Many college students are constantly looking for ways to get their textbooks for a more affordable price. With tuition already being several thousand dollars each semester and cost of living only going up, it is painful to drop another grand on textbooks. But it has long been considered a part of the academic experience. Many students found textbook rentals to be a good way to save on books you do not necessarily want to keep after the class has finished. Amazon rentals has been a cost effective and convenient way for many students to find the textbooks they need without breaking the bank.  

It was a sad day when Amazon announced that they would be terminating their textbook rental services after this academic year. Publisher’s Weekly reported in December of 2022 that Amazon had announced they would be discontinuing their textbook rental services as a part of their cost cutting. According to Amazon, it was simply a cost-effective business decision.  

While this decision was made in December of last year, I did not hear about it until I got an email from Amazon rentals on April 3rd, 2023, with a first line that read, “we are writing to inform you that as of April 1, 2023, we are no longer offering print textbook rentals.” The good news is that this will not be affecting their new and used print textbook sales, or their digital textbooks that can be purchased or rented. The bottom line is that you can no longer rent physical print textbooks from Amazon. Renters should still return their textbooks by their assigned date and by September 3rd at the latest.  

With a major textbook rental service now being discontinued, many students will be wondering where they can get their textbooks in a somewhat affordable way. Here is a shortlist of other websites that offer textbook rental services complied by BookScouter:  

• Book Scouter  
• Books Run  
• eCampus 

• Knet Books 
• Chegg 
• Valore 

When all is said and done, students will always find a way to be savvy with their money. While Amazon rentals used to be a big part of helping to cut down on college costs, there are still many great ways to rent textbooks. Ultimately this may all be for the good as Amazon slowly releases its chokehold on the book industry that has been resisting its monopoly since the website was first launched. Either way, come next fall, students will no longer be carrying around Amazon textbook rentals.  

Sources: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/91129-amazon-to-end-print-textbook-rentals-overhaul-magazine-and-newspaper-subscriptions.html 

https://bookscouter.com/blog/no-more-amazon-book-rentals/ 

Aubrey Roemmich is a Dakota Student Section Editor. She can be reached at [email protected].