Rent Textbooks or Buy Them Online To Save Money

By Pinyo, on August 20, 2009

Textbooks are necessary for your educational success, but they are lousy purchases. They cost a lot to buy, lose value quickly, and worth little when you sell them. Instead of buying your textbooks from college campus store this semester, you could try renting them from online bookstores. If you still want to own them, you could also buy them online at a fraction of the cost.

Photo by Here In Van Nuys via Flickr

Where To Rent Textbooks

There are several web sites where you can rent textbooks. For example, Chegg offers textbooks for rent at about 65% to 85% off the retail purchase price. You can select from thousand of textbooks, get them quickly, and ship them back for free. Chegg also offers 30-Day “Any Reason” Guarantee, which gives you:

Full refund for all orders returned within 30 days
Guaranteed delivery date
Guaranteed quality of books

Last but not least, Chegg promises to plant a tree for every book you rent.

Where To Buy Used Textbooks

Instead of renting, you could also buy used textbooks from places like Amazon.com and Bookbyte.com. For example, Bookbyte sells Human Anatomy and Physiology (8th Edition) for $88, which is 55% off the retail price of $196.33. Amazon.com sells the same book for $157.

These are just a few examples and I encourage you to shop around a bit since there are many web sites that sell and rent textbooks online. Textbooks are becoming more and more expensive each year. A full time student could easily spend more than $500 per semester on textbooks. Why not rent or buy online and safe a few hundred dollars?

Tell your friends

via Twitter

via Facebook

via RSS or Email

Pinyo is the brain behind Moolanomy personal finance blog and a few other web sites. If you like this article, please subscribe for free daily email updates.

All posts by Pinyo

7 Comments

Eric
August 21, 2009, 5:16

I had some good experience with Chegg relatively. The last time they forgot to send me my money after buying back my book but it was solved eventually. I wish there were more textbook discount sites because it’s ridiculous what these one-use books cost.

Thanks for the article!
Melissa
August 22, 2009, 21:54

Renting books is ok but I would much rather buy them, you still save money doing it online anyway. My favorite site is http://www.cheapesttextbooks.com
Thorpe Obazee
August 24, 2009, 1:47

An option I’ve been trying out is not actually reading off of any book. I usually read online.

For example, I love personal finance and have been reading up on a lot like thesimpledollar, fmf and moolanomy.
Rocky
December 10, 2009, 15:18

I have rented mine from 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 4 books for $120 this semester. Every penny saved helps especially when schools chose textbooks that retail for $150-$200. I think that exploits the college student who have to use a particular text for class. What upsets me even more are professors who require books that they themselves have published.
Alex
January 7, 2010, 0:05

Rocky is right – Chegg helps save a ton of money. Also, if you use code CC100290, you can sell back books to Chegg and get and extra $5 back. Try it today!
Julie
February 23, 2010, 15:49

I love using Chegg to rent textbooks and save a lot of money. I wanted to share a promotional code that your readers can use to get a discount on their text order. Put in the code when ordering and hit the “apply” button. The code also gives you back an additional $5 when selling Chegg your used texts.

The code does NOT have an expiration date so it can be used every time you order. Here it is:

CC123047

Feel free to pass this code to others to save money.
Mike
March 19, 2010, 13:05

You can rent textbooks here in Canada…www.BookAccess.ca

Please share your comment:

Comment Rules: Constructive criticism is welcomed. Please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name or URL, as the latter comes off like spam and I'll most likely delete your comment. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! Here's our comment policy and guidelines.

5 blogs that link to this article:

If your trackback does not show in 24 hours, please resend to this trackback URI.

Free Q&A Service

See More Questions

Best Bank Rates

High Interest Savings Accounts	1.51%
High Yield CDs (1-year)	1.60%
High Yield Checking Accounts	1.46%

Best Credit Cards

Best Credit Card	TrueEarnings®
0% APR Balance Transfer	12 mo
Lowest Interest Rate	9.75%
Best Cash Back Reward	5%

Your Credit Score

Featured Reviews

Important Notice:

The information found on Moolanomy is provided and intended for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or other advice of any kind. The information contained on this site is aimed at a general audience, and does not attempt to offer specific advice to your specific circumstances. If you are looking for professional advice, you should consult with an independent financial adviser.

This site contains information about third party products and services, such as credit card offers, online banking, discount brokers, and credit score services. While we endeavor to ensure that the information presented on this site is accurate at the time of publication, any offers and rates shown on Moolanomy can and do change without notice. Visit the official site of the offer for up-to-date information.

For additional information, please review our Terms and Conditions.

Affiliate Relationships

As required by FTC regulations, please note that we have a financial relationship with many of the companies mentioned on this site. We occasionally review products or services that we have been given access to for free. However, we do not accept compensation in any form in exchange for positive reviews and the reviews found on this site represent the opinions of the author.

Archives By Year

2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010