Rent Books or Buy Used/New? Forum

[Caligrown]

Renting books is a lot cheaper. However, does anyone recommend buying used/new so that you can go back on it later in time? Does this even ever happen?

[ek5dn]

Renting books is a lot cheaper. However, does anyone recommend buying used/new so that you can go back on it later in time? Does this even ever happen?

Nope. Renting is fine, although it might be cheaper to buy a used one and then sell it later on.

[Caligrown]

Thanks. These book costs are no joke for new, especially "new editions" that probably have almost next to none edits to it except a brand new cover. Damn publishers and their greed.

[ek5dn]

Thanks. These book costs are no joke for new, especially "new editions" that probably have almost next to none edits to it except a brand new cover. Damn publishers and their greed.

Yeah, it sucks lol there should actually be a fb group for your school where upperclassmen are selling their old books -- that's really the cheapest option

[RedGiant]

Renting books is a lot cheaper. However, does anyone recommend buying used/new so that you can go back on it later in time? Does this even ever happen?

So, couple of things. Depending on the book, you can rent new or rent used. Also, if you buy new, and then immediately turn around and sell the book (if it's less than about 18 mos old--after that, you run the risk of being stuck with an old edition), you can sell for a lot too. I generally would buy new and then sell in good condition on Amazon. I recouped a lot of my costs.

You will see, but having a book for later is almost never a thing, since books are mostly cases and if you wanted to refresh on a subject, you'd hit a hornbook, treatise or E&E. I just finished school and I kept four textbooks total--Corps, Contracts, M&A and Banking Law. All of those are relevant to my future job. None of the textbooks is terribly relevant, but I kinda just wanted them.

I really recommend the buy new sell used. Or, buy used sell used.

Oh, and even if rentals say you can't write in them...that's not true. I am an underliner (not a highlighting type) and I don't know anyone that got a book rental rejected for having written too much. The only time people got dinged is if they spilled something on the book and wrecked it.

Good luck in school.

[Caligrown]

The difference between new and rent(new and used) is $50+ for some of these books so I will probably go ahead and rent it. I do minimal highlighting so should not be too much of a problem.

Can you talk more about E&E? Seems like something that pops up time to time. I noticed there is a E&E series online you can buy for each subject/class. Are these recommended supplements?

[ek5dn]

The difference between new and rent(new and used) is $50+ for some of these books so I will probably go ahead and rent it. I do minimal highlighting so should not be too much of a problem.

Can you talk more about E&E? Seems like something that pops up time to time. I noticed there is a E&E series online you can buy for each subject/class. Are these recommended supplements?

how helpful E&E will be in a course is largely dependent on the professor, so reach out to upperclassmen who've taken the course. There are a number of supplements out there - some professors rely on E&E and some don't.

[Caligrown]

Thanks. These book costs are no joke for new, especially "new editions" that probably have almost next to none edits to it except a brand new cover. Damn publishers and their greed.

Yeah, it sucks lol there should actually be a fb group for your school where upperclassmen are selling their old books -- that's really the cheapest option

Also, some professors note that they want us to buy the newest edition. Do you guys know why? If i buy the older edition, will the material REALLY be different?

[ek5dn]

Thanks. These book costs are no joke for new, especially "new editions" that probably have almost next to none edits to it except a brand new cover. Damn publishers and their greed.

Yeah, it sucks lol there should actually be a fb group for your school where upperclassmen are selling their old books -- that's really the cheapest option

Also, some professors note that they want us to buy the newest edition. Do you guys know why? If i buy the older edition, will the material REALLY be different?

Most likely it's for efficiency reasons - the way publishers get you is by changing the page numbers/chapters, etc. If you really want to cut costs, then make a friend in class with the most recent edition so you can see what the correct reading assignment is. Personally, I don't think it's worth the hassle to go for the older edition if the professor asks for the newest edition.

I really recommend contacting upperclassmen, though - some will even give you their old books for free (at least in my experience)

[Caligrown]

Thanks! I'll go ahead and do that.

[z0mbiecatz1234]

Renting books is a lot cheaper. However, does anyone recommend buying used/new so that you can go back on it later in time? Does this even ever happen?

I 100% wish I could go back and have rented all my 1L books. I had the same thought that "hey, maybe I'll want to keep these" or "what if I need them again?" and I was wrong on both lol. Now I'm stuck selling all these damn books that have been clutter in my apartment for months. I'd go with renting!

[heythatslife]

Renting books is a lot cheaper. However, does anyone recommend buying used/new so that you can go back on it later in time? Does this even ever happen?

I 100% wish I could go back and have rented all my 1L books. I had the same thought that "hey, maybe I'll want to keep these" or "what if I need them again?" and I was wrong on both lol. Now I'm stuck selling all these damn books that have been clutter in my apartment for months. I'd go with renting!

I've bought used and sold them back on the market for very reasonable losses, at something like 1/3 the cost of renting on average. Heck, I've even turned profit on some transactions.

The trick with selling used books online is to wait until the beginning of the next semester, instead of selling them off as soon as you've done using them.