Bargain Hunters Buy, Rent Cheap Textbooks Online

Few college students are surprised to hear that textbook shopping can be tough on the wallet. Start with a calculus textbook, listed on Amazon for $145, add one for art history at $107, and you’ve passed $250 without before getting halfway down your course list. Faced with such prices, many students are attempting to save some cash by pursuing alternative options.

“People are generally looking to save money,” said Stephan Schwartz, CC ’08, who has had success both buying and selling used textbooks. “There’s no real downside to buying used books. You get them instantly, and most people don’t mind a little bit of underlining or highlighting.”

A variety of well-known Web sites ranging from eBay to Facebook include listings for used books and other products. Most allow sellers to set a price of their choosing— buyers can peruse the listings for the desired item and decide what they are willing to pay.

But other companies have been exploring new options. The site Why Rent Books, which advertises savings of up to 70 percent, allows customers to either rent or buy textbooks—although according to the Web site, “you will find it much more cost effective to rent.” The book is returned at the end of a predetermined amount of time, and the rental fee is split between the company and the book’s owner.
Of course, no deal is perfect.

“These businesses are trying to make a profit,” Schwartz pointed out. He said that he has seen Web sites charging about one-third to one-half the price of the new version, leading him to believe that “you’re probably better off buying and reselling books yourself.”

Hannah Gould, BC ’11, said that while she tries to buy her textbooks used, she generally looks only at Book Culture or the Columbia Bookstore and would rather buy a new book at a local establishment than expend the time and energy to find a used alternative.

Columbia College Student Council has weighed in on the issue, submitting a proposal on March 30 to expand the Columbia University Bookstore buy-back program in hopes of cutting net textbook costs and upping the number of used books sold. The new initiative would include measures such as requiring faculty to turn in book lists to the bookstore well before the beginning of the semester, encouraging both the bookstore and student groups to publicize buy-back programs, and mandating easily accessible listings of both the original selling price and the buy-back price of specific textbooks.

Additionally, the Web site of the Connect Columbia candidates for next year’s CCSC, headed by Alidad Damooei, CC ’09, indicates plans to “set up a fund that will be solely dedicated to providing a seven percent discount on packaged Lit Hum and CC book sets from the book store every fall semester.”

But, as Megan Shannon, BC ’11, said, “Seven percent isn’t going to do very much on a $250 textbook.”

And finding a deal can be difficult. Shannon tried unsuccessfully to sell her textbooks at the end of last semester by affixing signs to various walls and elevators throughout the Barnard quad. But although no one responded, she did point out that she hadn’t completely failed—she sold one book to a friend.

news@columbiaspectator.com