Textbook renting service offers alternative to purchasing

Students struggling to cover the cost of expensive textbooks have more choices than ever before when looking for deals.

Buying and selling textbooks is no longer the only option. Renting textbooks is a good alternative for students wanting to save some cash, according to Osman Rashid, CEO of textbookflix.com.

Rashid created the new online textbook rental service because he said students needed a lower-cost substitute to fight the "outrageous" prices of publishers and campus bookstores.

According to Rashid, the book rental site is run similarly to the popular movie rental service Netflix.

"Students go to our Web site and search for the textbook they are looking for -- they can search by the ISBN number, title, author and edition," he said. "Once students find the books they are looking for, we promise to expedite the books to them within three to four business days."

Students can use the rented books for the entire semester and mail them back using a provided shipping label, Rashid said.

Textbookflix.com is an invite only service for the time being. Rashid said in the future, the invite only policy may be lifted.

The main advantage to renting books as opposed to buying them from a campus bookstore is the reduced price, he said. According to Rashid, the average student would spend 55 to 65 percent less by renting a book than he would spend buying the same book through a bookstore.

But, Richard Hayes, director of N.C. State Bookstores, said students should be leery of the textbook prices listed on textbookflix.com.

"[Textbookflix.com] quotes a suggested retail that appears to be about 10 percent higher than N.C. State Bookstore prices," Hayes said.

Hayes said he found the price to rent Engaging Inquiries -- a textbook used for Academic Writing and Research -- and discovered it was less expensive to buy a copy of the book at the campus bookstore than to rent it off the site.

"The net price to N.C. State students purchasing through the campus store would be $17.35 [after buying the book, using it and selling it back at the end of the semester]," he said. "Textbookflix.com rents the used book for $22.24 plus $6.99 shipping - the total net cost to the student is $29.23. This option is 68 percent more expensive than the campus bookstore."

Hayes said he understands how renting textbooks can be appealing to many students, but warns them to check on the prices at the bookstore before they decide to rent.

"Sounds like a lower cost alternative, but in reality most of the titles may be more expensive," he said.

Despite skepticism, Rashid said the website has gotten an overwhelming response from students. For students like Jimmy Matthews, a junior in psychology, a textbook rental service is something he said he would be interested in using in the future.

Matthews said he was so fed up with the prices of his textbooks that he decided not to buy any of them last semester.

"During my freshman year, I spent hundreds of dollars on books -- just to read in them for about five hours total," he said.

Matthews said he would much rather rent than buy textbooks, though he thinks most students would feel more comfortable using a university-endorsed rental service. Hayes agreed and said many drawbacks exist when using a textbook service not associated with the university.

"Textbookflix.com does not offer the current courses, sections or textbooks for all N.C. State courses," Hayes said. "Students might be renting the wrong book for their specific course."

Rashid said although textbookflix.com has more than two million books available, he knows his company does not have every single book students may need. He said he hopes in the future universities will be willing to work with his company to provide more textbooks for students.

"If universities got on board and let us know exactly what books they are ordering for each semester, it would help everyone out," Rashid said.