At the beginning of August, MIT Press held a party to celebrate the sale of the 500,000th copy of the textbook Introduction to Algorithms. While the number, alone, is impressive, what makes the feat more outstanding is that it comes at a time when digital textbooks, online note taking applications and tablets have been flooding the market. With students now heading back to school, there’s a lot of debate over whether they should stick to their spiral-bound course books or swap them in for something digital. But, instead of discussing the pros and cons of traditional text, we’d rather examine the alternatives.
Try Renting
Chegg allows college students to rent and buy textbooks, both print and digital. The company has an “Any Reason” return policy. So, if you rent a book and discover weeks into class you don’t need it, you have 21 days to return it. You’ll receive a full refund, minus the cost of shipping. E-Textbooks work the same way; you can cancel at any time within 14 days. Chegg also offers homework help, and is partnered with the American Forests Program. Together, the two have helped plant over 5 million trees.
CampusBookRentals is another great company that allows for freedom and flexibility. They offer three different rental periods, ranging from 55 to 130 days, along with a 30-day guarantee. They also provide a 15-day grace period, which gives students the opportunity to rent a book early or hold on to it late. The company is partnered with Operation Smile, and has been helping heal children since the beginning of this year.
The only downside of these sites? While highlighting is not prohibited, it is asked to be limited since the books do need to rotate to other students.
In July, Amazon also launched a textbook rental store for its Kindle eBook service. You can choose any rental length between 30 and 360 days and are expected to pay only for the time you need the book. Feel free to highlight and take notes in any book you rent, because you’ll always be able to access your notes after the rental expires courtesy of Amazon.
Try Selling
Cash4Books lets you sell your used textbooks either from your computer or from your iPhone or iPod Touch. By scanning the books’ barcodes or entering their ISBNs, you can get immediate price quotes and then ship your books for free by using the company’s pre-paid labels. Payment is sent within three business days after your order’s been processed, and the site offers payment via check or PayPal.
Sell Used Books takes back a variety of books, including those you feel forced to buy for school. The company follows a Cash4Books formula in the sense that all you need to do is enter your book’s ISBN to receive your free, instant price quote. From there, you can print off the equally-as-free shipping label and send your former book along its merry way.
Sell Back Your Book, owned by Ez Book Recycle Inc., offers another easy way for students to make a quick buck off of their used textbooks. Not only does the company buy back books, however, they also buy back graphing calculators, CDs, DVDs, video games and other electronics. The process is the same, but the site’s constantly updating their prices to ensure that their visitors are getting the best deals.
There’s no need to waste your money this fall; college is expensive enough. Save that money you were going to use on your school’s overpriced textbooks and spend it instead on more important things, like groceries, clothing, and concert tickets.
Article Source: http://bostinnovation.com/2011/08/29/how-to-save-money-even-make-money-off-your-textbooks-this-fall/
Try Renting
Chegg allows college students to rent and buy textbooks, both print and digital. The company has an “Any Reason” return policy. So, if you rent a book and discover weeks into class you don’t need it, you have 21 days to return it. You’ll receive a full refund, minus the cost of shipping. E-Textbooks work the same way; you can cancel at any time within 14 days. Chegg also offers homework help, and is partnered with the American Forests Program. Together, the two have helped plant over 5 million trees.
CampusBookRentals is another great company that allows for freedom and flexibility. They offer three different rental periods, ranging from 55 to 130 days, along with a 30-day guarantee. They also provide a 15-day grace period, which gives students the opportunity to rent a book early or hold on to it late. The company is partnered with Operation Smile, and has been helping heal children since the beginning of this year.
The only downside of these sites? While highlighting is not prohibited, it is asked to be limited since the books do need to rotate to other students.
In July, Amazon also launched a textbook rental store for its Kindle eBook service. You can choose any rental length between 30 and 360 days and are expected to pay only for the time you need the book. Feel free to highlight and take notes in any book you rent, because you’ll always be able to access your notes after the rental expires courtesy of Amazon.
Try Selling
Cash4Books lets you sell your used textbooks either from your computer or from your iPhone or iPod Touch. By scanning the books’ barcodes or entering their ISBNs, you can get immediate price quotes and then ship your books for free by using the company’s pre-paid labels. Payment is sent within three business days after your order’s been processed, and the site offers payment via check or PayPal.
Sell Used Books takes back a variety of books, including those you feel forced to buy for school. The company follows a Cash4Books formula in the sense that all you need to do is enter your book’s ISBN to receive your free, instant price quote. From there, you can print off the equally-as-free shipping label and send your former book along its merry way.
Sell Back Your Book, owned by Ez Book Recycle Inc., offers another easy way for students to make a quick buck off of their used textbooks. Not only does the company buy back books, however, they also buy back graphing calculators, CDs, DVDs, video games and other electronics. The process is the same, but the site’s constantly updating their prices to ensure that their visitors are getting the best deals.
There’s no need to waste your money this fall; college is expensive enough. Save that money you were going to use on your school’s overpriced textbooks and spend it instead on more important things, like groceries, clothing, and concert tickets.
Article Source: http://bostinnovation.com/2011/08/29/how-to-save-money-even-make-money-off-your-textbooks-this-fall/
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