TheOtherView
Opinions from around the country

Buying books overseas saves students money

The quarterly trip to the bookstore is a dreaded ritual for most college students. Textbook expenses can add up quickly. But, as reported in The New York Times last week, students should be aware that they can purchase books abroad for much less with a few clicks of the mouse. We believe it is wrong that textbook manufacturers charge significantly higher textbook prices in American markets than in other parts of the world.

We encourage students to take up this issue directly with publishers, and in the meantime, find ways to avoid overpriced domestic books by purchasing from vendors abroad. Most publishers sell textbooks to overseas wholesale distributors for lower prices than to U.S. distributors, resulting in higher shelf prices in America. In response, students at American colleges are now purchasing books from countries like England, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia to save money. Some U.S. college bookstores are even purchasing materials from overseas retailers and then passing the savings along to students. However, most students are still paying the higher U.S. prices.

Buying low-cost textbooks from abroad has not been adopted on a larger scale due to the textbook companies’ preventative measures. To maintain their high profit margins in the U.S. market, some companies stipulate in sales contracts that books sold to overseas distributors cannot be repurchased by American companies for domestic distribution. The publishers also place advisory stickers on foreign-sold books to discourage their resale in North America.

Textbook publishers claim that prevailing conditions and dominant market forces determine American and foreign book pricing. But this doesn’t change the fact that American students are still shelling out more money for the same products as their international peers. This practice needs to change.

When publishers artificially increase prices, they ultimately hurt students — the customers they rely upon the most. As more American students discover that they are being overcharged, we hope they will demand change in the publishers’ practices. Meanwhile, students should take advantage of available options to obtain cheaper overseas books. Companies may not acknowledge students’ voices, but they will be forced to change their actions when students voice their concerns by shopping elsewhere.

This is a staff editorial from The Stanford Daily at Stanford University. This editorial was distributed by U-Wire.