Free School Text Books

I saved $135 on a textbook I needed for a class this Fall by purchasing an edition called the "Special Indian Edition". After doing a little research I found out that Indian companies work out copyright deals with publishers to print and sell these books in India and surrounding countries. These are generally soft cover editions with black and white text only.

The book I purchased was published for sale in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangledesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan only. Although I only paid for the standard shipping rate, which can take up to 3 weeks, the book arrived in less then a week.

It was in perfect condition, shrink-wrapped and all. The soft cover has the graphics of an earlier edition, but the content is identical to the current edition. The paper is definitely of a lower quality, but acceptable for my use.

According to the NY Times Getting Textbooks Cheaper From India, there is nothing illegal about students purchasing these editions for themselves. They mention a 1998 Supreme Court decision that ruled that companies who sell products cheaper in foreign markets have no protection from those products being sold back to Americans.

When I first found this book I thought I was going to be able to profit by purchasing multiple copies and reselling. As I did more research I realized that it might not be the best idea. It may be legal to import these books for your own use, but if you try to import copies and resell them yourself, you could be prosecuted for copyright infringement.

I haven't decided what I will do with this book at the end of my course. I almost always break even or profit selling my books at the end of my course. So even if I bought this book at $100, I probably could have sold it for $110 to cover my shipping and handling. This book is a great deal, but do I really want to sell it online? To the best of my knowledge no one has been prosecuted for selling these books in the US, but do I bother for $30?

By the way, you may be wondering why the shipping was so cheap and the book arrived so quickly if it was from India? The book was shipped from an address in the United States. So apparently not everyone is worried.