Question about international college textbooks for US?

**dancar3** · 07-30-2009, 04:22 PM

Well, our son is going to college soon and so after pricing books at the store, they'll come to almost $500 for 1 semester and yes most of them are used! I'm looking on ebay and many dealers sell the international counterpart to the US edition. They have a different cover but they say they have the same content and same paper quality as US versions and are legal. Does anyone have experience with these type of books? I would not like to buy one and it be completely different or have facts based on a different country....does that make sense? Thanks for any help since I'm looking to save money in this department but ONLY if it's the same!

**monkeywrangler71** · 07-30-2009, 05:58 PM

It depends on what subject it is, and what country it's coming from. It would be strange to put out a different edition if there was nothing different in it. In a lot of cases it is probably nothing more than different spelling rules - not an issue in a Philosophy text, big issue in a Communications text. If it's science or mathematics it may be metric only, and a history textbook could be an entirely different point of view.

In every class I've taken, someone always had a different edition of the textbook, usually just older. It was never a big issue, sometimes pages are a different number or sections are in a different order, they just had to check with the person next to them to make sure they were reading the correct parts. Occasionally a newer section would be missing, but there were always copies of the text in the library. Honestly though, most people never read half the stuff they were supposed to anyway, and professors required texts that were never used, or covered everything in class. I came out of university with some books still in the shrinkwrap.

**Nishu** · 07-31-2009, 05:46 PM

I have used international editions every opportunity I had, and they have always been 100% the same on the inside when I checked against other books. Even when I didn't check against US editions, I would continue on in the classwork and never noticed any discrepancies between the pages that were assigned and the corresponding classroom material. A lot of peopel I knew in school were using the international editions as well, and I never encountered anyone who had a problem with them.

Most of the time the quality was the same. Even when the pages were thinner or black and white it didn't really matter much to me... they're only used for one semester anyway. I can't say that I ever bought one where the seller was dishonest about the quality.

These books have a lower resale value though. He can't take them to the bookstore for the buy back and some people don't care to buy international versions because they just don't trust them or what not. When I bought them though, they were cheap enough that it wouldn't be painful to keep them.

Good luck to your son.

**Domestic Gal** · 08-03-2009, 01:47 PM

I have bought the international versions for DD a few times. She said they were the same as the regular version. Some of them were paperback and the pictures were in black and white but no significant differences otherwise.
I even resold some of them on line for more than I paid for them.

**katybug** · 08-08-2009, 03:12 PM

As I recall, my Anatomy teacher said the only difference between the domestic and international versions were they fact one is hardcover and then other softcover respectively, because softcover is a bit cheaper to ship.

ALSO, it depends on the prof, my current anatomy teacher is fine with half the class using 4th edition of the text book (many took the first class, like last year or years ago) and the rest of us using 5th edition. The teachers understand the books are freakin' expensive and most are pizzzzzzed at the bookstores charging soooooooo much or just stocking the brand new editions.

Email the profs direct and see if they have a problem with you using XYZ edition. Good Luck!

~KB

P.S. Other then the book, my anatomy prof is extremely hard and strict, the hardest I have ever had (but funny as all hell, so it balances out), so even the hardest profs can be understanding.

P.P.S monkeywrangler71 & Nishu have very good points I forgot to touch on, mainly other editions having the same info, just other places in the book or the resale factor.

**frugal-fannie** · 08-08-2009, 04:28 PM

My son ordered some from India and forgot to pay extra for express mailing. He borrowed from friends till his arrived a couple of weeks later. I think he learned his lesson.

**Nishu** · 08-09-2009, 12:22 AM

My neighbor just told me about this website. She said she rented her book for 16 for the semester, and can add extra days if she needs.

http://www.chegg.com/