November 11, 2010
By the ZippyCart Shopping Cart Reviews Content Team
The days of buying a textbook for $151.00 to only get only a small fraction of it from a buy-back are behind us. Chegg and Borders.com have partnered to offer another way for students to rent textbooks online. Borders’ Textbooks Marketplace gave visitors access to 1.4 million new and used titles, but teaming up with Chegg as their exclusive provider of textbook rentals boosts the marketplace’s inventory by an additional 4.2 million titles. Users will also receive faster shipping and can return their books for free with Chegg powering Borders’ rental platform.
“Our mission to make students’ lives easier is in line with Borders’ own commitment to offering the best books and educational materials to its customers,” said Dan Rosensweig, president and CEO of Chegg.com.
According to Chegg, the average college student spends about $1,000 on textbooks per year, but by renting textbooks, students could cut that bill in half. Students on Borders.com will find Chegg rental packages for a semester, quarter, or 60-day rental period, with the option to buy their rental at the end. The savings are impressive. For example, a psychology textbook that sells for $115.05, can be rented for $35.99 for the summer, $38.39 for the quarter, or $39.99 per semester. If students choose to buy it at the end of the rental, there is an incentive program offering them more cash if they change their minds later and decide to sell the book back to Chegg using the site’s textbook buyback option.
The textbook market itself is a $7-$10 billion industry with online rentals accounting for about $200 million. The market-share controlled by rentals continues to grow annually by 300%. Borders.com is not the first to enter into the textbook rental market. Back in August Barnes & Noble announced their textbook rental plans in the form of BN.com/textbooks. Barnes & Noble promises up to 60% savings. With the school year already in session, the competition for students may bring in even greater savings.
A native of Seattle, Michelle currently resides in the downstairs of
her "roommate's" house (formerly known as mom and dad), where she is
strategically planning to take over the world (of Warcraft). With a marketing background, Michelle looks to take over the multimedia world with her social media ninja skills. Her favorite day is Sunday, reasons
being twofold, 1.) it's the best day to sample at Costco 2.) it's a
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and charm, not to mention an unashamed love for all things Harry
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