Text Book Rentals part II

     My last blog really got me thinking. Since I am in college and will be for at least one more year (if all goes well LOL) I will be looking at more books to buy. I got thinking, why buy when I know I wont be keeping the books. I looked more into the different text book rental system.
    
     I searched both Google.com and Dogpile.com. and found four leading websites for book rentals geared towards colleges. The first was Chegg.com 1. I decided to see what the book cost for rental would be for the 5th edition of Business Organizations for Parlegals, 5th edition, by Deborah E. Bouchoux would be. For one quarter rental (85 days), the cost would be $66.35. This site boasts of free return shipping for the customer. To ship the books to the customer, this site charges for standard shipping (7-10 business days) $3.99 for the first item and $1.99 for each additional item. For Priority shipping (4-7 business days) $6.99 for the first item and #3.99 each additional item. The company states that they will plant a tree for each book rented.  They had the usual pay options such as MasterCard or Visa options, but also allowed PayPal payment options. Book search was very easy to perform, and easy to find. Depending on the situation, there could be extention rental costs and penalties, but for semester rentals, the site claims free extentions.

     The next site I came across was BookRenter.com. 2. For the same book, Business Organizations for Parlegals, 5th edition, by Deborah E. Bouchoux, I found the rental for a quarter would be 75.15 for a quarter, (theirs was 90 days). They offer free return shipping on all books. The cost to pay to have the books shipped to the customer for ground delivery (3-7 business days) is $3.95 for the first item and $1.95 for each additional item. For 2 Day express (2 business days) is $11.95 for the first item and $5.95 for each additional item. For Next Day Air (1 business day) is $19.95 for the first item and $9.95 for each additional item. There is a policy for rental extentions, and it is easy to set up, and no set limit on how many times someone could extend a rental. This site is very user friendly and easily laid out for anyone to use. I found everything I needed easily and quickly. Payment options that could be used are MasterCard, Visa, American Express or Discover Card. So with out one of those the renter is out of luck.

     The third site I went to was CollegeBookRenter.com. 3. This site I did not care for, the search was not user friendly at all. Title searches were hard, having either the ISBN number or auther was easier to do. The book, Business Organizations for Parlegals, 5th edition, by Deborah E. Bouchoux, for a 90 day rental is $46.83. Standard shipping (7-14 business days) is $3.99 for the first item and $1.99 for each additional item. Priority shipping (3-7 business days) is $6.99 for the first item and $3.99 each additional item. The return shipping is free. Payment here is with the usual credit cards, and PayPal is accepted. So there are some nice options to pay for the books. They also offer gift cards.

     The last site I reviewed is CampusBookRentals.com. 4. This site is somewhat user friendly, but did nto have the 5th edition of  Business Organizations for Parlegals, by Deborah E. Bouchoux, but did have the 4th edition listed, but was out of stock. I searched another title that is used in the Sinclair Community College program, Basic Bankruptcy Law for Paralegals, Abridged Edition, by David L Buchbincer, also out of stock. Another search for Ethics for the Legal Professional, 6th Edition, by Deborah K. Orlik, again, "Out of Stock". This was very disheartening. No books to rent? Really, and they were suppose to rent books. Anyway, the company claims free shipping to and from for the renters. Should be easy when one cant find a book to rent. Quarter rentals are for 85 days long and summer rentals are 55 days long. The problem is I could not find any rental costs or charges for books due to the fact that they were all out of stock, including the Government by the People, 23rd Edition, by David B. Magleby.

     From my husband I have learned to always look before I leap, meaning, to always check out the Better Business Bureau on any web site or business to see if there are any good and bad reports on them. So, for the site Chegg.com  the BBB  gave them a B rating. The BBB stated that they have been in business since February 1, 2008, and that the company gave proper consideration for their complaints. However, there did seem to be over 85 complaints listed. 5.  (rating system for the BBB 6.)
    
     The BBB gave BookRenter.com an A renting, also stating that they have been in business since November. 1, 2004. The BBB stated that the company gave proper consideration for their complaints. The BBB only showed that there were 2 complaints listed. 7.

     The BBB did not have a good rating at all for this company. They gave CollegeBookRenter.com an F. The BBB stated that there were 13 complaints filed against the business, that there was not sufficient information to determine how long the business has been operating and that there is not sufficient background information on this business. 8.

     The last site, CampusBookRentals.com,  was rated by the BBB with an A- due to the length of time that they business has been operating. This business shows has been in operation since August 2007. There were not complaints listed against them. I just wonder how, when there were not books to rent, everything out of stock? 9.

     I hope this helps in the decision to buy or rent books for my fellow classmates or for anyone reading this blog who are or has students in college. All the sites that I reviewd did allow for some writing or highlighting in the books.


 Personally, I entend to rent next quarter, for it seems to be the most economical way to go. I am just not sure which of the first two sites I may go with. I know I will not even think twice on the last two.  

1. http://www.chegg.com/
2. http://www.bookrenter.com/
3. http://www.collegebookrenter.com/
4. http://www.campusbookrentals.com/
5. http://sanjose.bbb.org/Business-Report/Cheggcom-238456
6. http://sanjose.bbb.org/WhatAreBBBRatings.aspx
7. http://sanjose.bbb.org/Business-Report/BookRentercom-221727
8. http://www.bbb.org/charlotte/business-reviews/books-textbooks-new-and-used/college-book-renter-in-charlotte-nc-219251
9. http://www.bbb.org/utah/business-reviews/rare-and-used-book-stores/campus-book-rentals-in-kaysville-ut-22231610