Last Updated on September 23, 2021 by BookScouter
Looking for ways to save on your expenses? College textbook rental is undoubtedly a fantastic idea! Cheap college books are difficult to find since the prices are sky-rocketting, adding to the financial burden of students. BookScouter offers you a no-hustle way to save some money and solve the pain of hunting for cheap books — try out college textbook rental.
Cheap Textbook Rental Saves Money
Let the numbers talk for themselves.
The famous Campbell Biology (ISBN 9780134093413) — a costly illustrated textbook — can be rented for $12.10 for 60 days. Buying a used copy will cost you around $42, while for a new hardcover you will need to cash out around $100. College textbook rental will save you at least 30 dollars, and it’s just for one book.
Let’s take another example: a used copy of Lewis’s Medical-Surgical Nursing: Assessment and Management of Clinical Problems (ISBN 9780323551496) is on sale for $105. You can rent the same college book for $44! You can do the math yourself.
How to Rent Cheap College Books
It’s not always easy to find a vendor with the best offer on the college book you need. A rule of thumb is to check beyond your campus bookstore — dive into online marketplaces. BookScouter can help you: this platform should become your first step of hunting for best offers on renting cheap college books.
Search for the ISBN or title of the desired textbook, and BookScouter delivers all the offers available from multiple sellers. It suggests the best vendor, accumulates coupons and estimates the buyback (in case you want to sell textbooks).
Always make sure you rent the textbook you need — make no mistake so that you don’t lose money. First of all, consult your course syllabus and ask the professor if this piece of literature is really essential for passing the course. Secondly, before putting the textbook for rent into your shopping cart, check both the title and the ISBN to make sure it is indeed the book you want to get.
From the available offers, choose the best textbook rental site. The crucial parameter is, of course, the price and your preferred rental period. You can usually choose between 30, 60, and 130 days, depending on the vendor.
Next, go to the seller’s page to finalize the deal. Read through the terms carefully: textbook rental varies in terms of the rental period, book condition, and delivery. Most of the vendors offer free delivery and free return shipping labels. So the only thing you should do is to remember to return the rented college book on time. Otherwise, you’ll have to pay some fees, and we don’t want that!
Buy & Sell Textbooks vs. College Textbook Rental
When looking for cheap college books, you have three options. You can go fully digital and buy or rent an ebook. Or you can buy a new or used textbook and sell it at the end of the term. In this case, you are hoping for some profit. But there is always a risk of choosing the wrong timing for selling books, which diminishes your margin. However, BookScouter Pro will solve this problem for you by suggesting the best buyback season. But if a new edition of the textbooks is released, then you’ll get less money than you initially hoped for.
The third option is to rent textbooks. The final decision is up to you, but here are some advantages and disadvantages of renting textbooks to help you find the most efficient way of saving on books.
Pros of Cheap Textbook Rental:
- saving heaps of money, especially if you start to rent college books right from your freshman year onwards
- paying lower price upfront
- guarantees you can return the book
- decluttering: no need to find space for keeping all your college books
- no headache of selling textbooks later
- it can be possible to prolong the rental period or even buy the book
Cons of Textbook Rental:
- have to return the book in the same condition
- no scribbling in the book allowed, but you can always use post-its and proficient note-taking as a substitute
- only a limited amount of highlighting allowed (depends on the vendor)
- be mindful of the rental conditions
- supplementary materials might not be included (e.g., access codes), so check with your professor if you need those
All in all, renting textbooks is a cost-efficient practice for cutting some of your college expenses. And it is also quite sustainable! In the end, “to rent or not to rent textbooks”-dilemma depends on your learning and reading habits and on your curriculum. Whatever your choice is, BookScouter will help you find the best textbook rental site with cheap college books!
