They’re all in good condition, with only one looking obviously used, like a typical used bookat this university. Each has a bright orange sticker on it, so no worries about accidentally selling a rental book back to your school. In fact, Chegg won over the campus bookstore, as I am *stillI* waiting on a book that I need tomorrow from the school.

They included a pre-paid return label, and directions to just return the books in the same box at the end of the semester. Convenient!  And all the books were the correct editions, as I ordered them.

Will update everyone again at the end of the semester!

As I mentioned yesterday, I have seven books to buy for fall semester – which would total $515 to purchase new from the bookstore, or $419 used. Instead, I only bought one book from the school, because it wasn’t available used anywhere.

The other six were rented from Chegg.com, a textbook rental service. The premise is simple – you find the books you need for class and choose a rental period (I chose the full semester, so I don’t have to return them until December 21st) and then select a shipping method. All your books come to you, you use them all semester and send them back. The advantage is that a rental costs less than buying used. In some cases it is only $10 less, but for two I saved over $30 each on the used price.

There are disadvantages:

• You can’t write in the books
• Although highlighting is okay if you highlight like most college students (ie: every other line) you can’t return the book. However, I learn better by re-writing, so I never write or highlight in my books.
• There is a shipping fee, but for the six books I got the total shipping was $12.74 (to arrive within 4-7 days)

In the end, the total for the six books rented from Chegg and one book purchased from ASU, as well as shipping for both orders, I paid $320.

Total savings compared to buying all used from ASU: $99
Total savings compared to buying all new from ASU: $195

So, for the first time ever, I considered not getting books from the school bookstore. I always spend between $400-600 each semester, and at the end am able to sell back less than half of my books for less than $100. It’s infuriating and frustrating, and so I turned to Google to search out alternatives.

Online used textbook stores – Their pricing for used copies was $1-$10 less than getting used at ASU, which came out to a savings of about $60 overall. But then there was shipping, which averaged $10 across the board. Saving $50 is cool, but I wanted more.

Craigslist – Found a ton of business, econ and marketing books, as well as the odd philosophy or astronomy. But no luck on my courses. Pricing looks reasonable however, so I’d definitely recommend going this route.

Facebook – I loathe the marketplace. Your problem here is your fellow students, who are too hungover to read your listing clearly, and selfish as all hell. Three times I’ve tried to buy a textbook, arranged to meet with the buyer, only to have them either not show up or just show up with the wrong book. Don’t even get me started on the flipside of selling a book through there! It’s always been a waste of time, and I’m done with trying that route.

Rental textbooks – What? Yeah. Websites exist where you rent your book for the semester, and then return it. At first, I balked at the idea. Then I realized that’s what I was doing through the school bookstore, because I never want to keep them, but I was paying a lot more for the privilege. So… you look up your books, pay less than buying them used at school, and just send them back at the end of the semester. This sounded too easy, but after a morning of research I took the plunge and rented all but one book and the two kits I needed from Chegg.com

Tomorrow I’ll have a detailed post on the experience, and I’ll keep you updated at the end of semester about how the return process goes!