Textbooks are the frosting on the cake of the entire business of ripping people off.
As if tuition wasn't high enough, and the stress of starting out on your own wasn't putting quite enough financial troubles on your shoulders, the universities expect you to buy an absurd amount of costly textbooks.

I go to a simple community college, and the best that I could manage through looking and sifting around online and the bookstores has come out to $500 a semester for textbooks.

On average, each book began at over $200.
Some aren't even hardcover.
Try that for rip-off.

I agree about the textbooks, but that is one reason why I use scholarships and some use Grants. Also, buy used instead of brand new. I bought a used textbook in excellent condition - hardcover - for less than $100.

Ummm most over priced thing I have ever seen was ... omg I know bannana's during 06 after the cyclone. They where priced at $14.00 a kilo

Wow....You should check out http://mychelleusa.com.
They're natural and they're pretty inexpensive. I used to have acne rreealllyyy bad. I used their White Cranberry Cleanser and now I don't have to wear make-up every single place I go.
What sucks about natural products is that it's cheaper to NOT use pesticides and herbacides, so you'd think foods should should be cheaper. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of people to watch them and make sure bugs don't destroy them.
Basicly, you're not paying only for the product, but also for that Organic or All Natural label.

I've found due to searching though a few sites which sell natural products you're mainly paying for packaging. Sometimes packaging which can't be recycled.

Another thing I've seen that I think is really over priced was sunglasses at over £100 by a brand I've never heard of, I know alot of the large designer brands and quite a few of the smaller brands.

ohmanohmanohman.

books.

i'm a university student, and i just happen to take the courses that have the most expensive books EVER - physics. some of the more advanced packages sell for upwards of $200, with workbooks, and they puke out new editions so freaking fast that i'm starting to think they're just fixing typos man. no wonder more people are going to e-bay and whatever to get their supplies.

oh, i also found this on amazon:

Chemical Shifts and Coupling Constants for Silicon-29 - the reviews are hilarious.

The most annoying thing about overpriced books is when the professors tell you you ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE THIS BOOK for the course, and then don't use it at all during the course. They pull one, maybe two questions from it for tests.

Spent about $270 odd on two books, and haven't had cause to crack either one yet this semester. And the bookstore will still only buy it back for half of the original price.

@yzabetalone
College textbooks are the worst.
One thing that annoys me is when professors use their own text to texts the class. Essentially, they are forcing you to sign their royalty checks. It's arrogant and a bit selfish of them to assume that their book is the best in the content area and that it has anything to add to their lesson.

Exam revision books are way over priced, they come out every year and it's mostly the same stuff. I got second hand ones which at oldest were 2 years old still had in what I needed. Then prices vary depending on where you buy it from new.

I don't understand why the schools don't sell the books, and allow the students to sell them back for half-price once they're done with them. Like our sellback store. Or hire them out at least, that way the kids could get them for less, and the schools would make some money and as the same book could be used over and over again until it fell apart and needed replacing.

Half the time, I sell mine back to my ex. She's going through a lot of courses I've already taken. I sell them to her at about 80% of what they were sold to me. She gets her cheaper than they want to sell, I sell mine for more than they'll buy.

@Knerd: Luckily, as of yet, none of my profs have been so self-absorbed or hard up for cash (most likely not even published) enough to make us buy their books. One of my guys was very kind, and argued the publisher down thirty bucks from what they wanted to sell for. Thank you Pollock!

So many cosmetics and beauty products are overpriced - perfumes especially. My favorite scent is only available at one specific chain, but it only costs $10/bottle. I've sampled the $60-80+ perfumes in department stores, but I have yet to come across a more balanced scent.

With most beauty products, trial and error works a lot better than just shopping at the most expensive shops. There's just no need to spend hundreds of dollars on makeup and that sort of thing.

An imported ANYTHING is typically obscenely overpriced. I've seen single DVDs with 2 episodes run $60 or higher. Talk about overpriced. I think $80 for a 2-tape set was one of the more overpriced things I've bought, but it seems to me I paid about that much for a magazine once.

I'll say this though... I sure as heck wish I had my money back from MOST of what I bought back when I had cash.

I know...You can spend the bundle on those things ( cosmetics)...I was starting to spend money and then quit. I had too many hobbies and careers to keep it up. I don't know what nromal person can afford all this stuff.

I saw a crayon carousel with 150 crayons for sale at nearly 15 dollars. I understand it was a nice base to hold crayons, but still 15 dollars? I bought the 96 color box for 5 dollars instead.

Textbooks are expensive... I usually find that I can get a better price for my used books online than in the student bookstore on campus or any of the bookstores around town.

Wanna talk pain? I bought a textbook for $75, then found a nearly identical older version at a yard sale-style fundraiser on campus for $1.50.

Oh yes, I've seen a lot of overpriced groceries here for sure.

Here, Milk is really overpriced. Because we don't exactly get much supply of milk so we have shortages. Milk here can go up to RM4-5 for a small carton which is way too much if you asked me since they are just normal brands. It may not sounds like a lot if we convert it to different currencies but then dollar to dollar, its is just such a big chunk of our income to pay for something like milk!

Also yeah, the banana thing doesn't surprise me because I know tropical fruits in certain countries are really expensive! Its like how peaches and persimmons here are more expensive than regular fruits. I know they say that rambutans in Australia cost like 50cents per price? O.O We get them at 6 bucks perkilo here ^^" So its really a big difference!

Well recent;y, I went to a restaurant with my sister that served 'Japanese Pasta' called 'Pasta Zanmai' The food was really simple and I seriously didn't understand the concept of it being Japanese at all since it looked like regular Italian pasta to me. No difference =.=" But while we can get a big filling plate of pasta here in normal restaurants for 15 bucks, that place set my sister back 70 bucks for the both of us! I was 'O.O' at the bill and its not like the portions were really huge anyway! That was definitely the first and last time we would go there!

Originally Posted by Yorihiko

An imported ANYTHING is typically obscenely overpriced. I've seen single DVDs with 2 episodes run $60 or higher. Talk about overpriced. I think $80 for a 2-tape set was one of the more overpriced things I've bought, but it seems to me I paid about that much for a magazine once.

Doing a lot of importing myself for my main hobby, I feel you. I have been fortunate to find a Japanese contact who doesn't charge too much though and I tend to go through him if I need to import anything Japanese. I find buying it through a mainstream store usually makes it 1.5 times more expensive. :|

All this talk about Lush...I miss that store! They made the most wonderful bath bombs and homemade beauty products. We don't have anything like that around here, however I wouldn't trade it for Tacobell. :drool:

Textbooks are highway robbery. It sucks when they add out the 'new additions' which have minor changes but because of it all the professors want that book, and so the stores don't buy back the older ones. It sucks if you're in any math or science heavy course you will pay up the butt for your materials. I feel for you guys!!! :gonk:

Other expensive stuff....Medicine. I'm on a program with the manufacturer since I'm considered poor, so they give me my medication for free. If I were to buy it for the standard non-slow release capsules (meaning I would have to take it twice a day instead of once) cost me well over $200 a month if I continued on the strength I'm on!!! It's horrible that drug companies do this to people. I'm seriously thinking of weaning myself off the anti-depressant pills but the kind I'm on have horrid withdrawal symptoms. I've tried to slowly lower my dose, but by the time I'm trying to go from 75mg to none I become so emotionally unbearable it isn't funny. The only thing I want to do is lay in bed with the cover over my head as it feels like the hangover from hell.

o.o That is pretty expensive.

What Elsa says is true as well. <3

I think just about everything is ridiculous these days. I remember when hamburger was $1/pound, milk under $2/gallon, and you could fill up your gas tank for WAY under $20.

Then again, I can also remember before we had VCR's, internet, computers, microwaves, CD's, wireless phones, cell phones, etc. etc.

What makes me craziest is clothing. Buy a pair of shoes for $60 and you're lucky if they last a couple of months.

i would like to try the wen shampoo product, but it is like 40 dollars for a regular shampoos bottle size. I would like to see if it improves the look of my hair, but suave will have to do for this college student.

Text Books...Books in general. Considering how long they take me to read, i don't really think a lot of them are worth it. I have some of my moms old books, that were 25p.

Also, one thing i've noticed recently, is the body scrub i use. Papaya body scrub, i forget who makes it, but it's only £1. Right above it on the shelf, was an exact same tub, but costing £6. Same fruit, same colour, same smell.

Sometimes items cost more depending on the store.

It took me 4 hours to find just one casual, spring dress that I could wear on a date or to the mall or anything like that. 4 FREAKING HOURS. It was utterly ridiculous. Everything was just so expensive OR it didn't suit my body type. Of course the last place we look we finally found one...but still!!!

I work a CVS/pharamacy and everytime I pass by the make-up, cleaners, whatever aisle, I always am in shock to see that a nighttime cleaners is about $20 to $30. It just a ridiculous amount of money for a small little container! Also make-up is absolutely...ugh...don't get me started on it! I don't use ANY make-up and the price alone of the stuff makes me so glad that I'm not!

Textbooks and clothing.

I'll agree that textbooks that you don't even use are the worst--these professors go crazy over them, and then at the end of the semester? You just wasted a few hundred, and might get $50 back from the bookstore IF you're lucky.

I can hardly ever find a pair of pants for less than $25. All of the shirts that I find are semi-see through--or they wind up that way within a few months. The best part is that the $25 pants generally wear out within six months. Not even the knees--always where the hip pocket's connected at. Great.

I don't go near name brand clothing. I went into a Ralph Lauren store once--my boyfriend had a shirt of theirs, and after a year of wear, ripped a hole in the pocket. I looked for a similar one--I couldn't find one, but the prices were horrible. I think that the cheapest thing that I saw was a collared shirt for about $70. (He'd gotten his shirt from TJ Maxx, as it turned out.) I could find a shirt like that at some other stores for maybe $10-15.