My first semester begins August 20th, and I’m about to order my textbooks. I’ve come to realize renting my textbooks is the best option for most classes since I’ll never have to take another class related to it again however, the classes within my major are different. I know one textbook from my major is definately used in two classes, so I know buying it would be the best option. I’m not sure about the other textbook though. Despite not knowing whether the second book will be needed again, I’m still contemplating buying it as well due to how much information it contains. I feel it could still be extremely useful to me once the semester is over no matter whether or not I’ll need it again. I was wondering if I should buy the books new or used though. New textbooks obviously have a higher price tag, but they’re guaranteed to be in perfect condition. Purchasing them used would save me some money, but I’m also worried about their condition. The few textbooks at my high school were used, and they often contained obscene drawings and damaged pages. I wish I could see the used textbooks to examine their condition though my college is using an online bookstore for ordering textbooks. I figured the best option would be to ask the College Confidential forum since I’m sure someone else has experienced a similar situation before. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
My daughter is starting college but I’ve helped her older cousins and purchased some k-12 texts (my kids walk to/from school most days). I always look for the best price on used and read descriptions. Often the used books look like new books to me. Sometimes it can be cheaper to buy used then to rent so look at all your options. I use sites like bigwords.com to compare prices.
My advice to my kids on this subject was to buy new books for those that will become part of their professional libraries. Otherwise finding a good condition used book was the way to go.
Some bookstores also offer a rent-to-own option–you can rent the book for the semester you need it, and if it turns out to be really useful, you can pay the balance (the cost of the book minus the rental price) to keep it; if your bookstore has this option, I’d consider that for books you want to evaluate but might not want after the semester.
In my experience, when you are buying a used book from the college bookstore, it has been checked thoroughly for markings and damage; they won’t take a book that has extensive notes in the margins, no cover, etc. The same may not be true of online retailers, so check prices carefully and weigh your options.
Also, if you buy a book and decide after another semester that you don’t want it, you can sell it back to the bookstore or to one of the companies that offers used books. My college bookstore pays cash for used books, usually around 40-60% of the original cost, which makes it essentially the same price as a rental. This is good if you need a book for more than one rental period but don’t want to keep it forever.
My daughter brought all her books used. Most from Amazon some from EBay. She carefully read the descriptions and tended to pay a little more for books in like new or very good condition. Usually books in this condition will have no markings, She only got burnt once (EBay) but got a full refund. She never had an issue with condition. Most sellers were honest about condition. They don’t want the hassle of returns or bad reviews. People realise that marking up a book will kill the resale value.
I would rent or buy used and resell at end of semester if you don’t want to keep it.
I found the rental prices and used book prices at the college bookstore to be vastly over priced. Convenient sure but you pay for it.
Many profs also put the book on reserve in the library so that students can take it out for a couple of hours at a time. If you know that you will be consistent in making the effort to go to the library, this can save you some time.
For lit books, one of my Ds used to just check out the novel from the library instead of buying it.
If you are getting books from something like Amazon or any other online marketplace, I would just make sure to pay good attention to the description of the condition and see if there are any reviews on the seller. If you are getting books from your college bookstore, then most likely used books will be in pretty good condition because of their rental policies and damage to the book would affect potential buyback prices. Also in general, college textbooks are treated better than high school textbooks (for many reasons like having to pay for textbooks yourselves, maturity, buyback/rental policies, etc.) so you’ll usually only find some notes in the margin and key info highlighted.
Don’t do anything until the first day of class. Some profs do not really require the book or an older edition is fine. They will let you know when going over the syllabus.
Another thing to look out for is books with code to use the online homework submission portal. Some profs use the online system and some do not. If you get one that does not, a used book of that edition is fine.
There is another scam used by the colleges and bookstores to make you buy a new book:
They put out a special edition specific to the school so there is no resale market outside craigslist. Usually the book is just the same as the real book with some chapters reordered or removed. Sometimes it is two standard editions ($10-$25 used ) chopped up into a single school edition ($263). FWIW, it was a CALC 3 course that dabbled in Linear Algebra. The prof said to that class if you have the two seperate books there is no difference and she didn’t use the code. She let the class take a picture of the problem set each week which turned out to be the same problems in the original books anyway. Just the page number was different.
The worst school specific edition I am aware of was the exact book as the standard text with a different cover that had the name of the school.
PLEASE take a look at amazon!!
I just ordered my daughter’s textbooks there-- the same editions as at the school bookstore. All the sellers had 96-97% positive reviews.
I paid $148 as opposed to $638.
The one I didn’t order seems to come with computer access… it just seems as though that will be easier going through the school bookstore.
I agree with this. Or, if the book is going to be used immediately, email the instructor in advance to get his/her thoughts on what is really “required.”
Again, I concur. This is a bit of a scam, particularly in STEM classes. The older version (or the identical international version) may be fine (and much cheaper).
So far my daughter only has a book listed for one of her upcoming classes. It is a new edition #11 which new costs about $200… When looking around, she found a free pdf of edition 10. My daughter emailed the professor who said that it was fine to have a pdf vs actual book and edition 10 is fine to use and included that the book isn’t used much. unless my daughter finds she would benefit from the physical book she is okay with the free pdf.
Let’s talk about international editions:
Back in the dark ages at my grad school, the Indian and Chinese international students brought books from their home country. They looked the same but the paper was almost newsprint.
Now the international editions (no longer cheap quality) are available on the internet and at a substantial discount. Are they legal in the US? Who knows! I figure if the publisher sold it somewhere legitimately, the owner can sell it to anyone they want.
Ooh ooh ooh, Mr. Kotter, I know. The answer is: yes…for now.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/11-697
SCOTUS decided 6-3 in Kirtsaeng v. Wiley. Congress could always enact legislation prohibiting at some point in the future.
If you rent on Amazon, the books can be somewhat of a gamble. I’ve had rented books that look almost new and others that were terrible. I remember this one gerontology book that had what looked like a food stain and a random bandage on one of the pages. I was obviously disgusted with the condition of the book. Like others have said, if you buy used on Amazon, the sellers will describe the condition. Rentals don’t typically have as much description, so it really is a gamble. Still, paying $27 for a $107 textbook somewhat makes it worth the gamble. The bookstore for my university sells used copies and at least that way, you can see the quality. They do usually tend to cost more than Amazon though.
Also, as others have been saying, it really does help to wait for some classes. In my advanced syntax class, the professor actually provided each of us with a PDF version of the textbook. I’m not sure how legal that is, but hey, at least we could never make the excuse of not having the book 
Sometimes the court gets it right!
Ginsburg, Kennedy and Scalia were in the dissent and they were really reaching if I read it correctly.
Long term the textbook publishers have to change. Piracy is rampant and there is so much free content out there if I was still teaching, I would only use freely available material.
Anecdotally, when I was teaching an Intro to Programming class at a CC ~ 15 years ago, the publisher sent me a student edition, teachers edition, solved problem sets, a compiler/debugger, and nice set of overheads so my prep work for lecture was greatly reduced.
That how they get you.
I am not a big fan of waiting for the first day of class. While it is the best way to avoid buying unnecessary books but how do you perpare for your classes while you wait a week or two for books purchased online? It seems like a good way to far behind.
I know people will say that professors will often have the book on reserve at the library but do you want to bet on that?
Amazon Prime is one of many examples. Using a reserve copy is another option. But I also suggested asking the instructor in advance of the first day of class.
YMMV, but I have never had an issue getting a reserve copy when I wanted it.
For what it’s worth, I think 5 of the books I ordered used from Amazon the other day have come in. Each and every one of them has been in pristine condition.
I like ebooks so I usually make sure i have somewhere i can reasonably rent/buy the book then once i know i need it for classs i just buy it and since its an ebook i get it right away
for books which you hold off hoping you don’t need knew to get the codes and find out you do indeed need the code to do homework there is often a free trial period to hold you over until your book comes in with the code