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> And the prices are much lower, the most expensive textbook I bought was 80 EUR. That's because all parts of the world that aren't the US or Canada get the in
by Tijdreiziger 9y ago
> And the prices are much lower, the most expensive textbook I bought was 80 EUR.
That's because all parts of the world that aren't the US or Canada get the international edition of textbooks, which is much cheaper and more often than not page-for-page exactly the same.
This isn't only the case for books, by the way. I've heard stories of North American students having to pay over 50 or even 100 USD for MyMathLab for a single course. On the other hand, at my European university, a MyMathLab code is 15 EUR.
- veddox 9y agoWhat's up with these "international editions"? I've seen textbooks with strongly reduced prices that were only supposed to be sold in third-world country, which makes sense to me. But surely the publishers don't consider every country outside the US and Canada a third-world country in need of cheaper textbooks? BTW, the cheaper prices here in Europe don't only apply to the original English editions, but also to translations. Quick checkup on Amazon.com vs. Amazon.de: Begon, Ecology, 4th edition: 86.73$ vs. 53.99€ (= 67.39$) -> original English edition Campbell Biology, 10th edition: 246.62$ vs. 99.95€ (= 124.75$) -> German translation Why the heck is that?
- Tijdreiziger 9y ago> But surely the publishers don't consider every country outside the US and Canada a third-world country in need of cheaper textbooks? Apparently, they do. I suppose competition might be healthier here: if a lot of students were to complain to a lecturer that the textbook for his course was prohibitively expensive, they would probably look into possible alternatives.