Dishing out cash every semester for new books that cost a bundle is probably one of the biggest gripes among college students. Renting, however, is an alternative that can save you money even when compared to buying used. There are many legitimate online companies that rent books and have been doing so for years. Below we’ve run down the list of our favorite online textbook rental sites so you can put some extra money towards paying back those nasty loans.
Prices will vary between stores depending on the book, so make sure you compare prices to get the best deal.
Chegg.com
Chegg was launched in 2003 by co-founders Osman Rashid and Aayush Phumbhra as a Craigslist-like classified for college students to buy and sell pretty much anything. Textbooks were their biggest movers, and after seeing the success of online movie rental company Netflix, the founders decided to reposition the company as an online textbook rental service to students.
Chegg has no hidden fees, and offers three different rental periods: Semester: 125 days; Quarter: 85 days; and 60-Day rental. You also have the option of extending or buying your rental. The company does ask that you not to write in the rental, and limit your highlighting. Chegg offers standard shipping for $3.99 and free return shipping.
Also check out Chegg’s handy iPhone app.
BookRenter.com
BookRenter was founded by Colin Barceloux, a Santa Clara University student who was fed up with paying for textbooks and started collecting discarded books and selling them online. He eventually realized that the process of buying, using, and selling a book was essentially renting it. BookRenter claims to be the first online book rental company, and is headquartered in San Jose, California.
BookRenter offers a little more flexibility in their rental periods than Chegg, with five different rental lengths: 30 days, 45 days, 60 days, Quarter (90 days), and Semester (125 days). If you want to keep your books permanently, your rental price will go towards the sale price of the book. Extensions of 10, 15, 30, 45, 60, or 90 days are also offered at an extra cost. BookRenter offers free shipping both ways, along with paid options if you need your book in a hurry.
CampusBookRentals.com
A more recent entry into the rental business is CampusBookRentals, which began renting textbooks in 2007. The company offers a huge selection of books, and has served customers on more than 5,000 different college campuses.
CampusBookRentals’ rental periods are similar to Chegg’s ,with three different options: Semester (130 days), Quarter (85 days), and Summer (55 days). Like the other services in our list, they allow you to purchase your rentals and offer 15- or 30-day rental extensions. They allow highlighting, and they also match BookRenter with free shipping both ways.
I would suggest renting college textbooks at GreenTextbooks.com – Saving the Planet One Textbook at a Time GreenTextbooks.com is your online leader for finding used textbooks, DVDs, CDs. http://www.GreenTextbooks.com
Looks like everyone has a favorite. I like to rent books at http://www.cheapbookrenter.com
Nice post..
I visit all these site , http://www.bookrenter.com/ is very useful for renting textbooks…
thanks…
I usually compare prices at http://usedtextbookprices.com/ . It is a great site which saved me a lot. I compares prices for new, used, international ed and even rental to tell me which is the best deal.
Good article but you missed one service – ValoreBooks (http://www.valorebooks.com). Just launched.
OK, renting the book is a great, cheap way to go I agree. I find that a lot of the suggested sites on this post are helpful resources so I am going to bookmark this article on DIGG and others. The question I have is what if I already have some text books from previous courses and would like to get rid of them ? How do I do that ?
Well i think http://www.collegebookrenter.com is solid on cheggs my biology book cost $92.53 and on cbr it only cost 29.36 for a semester
I rent textbooks from http://www.cheapbookrenter.com. You will get the lowest prices.
I just got my books from Skoobit, they came in just a couple of days. Great service and the books were in great condition. Definitely worth checking out if your renting your textbooks!
I've also heard of this person to person rental site called http://www.rentalic.com where you can list your own old books that you can't sell back and you can rent books from other people around you. And pretty much anything else too. It's pretty cool. I recommend checking it out. They were the 1st place grand prize winner for PayPal Developer Challenge Innovation Competition. A new way to be green and sustainable
I think chegg and bookrenter are the best, but I also use http://www.rent-a-textbook.com when I'm lookin to buy several books. It compares the prices at those two rental shops and I think a few others. It seems that chegg is always the best but I figure it's worth doing the check first.
Is renting really the best option? Find out with book.ly – a price comparison site that saves students time and money when shopping for textbooks. Unique to book.ly is its database of school specific information for over 1,500 schools that enables students to find their books at the cheapest price possible, without looking at even one syllabus.
another excellent option and brand new: are fast convenient and free tools [add-ons for firefox and Internet Explorer for finding http://www.BargainBookMole.org. Also they donate 5% to nonprofits.
Use http://www.booklookr.com to compare textbook rental prices for the cheapest options
The best by far is BookRenter. I just rented all my books super cheap, and got them super-fast!