<p>I think for the new generation, renting text books is preferred. I used to buy text books and keep them but my daughter doesn’t buy them. But I had to increase her books budget because I forgot how expensive they are. For most things you can google or Wikipedia them so everything is on the web.</p>
<p>Question for those whose kids have rented textbooks. Have you ever had a problem, when the book has been returned, with the company you rented from saying that there is too much writing in the book, and so they are charging you the full price for the book purchase? How do they tell what is normal marking in a book and what is excessive? </p>
<p>Bought used books whenever possible. Get the ISBN numbers of your required books and search for deals on the internet. We never bought new books if there was any other option. My kids didn’t like ebooks.</p>
<p>@MathildaMae, My D never wrote in her rented textbooks so never a problem. If you need to write and highlight in a book to learn then buying is a better choice. We bought workbooks but in the rare occasion D felt the need to tag a book, she would use post-its.</p>
<p>Thanks, turtletime. S generally doesn’t write much in his books but I was worried that the company might say that he did – how would you dispute that?</p>
<p>Also. I am wondering do the rental companies usually ship books that already have a lot of writing? </p>
<p>D’s books had little to no writing in it. It is allowed with some companies. They ask you to “be respectful” to future users. If it were me and a book came in questionable condition, I’d take photos with a date stamp to cover my basis or contact the rental company if there was damage you think might have happened during shipping.</p>
<p>The turn-over for textbooks in general is pretty high. Some books they’ll only get a couple years rental out of. They have to stay in “acceptable” condition which isn’t too hard but we haven’t seen the expectations too high from the rental companies.</p>
<p>There was a forum on Amazon about problems renters experienced. Apparently, Amazon processes confirmation of returns very slowly and thus often charges full cover price and then some for books erroneously recorded as “not returned.” Many renters were forced to pay DOUBLE for books that Amazon said had impermissible highlighting or were never returned at all.</p>
<p>My daughter has learned to create an Excel spreadsheet to compare prices (new/used from university bookstore, new/used from other places, rentals, etc.). She has discovered how important it is to keep track of which books are rented and from where as they usually send you a return shipping envelope and you want to make sure to send back the correct book!</p>
<p>We have bought used and rented. We used BookRenters and did not have any kind of problem with it. We are already checking on her fall books. Putting he ISBN number in your search engine works great. Unfortunately she has to get a 2014 edition book for fall.</p>
<p>Lake Jr.'s bookstore has an online tool that allows comparison of prices from various booksellers. Like anything on the internet, the data can be momentarily “out of date.” In any event, it only takes a few minutes to check the other online booksellers directly.</p>
<p>My kids usually bought them from half.com and resold them there. They broke even almost every year. </p>
<p>So if the retail price on a textbook is $100, what would be the typical rental rate? And then if the book was in pretty much the same condition, what would I get back for the book upon its return?</p>
<p>Amazon Rentals – We had great experience with this BUT we learned the cost is determined by your state. DS goes to school OOS. It was cheaper to have books delivered to our home then shipped to school.</p>
<p>DS rented a Physics book for $18 and Calc for $27; Physics new $143 was Calc new was $180.</p>
<p>And Amazon sometimes has “try electronic version free for 7 days” which bridges the time gap between ordering the hardcopy book and receiving it.</p>
<p>Also look on FB pages for your school. Kids often list books they are selling at good prices. Also, your school may require that a copy of text be held in reference in the library - if so you can read there if delay in getting ordered books. Sometimes I feel it is worth it to use campus book store because easier to return if you find you don’t need it after attending first class - just keep receipts and do not remove shrink wrap until you’re sure you’re going to keep it.</p>
<p>May and early June are a good time to check for used textbooks, obviously because students and new graduates are clearing out what they no longer need. If you know now what you’ll need in the fall, it’s a good time to search and buy used textbooks. This strategy generally works best for required classes.</p>