Are You A Student? Save Money By Renting Instead of Buying Textbooks

One thing that I found as a bit of an expense when I was a student was textbooks. There were some that I could get away with not having to buy but there were others that I needed to have. The time would eventually come when I no longer needed some of the books which also brought about the question of what to do with them. Some I sold back to the university bookstore or other students for much less than I paid for them. Those that I couldn’t sell sat and gathered dust and it seemed like a waste of money paying so much for books that in the end had very little resale value.

This leads me on to a service I came across that rids you of the problem of what to do with textbooks after you no longer need them. I just discovered Chegg, a company that rents textbooks to college students and help save them money. According to their site, users save 65-85% on textbooks.
[ad#Adsense 468×60 White]

How it Works

Rent

Users can search for the book(s) they are looking to rent by entering the ISBN, title or author name. Once you have found and clicked on the book that you are looking for, you are presented with book details as well as the list price and rental price per semester (125 days)/per quarter (85 days)/per summer (60 days). This is were users also get to see just how much they will save from the rental.

Below is an example rental price for a book that I may need when I go back to do a second degree:

Buy

Chegg also gives users the opportunity to purchase books they have rented out or they can simply buy a book outright instead. In the screen where information on the book you want to rent out is displayed, there is a ‘Prefer to Buy?’ option where you can buy the book new or used at a price slightly cheaper than the list price. For this option, they have a cash back guarantee and list just how much you will get back should you choose to return the book you purchased. The money is given back as cash or Chegg Credit which can be used for future rentals and purchases with the credit option being the better one for more money in your pocket.

Sell

To add to all of that, people can also sell books to Chegg. To see how much you could get for your book(s) all you need to do is enter the ISBN to see how much you will get. If you are okay with the price you are quoted you simply ship your book(s) off to them for free and get paid once they have been inspected.

All in all, this is a service that I wish was available to me when I was at university. It would have saved me a good amount of money. One other thing that I almost forgot to mention is that Chegg is a green company that plants a tree for every book rented, bought or sold through them. Thats a lot of trees and something that is good for the environment.

Note: This service is only available to the forty-eight contiguous United States