Online textbook renting is a relatively new phenomenon. How many people have ever heard of renting college textbooks? When I first heard of the idea, I was skeptical. Would it really save money? Would it take extra time? After investigating this intriguing new idea, I decided that it saves money, time, and difficulty.
Money
Renting textbooks saves money. Normally you can save 50% or more off the retail price by renting. Because they can rent the book multipule times, the textbook rental companies can afford to rent for very low prices. You might wonder if the rental price is lower than the price of a used textbook. After a little research, I found that normally the rental price is even a little lower than the used book price; plus the rental books are in much better condition!
Time
Book renting also saves time at the beginning and end of the process. When you first get the textbook, renting saves you time because instead of scanning half a dozen websites for good deals, you can go directly to the rental site and get your book – in less than five minutes!
In addition, textbook rental saves you time at the end of the process. Instead of trying to sell your used textbook on Ebay, Amazon, or some other used book marketplace, you simply send your book back to the rental company. Usually, the rental company sends a prepaid postage slip to you with the book. When you send the book back, you simply apply the postage slip and drop it in the nearest mail box. You do not even have to stand in line at the post office!
Ease-of-Use
With textbook rental you can always get the right book. No more guessing what the badly written description for a used book on Ebay is trying to describe. On most book rental sites, you can search by the ISBN number – thereby always getting the right book. In addition, instead of wondering how much you will be able to resell your textbooks for, you immediately know how much you will save.
Overall, I consider textbook rental to be an excellent way to save money and time – two things that college students have very little of.
Have you ever rented your textbooks? What do you think about it?
Image Credit: Photocapy
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Nate,
I’ve never heard of text book renting. In college my philosophy was to never buy a textbook except math.
I generally succeeded. Ironically I only ever needed textbooks for my gen ed classes. *sigh*
-Nate
I’ve rented textbooks quite a few times. I would weigh the different factors: “Do I want to keep the book when the class is done?” “Is it a book that would be easy to resell on campus, or would I be stuck with it if I didn’t rent it” and usually ended up renting for liberal arts classes and electives. It worked out really well, and I loved just being able to drop my book off in a UPS box when I was done!
Hey Nate,
Thanks for your comment on TwiTip. Glad I could be of some help.
I found you on Twitter. I’m following you now. I’d love to connect with you there.
Leo
Twitter: UtahNewsGuy
@ Nate (The other Nate
)
I think that textbook rental is relatively new.
@ Leo Dirr
Thanks! I am following you too now!
Students in my classes are just beginning to learn about renting textbooks. They are pleased with the results. The rental companies allow a moderate amount of highlighting, so students can use textbooks the way they normally would.
I must be that time of semester when everyone has textbooks on their mind. I’ve just posted the second of three posts about the costs of textbooks. (One more coming up about selling books back.)
Love the approach of your site to helping students get through college while saving money. Thanks!
Vicki
Forget buying books, I have rented mine from http://www.chegg.com for a while. Last semester alone it would have cost $600 to buy my 5 books, instead I rented them for $150. This semester I found a coupon code to get me another 5% off “CC107445″. I am renting for $120 this semester.