<p>Does anyone have any experience with Chegg.com? It seems like a great deal…</p>
<p>@fullofheart</p>
<p>I think renting textbooks is a stupid idea, unless you’re too lazy to save yourself $30/book. This applies to more expensive textbooks.</p>
<p>Take this book from one of my old classes: [Chegg.com:</a> Engineering Fluid Mechanics by Crowe | 0470259779 | 9780470259771](<a href=“http://www.chegg.com/details/engineering-fluid-mechanics/0470259779/?omre_ir=1&omre_sp=engineering%20fluid%20mechanics&omre_rn=1]Chegg.com:”>http://www.chegg.com/details/engineering-fluid-mechanics/0470259779/?omre_ir=1&omre_sp=engineering%20fluid%20mechanics&omre_rn=1)</p>
<p>It costs $61/semester to rent. Compare that to $125 for a new (supposedly) book from half.com: [Engineering</a> Fluid Mechanics, Books : Half.com](<a href=“Electronics, Cars, Fashion, Collectibles & More | eBay”>Electronics, Cars, Fashion, Collectibles & More | eBay)</p>
<p>I would bet you the entire price of that textbook that you would be able to sell that book back for at least $100 through half.com in four months, and can probably get close to the full price you paid for it, minus shipping costs.</p>
<p>So for an expensive book like that (and all engineering textbooks I’ve come across are expensive), it makes more sense to buy-and-sell online than to rent. However, the cheaper textbooks become, I imagine diminishing returns come into play, so you’d have to evaluate it on a case by case basis.</p>
<p>^
and you have to consider if a new edition is imminent</p>
<p>Do webs like Half.com / Amazaon take in books that have writing in it? (I’m used to writing in my textbooks…)</p>
<p>I don’t know about half.com, but amazon does. you just have to put that it has writing in it.</p>
<p>see, I want to buy my books, but how do I know when the instructor is done adding books to a class?</p>
<p>Yes, you need to take the possibility of a new edition into account.</p>
<p>However, the possibility of all the schools in the country that use a certain textbook switching to a new edition at the same time isn’t likely. I have been able to sell books on Half.com that were being discontinued by my school in favor for new editions for a very reasonable amount.</p>
<p>What I commonly do if I think I could reference a book in the future is sell the newer edition and buy an older edition of the same book for a fraction of the cost.</p>