Selling International Edition Books

Is selling International Edition Books completely legal? Major online bookstores such as abebooks.com, amazon, and several others are selling international edition textbooks as opposed to US edition, is that completely legal? Can I sell International Edition Books?

I apologize, let me rephrase: The major online bookstores are selling International Editions as well as US Editions. Is Selling International Edition Textbooks completely legal? Can I sell International Editions?

Distributors try to say that the use and license of the book is restricted but frankly it is a grey area and if you buy it, you often indeed legally can sell it...no matter what they say

In a nutshell, yes it is legal to buy ise edtion text books from those websites. Carefully read the back of your book and you'll see that it says the book is not "intended" for sale in the U.S. The publishers are not allowed to put the words "legal" or "illegal" simply because that would be giving false information. According to the Lanham Act, publishers may sell these books to U.S. "consumers", not "college book stores".
The same concept applies to buying an ordinary novel intended for the consumers in England or Australia, etc. U.S. publishers have no way of proving the consumer is purchasing the text book in order to substitute it for the U.S. edition in a U.S. community college or university. For all they know, you can just be buying it just to put in your book shelf or because reading is your personal hobby. It is impossible to prove whether or not the consumer is doing this, so the law must apply the same rules when buying a novel, magazine, cook book, etc.
However, it is illegal for college stores to import these books from amazon or ebay and then sell them to students. The only way they can sell them is if they are second hand or used and purchased from a student during a book buy back drive. Hope this info was helpful. So go for it and buy the ise and save, save, save!

Other than the price, what is the difference in international editions, if any?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Other than the price, what is the difference in international editions, if any?

They're usually on paperback and may sometimes have black & white illustrations instead of the original colored illustrations. Check with the seller before placing an order to make sure.

Why not just ask the company? I did, this is what they said:

"Thank you for your email. The selling of international edition in the
US is not authorized by McGraw-Hill but it is not illegal to purchase
them just not authorized. I hope this helps to answer you question,
please let me know if you have any other concerns."

So it's legal to purchase and they didn't answer my question about selling. I assume they would have answered it if it was illegal.

Although, take a look at this:

Publishers Settle International Edition Textbook Selling Lawsuit Against Two Individuals