Every year college and university students spend way too much for textbooks. Many textbook companies charge a premium in the United States while selling the same books (with a different cover and other minor changes) for a much lower price internationally. To prevent mass sales of international editions in the US, textbook companies label the "international editions" as such and put on a warning on the book saying it should not be sold in the US. However they never say it is illegal to sell in the US.
In fact, according to a 2003 New York Times Article, the US Supreme Court ruled on this very issue and said that "federal copyright law does not protect American manufacturers from having the products they arranged to sell overseas at a discount shipped back for sale in the United States" (The New York Times).


It's Easy to Save...How To Get Started
It's easy to save and looking for textbooks online has never been easier. In fact, there is a website you can visit that allows you to shop just about any online retailer selling the exact book (ISBN) you are looking for with one click. To start visit www.collegeswapshop.com (or just click on the link here). Insert the ISBN of the book you are looking for into "Buy Textbooks" box on their home page. Then just hit enter and it will give you a list of the lowest prices for many of the major online textbook retailers. You will find that many of the cheapest books are international editions, but I have been using international editions for years now and they are, for all practical purposes, the same as the regular edition you would buy in a bookstore.

Just be sure to double check author's names, titles, and edition numbers (3rd, or 11th, or 15th) so that you know you have the right book. Also, if a CD or other important component is supposed to come with a particular book, make sure that is included with the book you are buying. Sometimes when you buy used books, a special code that grants you online access to the publisher's site, may not be valid anymore.

This is just a snapshot. For more info on textbook savings, check out my hub titled Where Can You Get Cheap Textbooks for College?