Is it better to rent or buy used college books?

my classes start monday and i still havent decided to buy rent or used, and im already slackin behind..

any college kids on here?

i need advice



if i buy i have to spend around $200 + shipping..

and its only 4 book! im doing online classes.. so

whats your take?Is it better to rent or buy used college books?
I would definitely say buy used books.

You can actually resell them when you are done with them.

I did that my freshman year, and I actually ended up maing a profit of $58 :)Is it better to rent or buy used college books?
Between Renting Online and My Campus Book Store:



I rent books only if the money I lose would be less than 60 dollars.

Otherwise, you can buy the book from your schools bookstore used and get some money back at the end of the semester.



For instance,

A book I need is 150 dollars new for the book store. If I rent it online for 100 dollars, I get nothing back at the end of the semester. BUT if I purchase it at my schools book store, I would get a portion of the cost back when I resell it to the book store.













Personally, I only buy books off of amazon if Its really cheap ( I just my math book online for two dollars and the answer manual for three dollars).Is it better to rent or buy used college books?
I have done both and I still don't know which is better. Renting is good because you can rent some of the books for free or for a small fee, so it is definitely cheaper. But the sites that I rent through don't rent the books for the length that I need them, so I normally have to copy pages of the book so that I can get the book back on time. This can get expensive and it is hard to know which pages to copy, since the prof has gotten that far in the lessons and I don't want send the book back and not have the material.



As for buying books, even used, it is expensive and I hate that the used books never sell for what you paid, and like you said shipping can be outrageous.



I have used sites where you can download the book for a 10-30 dollars online. No shipping fees and you have the book stored on your computer until you chose to delete it. I like this option the most but a lot of the books aren't available this way.



Also, since you know what books you need you can find used college bookstores around your town and that way you don't have to pay for shipping.



Normally, I buy the used books that I think I will need because I think the class will be hard or it is a subject I am not good at. All the other books, for classes that I think will be easy I rent and then copy the pages that I need before I send the book back.
If you need it for your major or a minor, I'd recommend buying.



If it's for a general education class, rent.