I’m thinking about purchasing an Int’l Ed. for a statistics class, but I’m a bit apprehensive. None of the resellers I’m finding for these editions are big names, and I’m concerned about the actual content once I get the book. It’s just a big unknown for me, and I’m not getting much out of google.
Should I just spend the $150, instead of $40? Am I gonna get screwed if I buy one of these? Can you recommend a reputable Int’l Ed. reseller (if, indeed, there are eny)?
I can only answer 1 of the OP’s questions. All the IE texts I’ve seen have been the exact same content, printed on VERY thin paper. That’s all I’ve got.
On a side note, I’m taking my first statistics class ever, this semester. Alas, I’m not really looking forward to it 
And it’s a grad level class, no less… sigh
I have lots of international edition texts, and have never noticed any missing content.
The annoying thing, however, is that some of them use cheap paper that is so see-through that it hurts my eyes after a while; the words on the opposite side of a page are way too visible.
If you can handle that possibility, then the international edition is definitely a much better deal.
To the other question, I buy almost all my books from half.com, and have been lucky not to have any problems.
Ditto what they said. I bought a few because my best friend swears by them and I have yet to be disappointed.
You might want to find out if the text you are using has makes extensive use of color in important illustrations. The international editions often have black and white illustrations, and I haven’t had trouble with them, but I can imagine it being tough with some subjects. If your books take a beating (or even if you turn pages with vigor) you are likely to lose pages. As other posters have mentioned they are quite thin.
Once again I have purchased books used from amazon less than 24 hours before kicking myself for forgetting half.com. I would always rather have a used hardcover in fair condition than a brand new international edition- at the end of the year you have a used hardcover in fair condition or a used international in fair (at best) condition. Of course, I keep most of my engineering books for reference use. YMMV.
I bought several IE textbooks online (sometimes by accident*) during my junior-senior years studying engineering in undergrad (fall 2004 - spring 2006). The textbooks themselves were all excellent for me; sometimes the covers were paperback instead of hardbound, but all the relevant information was available in the pages in between. The only problem I encountered was with a book taking a long time (about 5 weeks) to arrive after purchase. The online listing stated “ships from Rochester, NY” but the return address on the package was in India.
*sellers sometimes try to pass these off as regular edition books