International Textbooks

[otherbarry]

For the college students out here who are tired of paying way too much for books, I was able to buy some of my $240 textbooks for only 20-30 books. How? By buying the international version. Same content, same problems, but a different cover/ISBN. Is it legal? Absolutely! These books are manufactured cheaply as a sort of subsidization for foreign students but are not supposed to be sold in the US (despite the fact they are sometimes manufactured here). Despite this, the burden of legality is on the seller, not the buyer. So if you need a textbook just google the title/author and edition along with the phrase 'international' edition.

Word of warning, a lot of these book resellers that sell international versions have terrible reviews. Both my friend and I found good deals and got the right books delivered but that might not be the case for everyone.

[zinnie]

A lot of international editions are not the same--I know because I used to do the adapting. Most I've seen recently that are different just switch up the table of contents and give the chapters new names, though the content itself is the same. There are a lot that change the numbers to the problems in the book, too. Generally the content is going to be the same but if your professor assigns chapters 1&2 and problems 8-24 you may not know what that means unless you have a friend with a U.S. book to compare to.

But yeah, it was only recently confirmed that it was legal with that Supreme Court case of the Thai student whose relatives bought cheap books abroad and he sold them on eBay--a huge win for students.

As long as you compare the TOC when buying it you should be fine. I've bought them too--usually you can just make a key at the front of what chapter equals what. But I just wanted to throw in a word of warning that they aren't all exactly the same (though some probably are--not all publishers do the adapting.)

[SpicyMcHaggus]

You may also be able to find "instructor review" books.
These are books the publisher sends out to professors, in hopes that they will choose their book for a class. After the first year, you can frequently find them for sale or free. Ask the department chair if they have any.

Also, use half.com and amazon for what you can't find.

[eil]

A few years back, I inadvertently bought an international edition textbook from half.com. Even the used versions of this particular book were going for $80, I saw one for $20 and snapped it up. When I got it, I found out why... it was paperback and all of the pages were printed in black and white instead of full glossy color. I was quite happy with it.

The textbooks racket (and yes, it is very much a racket) is yet another aspect of how higher education is fleecing America.

[SpicyMcHaggus]

A few years back, I inadvertently bought an international edition textbook from half.com. Even the used versions of this particular book were going for $80, I saw one for $20 and snapped it up. When I got it, I found out why... it was paperback and all of the pages were printed in black and white instead of full glossy color. I was quite happy with it.

The textbooks racket (and yes, it is very much a racket) is yet another aspect of how higher education is fleecing America.

I think it's the idea of higher education that is fleecing america. Pay-to-play, for profit colleges, and all the barely accredited (and non-accredited!) colleges churning out psychology majors without a care in the world as to their job prospects on graduation... Makes me sick.  I don't believe in the "go to school for whatever you want and work it out later". 

[Grateful Stache]

I've used them with no problem. Purchased them off ebay. They were exactly the same in my case.

You may have trouble reselling them, but the $$ you save is well worth it.

Cheers.

[Joel]

I had good luck buying used international and older version textbooks while in school. Only ran I to trouble when the teacher assigned specific questions out of the textbook, instead of theory based questions.

[MooseOutFront]

I had good luck buying used international and older version textbooks while in school. Only ran I to trouble when the teacher assigned specific questions out of the textbook, instead of theory based questions.

Same here.  The previous version of a text is even cheaper than an international.  As Joel mentioned, the one issue with international is that they'll have different problem sets at the end of the chapter sometimes.  If you have a prof that assigns homework straight from the text then you may have a bad time.  I normally read the syllabus first to determine if this will be an issue.