Difference in international edition textbooks

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I don't remember if I asked this question or not, but can someone describe the quality/differences with international textbooks? There's an Economics book I need to buy, but it's $109 at the campus bookstore (used, no less. It's about $150 new) and $25 online for the (new) international edition from India. Any help would be appreciated as I stand to save a good deal of money.
 
I think international versions are generally cheaper because they're essentially a paperback version of the regular overpriced hardcover textbook, at least from the ones I've seen. My coworker has an international version of one of my textbooks, and the only difference I can see is that it's paperback.

Edited to add:
There's a paragraph about it in wikipedia; look under the "College and university" section: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textbook
 
[quote name='judyjudyjudy']I think international versions are generally cheaper because they're essentially a paperback version of the regular overpriced hardcover textbook, at least from the ones I've seen. My coworker has an international version of one of my textbooks, and the only difference I can see is that it's paperback.[/QUOTE]

Sounds like a shoe-in to me if that's the case. I'd be willing to bet bookstores don't buy them back, though :lol:.


[quote name='Moxio']I think it's only quality and that "outsourced labor" smell that makes the difference. I could be wrong though.[/QUOTE]

:D If the $150 edition is printed in America, I'll eat my fucking sweat-shop-made New Balances.
 
As far as I can tell, most of the time is paperback only. Like you said earlier, bookstores in US doesn't take them since they're international printed. Therefore, you only chance it's online (half.com, ebay etc.). It is this fact that I choose to buy US versions (as cheap as possible of course) since I have a chance to sell the books back to bookstores (and easier online as well).
 
There is NO difference other than physical. The international edition is paper back, sometimes a different color, and says international edition. Sometimes the paper is a little less quality too. And as you already found out, is a fraction of the cost.
 
Think international, says Steve Loyola, president and founder of Best Book Buys, an online price comparison-shopping site for college students.

``Often the publisher makes an international version that is identical to the US counterpart except it might be a paperback instead of a hardback and the content is supposed to be the same," Loyola said.

Buying international versions of textbooks could save in some cases up to 90 percent off the US retail price.

To find international textbooks you can go to www.bestbookbuys.com or www.amazon.co.uk.
Click to expand...
http://www.boston.com/business/pers...6/07/16/combat_the_rising_price_of_textbooks/
 
I always bought "international editions" of texts books when I was in school. The major differences are usually paper quality. One book I bought had paper so thin when I tried to write on it my pen would go through the page. But I did save $90.

Colors are sometimes different - some international editions are black and white while some are full color.

Sometimes there's several different editions of the same book. In one marketing class we had three different international editions of the same book with different covers, paper, and colors.

Every once in a while you'll get an international edition that is almost identical to the U.S. version except for the cover since it's paperback.

All in all, they usually aren't that great quality-wise, but I hated the thought of spending over $100 on a book I'd use for a semester and never touch again.
 
As for the question to where to find them, go look on ebay or half.com. Just look for the book you want to find, and it should say in some of the product description (look at the price as well, you'll see a big difference).

Or, just look on campusi.com. You'll find what you want there.
 
Every book I ever needed in college to buy I got from ebay or half.com. All of them were international editions. Nothing different except the paper cover. Though some were in black and white instead of color.
 
As for the question to where to find them, go look on ebay or half.com. Just look for the book you want to find, and it should say in some of the product description (look at the price as well, you'll see a big difference).

Or, just look on campusi.com. You'll find what you want there.
 
i've bought a few international editions with no problems. Our bookstore buys books for shit (if they even take them, they didn't want to buy back 3 of the 4 books i bought from them last semester) so i have no problem with not buying from them.
 
The international editions are usually very poorly bound paperbacks. Expect printing to be off-centered or messed up on pages completely. Basically take the USA version of the book, photocopy it on cheap thin paper (poorly) and glue this all together at Kinkos. You then have the international version of the book in question.
 
I am currently taking an Economics right now too. The book for the class was $120 at the campus store...but I just went online and purchased the older edition for $8 shipped.

I recommend buying the previous edition of textbooks. The only differences are usually slightly different page numbers, added diagrams...if any, and maybe different problems. So unless the prof is assigning problems out of the book for homework or something...it beats paying the difference for essentially the same book.
 
[quote name='ispeshaled']I am currently taking an Economics right now too. The book for the class was $120 at the campus store...but I just went online and purchased the older edition for $8 shipped.

I recommend buying the previous edition of textbooks. The only differences are usually slightly different page numbers, added diagrams...if any, and maybe different problems. So unless the prof is assigning problems out of the book for homework or something...it beats paying the difference for essentially the same book.[/QUOTE]

In my classes we used a lot of the class studies out of the chapters and those often were not the same from year to year. Every once in a while we could use a previous edition but that tactic didn't always work.

Our professors encouraged us not to use the college bookstore (something I'm sure the college isn't too happy about) and to get the international editions or previous editions if they were close enough to the new one.
 
I think I'll just go ahead and buy it. Paper quality isn't a big issue for me as I don't make notes in my books, and I'd probbaly only get $20 at my bookstore for the US edition at buyback time (or even worse, the dreaded "NEW EDITION" decree). As long as everything is the same, it should be savvy.
 
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