Warehouse Deals, an Amazon.com subsidiary, was launched
as a place where consumers could find deals on returned, warehouse-damaged,
used, or refurbished products. It has offered print textbook rentals since
last summer, but has added a new policy that prohibits students from
taking rental titles from one state to another.
The policy on renting a textbook from Warehouse Deals is spelled out on the terms and
conditions page at Amazon.com. It states, “You may not move the textbook out of
the state to which it was originally shipped. If you wish to wish to move the
textbook out of that state, you must first purchase the textbook.”
These conditions only apply to books rented from
Warehouse Deals, and Amazon did not respond to requests for comments from Inside Higher Education.
Two competitors in the online textbook rental and retail field—Chegg and
Rafter—have no policies that prevent students from taking rentals across state
lines.
The policy may not appear to make sense, unless it’s
viewed in the light of Amazon’s efforts to avoid charging state and local
taxes, according to Kenneth C. Green, director of the Campus Computing Project.
“Presumably the concern is that if Amazon owns rented
textbooks that cross state lines, state authorities could argue that Amazon has
an official business presence in the state—a business presence that would
require Amazon to collect and pay state sales taxes,” Green wrote.
