College Textbook Rentals – How Much Can You Save by Renting Your College Textbooks?

November 23, 2011

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Did you know that even during the last few years of recession in the United States college textbooks increased in price by about 25%? Because of this more and more people are seeking alternative means of finding those high-priced textbooks for a bargain. Many people are looking into college textbook rentals.

There are numerous textbook rental places online which offer discounts for renting textbooks. Many of these sites claim to result in savings of as much as 90% from what book stores charge for the same textbook. However, the amount of savings is very much dependent upon which textbooks you are renting and how long you will need to rent those books.

Medical textbooks and legal textbooks tend to be among the highest priced books to purchase or rent. If you shop around when looking into college textbook rentals, you’ll be able to find deals even on these types of texts.

The vast majority of the textbook rental companies charge a rental fee based on the length of time you want the book. Most of the time your options are for 30 days, 45 days, 60 days, one quarter, or one semester. The cheapest rental fee is for 30 days, but most students will need the textbook for a full semester.

Remember, the actual cost of the rental is dependent upon the purchase price of a new textbook so it varies from book to book. The vast majority of college textbook rentals seem to run around the $50 dollar mark until you get into graduate level texts which tend to be a little pricier — probably because there’s a smaller group of people needing these books.

Something else to look into with college textbook rentals is the cost of shipping and handling. Some of the rental companies will offer a discount when you place a large order. In this case, you and some friends might want to consider ordering all of your books from the same company together to take advantage of this opportunity.

Additionally, some of the companies have free return shipping and handling for larger orders or for orders returned prior to the due date. Most of the companies will ask you to return the books in the original box so you’ll want to hang onto that.

If you do decide to go with a company that does not provide free shipping and handling on returns, remember that the post office and UPS offer a media mail which is a lot cheaper than regular mail. Media mail is available only when shipping books or other papers.

You can definitely save money by renting your textbooks online. How much you save is dependent upon your area of study and which college textbook rentals company you opt to use.

Check out the college textbook rentals company that gives you free shipping both ways, helping you to save even more money ==> Rent Your College Textbooks

 

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Best Textbook Rental Sites – Price Compare for the Cheapest Books

November 13, 2011

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Aside from expensive college tuition, textbooks are the next most expensive thing that you need to save for in college. Textbook prices increase annually on an average of 6%. If you are spending about a thousand dollars per year for textbook, you will definitely go bankrupt by the time you graduate just on textbooks alone. Unless you come from a wealthy family, you will not be able to survive college with the rising prices on almost everything you need.

The good news is that there is a solution to the problem of high textbook prices. That answer is textbook rental sites. Textbook rental sites are websites that allow college students rent the books they need on an agreed period of time. These sites are built to make it easier for students to browse through their large selection of textbooks and rent them at the convenience of their home or dorm for that matter. The tricky part is finding the best textbook rental sites that will offer the biggest discount for you to save more. It will take a great deal of research to find the best ones but here is a simple comparison from the best textbook rental sites available for everyone.

The top 3 rental sites are Chegg.com, CampusBookRentals.com and BookRenter.com. Let us compare the price for Basic College Mathematics by Marvin L. Bittinger. Chegg.com had it priced at $43.99 for one semester, CampusBookRentals at $45.35 for 130 days or 1 semester and BookRenters.com at $59.13 for 125 days or 1 semester. Comparing the three best textbook rental sites, you will find a small price difference for Chegg.com and CampusBookRentals.com. However, if you look at their websites, you will find that CampusBookRentals offer 2 way free shipping as against Chegg’s one way free shipping only. Over at BookRenter.com, they also offer free shipping for books rented over $100 which is good if you will be renting more than 1 book per transaction. Also, if you apply the discount coupon code upon check out, prices may differ from the published rates.

You would need to get the biggest textbook discount coupon code if possible to get more savings on these books. Aside from comparing the prices of textbooks from the best textbook rental sites, you also need to take into consideration the shipping value and policy of each site. As mentioned above, CampusBookRentals offer 2 way free shipping. However, you need to check if they do ship books on time or do you have to do constant follow up. Another thing you have to consider is the quality of the books. If for example one rental sites offers a book cheaper than the competitors, you need to ask the condition of their books. If they allow highlighting and notetaking on their books, chances are you will be getting one with all the annoying notes and highlights that comes with the book. Basically, it all boils down to great prices, great customer service and the quality of books rented out.

There is one thing that can really be a game changer, textbook coupon codes. With an updated coupon you can drastically change the total cost of your books and find the lowest possible price. It’s a simple step that can save you a ton of cash.

 

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Textbook Rental

October 24, 2011

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Thinking of buying the required textbooks in college? Wait! Don’t do that just yet. There are ways to save on college textbooks. You don’t need to shell out as much as a thousand a year for your textbooks. You can save by renting from textbook rental sites that are getting more popular as new textbook prices increases over the years. Textbook rental can be done by just logging on to textbook rental sites and picking the books you need for your subjects. These books will be ship to you and you can return them after the rental period.

Here are the advantages of textbook rental:

1. You save money – This is the number one factor when deciding whether to buy or rent college textbooks. It has been proven that you can really save by renting. Depending on the textbook rental site you choose, you can save up to 85% by renting rather than buying. This would help you stretch your budget by leaps and bounds. If you have extra time, you can scour the net to get discount coupon codes to get further discounts or more perks when renting. Taking the time to do your research and looking for the best sites can save you the most money.

2. You save time – Buying online can help you save time and energy. You need not go visit several bookstores to complete your college textbook requirement. You only need to browse through the large selection of books that textbook rental sites offer, choose the ones you need, checkout, type in your discount coupon code and rent. It is easy to do and you can do it in the littlest time possible at the comfort of your home. By doing so, you also save transportation and gasoline cost.

3. You save trees and the environment – Using rented textbooks will decrease the amount of paper use thus saving the trees and the environment. This is important today as we now live in a country where each person contributes and tries hard to be eco-friendly. You can save thousands of trees by renting textbooks rather than buying new ones.

4. You help the community – You may wonder how you can help the community by renting textbook. If you look closely at the different textbook rental sites, you will notice that most of them offer to help the community every time you rent from them. Some of the programs include planting a tree for each textbook rental and donation to partner organizations.

Disadvantage of Textbook Rental:

With textbook rental, advantages outweighs the disadvantages. There is only one disadvantage – you will not be able to use them as a reference book once you’re rental period is up and you have returned them to the rental site. Another which is not really a disadvantage but can be a problem is when you don’t return the books on time. This can cause you your savings since you have to pay for the book extension. So, better make sure to follow the rental procedure to get most of your savings.

By Jacob King

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Best Textbook Rental Sites for The Lowest Priced Books

October 14, 2011

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The great debate as to which are the best textbook rental sites when it comes to the lowest priced books has been heating up in recent years. Here we weigh the best options available to most people, and focus only on the big players as it is these that have emerged in recent years as the core contenders when it comes to providing the best service for the average consumer. We will examine BookRenter, CampusBookRentals, and Chegg. We will then add up the scores and tell you which option is the best so that you can begin to find the best prices right away and with minimal ease. Here are our considerations:

Book Renter
Pretty solid when it comes to book availability and our searches were usually quite successfully so no problems there. They have a good refund policy, but do not offer insurance which is a kind of half good, half bad situation. You can buy and sell on the site which is neat for those looking to do more than just rent. Late fees are a little steep, but their return fee is free, which is good. Shipping times are decent enough, and the loan period is also rock solid. There is no monthly fee.

CampusBookRentals
Has fewer books than the other two, is a little bit pricey, and offers no insurance either. You cannot sell books, but you can buy the ones you rent. The late fees are a bit confusing, but you can also return books for free, but all three offer this as standard (since it works in their favour anyway). No monthly fee and shipping is OK. Not a bad place.

Chegg
This is our best choice when it comes to the top textbook rental sites. It has the most books available by a pretty decent margin. Unlike the other two sites it actually offers insurance, which is important for any postal based rental service- especially an online one. Its refund policy is by far the most comprehensive of the three, perhaps because the site is so well established. The selling and buying options are pretty clear and to the point, which is a welcome bonus. There are no late fees and this alone separates the side immensely from the others. As per the norm there is no return shipping cost at the end of your rental period. Shipping time and costs are both rock solid and dependable.

Wrapping Up
Weighing up all these options, it is clear that our winner has to be the well established and immensely popular website called Chegg, which has been making leaps and bounds in the market in recent years, and is clearly the main innovator among the big three currently operating in the market. It is unlikely that there will be any serious challenges to this dominance until the rest wake up to Chegg’s popular mix of keeping things simple, direct, and efficient. Hence our choice among the best textbook rental sites has to be Chegg.

Is it really that easy to save money on textbooks? YES! Just use the sites listed above to compare prices and shipping to find the best deal available. I have always had success between BookRenter and Chegg but there are always competing sites popping up.

By Jacob King 

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