a ton of free readers and programs.
Just my .02 cents. As well as what I have found to be my experience.
Skipping 1 Messages...
jtultrafine
Member
posted: May. 2, 2008 @ 1:43p
wow this is awesome. I never knew these sites existed. Thanks came in perfect timing for me!
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