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Features Archive 2004-05 NO. 15 |
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Textbook woes solved!
New Web sites help save students’ money and
time by Julie
Carlton
Assistant Features Editor
carltoju@shu.edu |
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Robert Hoffman / THE SETONIAN-
Although the bookstore has the books students need for classes
available, some students prefer buying their books online to
save money. The Internet is becoming the preferred method for
selling books at the semester’s end to get more money
back. | We’ve all experienced it.
It’s that overwhelming feeling of happiness when you realize
you can finally return that lead block that has been straining the
straps of your backpack for the past semester.
However,
getting rid of last semester’s books can turn out to be as dreadful
an experience as attending the classes for which you bought
them.
Many students are disappointed when they finally reach
the front of the buy-back line at the bookstore only to learn the
bookstore wants to buy that book that originally cost $90 back for
just $20.
Even if students keep their books in good shape
over the semester, the bookstore still pays the same meager amount
for all books.
“I don’t think students get enough money for
books that are in good shape,” junior Brittany Wallis said. “I don’t
think how much you get back is equivalent to how much you spent on
textbooks.”
Many feel the companies that make and sell the
books and the Seton Hall bookstore profit at the detriment of the
students.
“The companies that sell the books and the
bookstore are the ones that profit from the whole thing, and we’re
the ones who have to bear the brunt of it in the end,” junior
Christie Titus said.
Even when students are able to sell
their books back to the bookstore, the store often doesn’t want the
books because new versions have come out.
“We always have to
buy new versions of books instead of used ones,” Titus said. “Then,
people who have older copies can’t sell them back.”
In the
past, the bookstore has explained its reasons for low buy- back
rates.
The development of new editions, alterations in what
the distributors will accept back and the number of books compared
to the future need for books are all factors that must be considered
when setting buy- back prices and rules.
Of course, there are
alternatives.
Some students list old books online at
Internet sites such as Amazon.com, Half.com or eBay.com.
However, once a book is sold online, students have to make
arrangements to get to the post office and send the book in the time
period allowed.
Students who use these Web sites to purchase
books have to wait for the book to arrive.
Sometimes, this
wait outweighs the cost-effectiveness of online book shopping, and
some students are deterred from ordering books online, Wallis
said.
“Even though people know it’s cheaper to get books
online, it’s more convenient to get them on campus,” Wallis
said.
Recent online companies such as booksoncampus.com and
collegecampsconnection.com have introduced a new marketplace for
students who want to buy and sell books at cheap
rates.
“Since buyers and sellers can meet right on campus,
there are no shipping fees, and students have a chance to look at
the book before the sale is complete,” said Tim Suzman, co-founder
of booksoncampus.com.
These Web sites work by allowing
students to locate other students on their campuses for textbook
sales.
Students can enter information into an online database
for each college campus.
Students can search the database for
their schools and purchase books.
Listing books at
booksoncampus.com is free.
Searching for books at
collegecampusconnection.com is also free.
However, the Web
site charges a yearly $5 membership fee.
To be eligible for
buying and selling books at collegecampusconnection.com, students
must fork over the membership fee.
“My site is very easy to
use because you don’t have to mail books here and
there,” Ken Williams, CEO of collegecampusconnection.com,
said.
According to the booksoncampus.com press release, the
Web site saved students $20,000 in a single semester when it
launched at Brandeis University, in Waltham, Mass., last
year.
“We started getting e-mails from students across the
country asking us to launch the site on their campus,”
booksoncampus.com Co-founder Mark Kantor said. “We decided to save
students $1 million this term.”
To do this,
booksoncampus.com expanded.
Saveamillion.com is an extension
of the booksoncampus.com Web site.
The goal of
saveamillion.com is to help spread the word to students everywhere
about this innovative method of buying and selling
textbooks.
The sites are effective because of their potential
to save students enormous amounts of money.
“By using
booksoncampus.com, students can sell their books for three or four
times what they would get from the bookstore,” Suzman said. “At the
same time, buyers are saving an average of 48 percent on used
textbooks.”
Students see the potential for efficiency in this
solution.
“It’s much easier than having to get the book in
the mail on time,” junior Keith Hollender said.
The idea
seems to be a hit with students at Seton Hall, too.
Most
students are tired of buying expensive books at the bookstore and
then not getting anything back in return.
Other students
agreed that Web sites like booksoncampus.com and
collegecampusconnection.com would save everyone a lot of
trouble.
“It’s a good idea. It gives students an opportunity
to make some money back off of the books we buy and not get ripped
off by the school bookstore,” Hollender said.
Senior Matt
Kowalski agreed.
“I’ve never tried it, but it sounds a lot
more convenient than going to the post office and having to mail
your books away in a short period of time,” Kowalski said. “It’s
probably better than getting ripped off by the bookstore in buy
backs.”
Students can also find good deals for textbooks at
Web sites such as ecampus.com, campusi.com, studentshopper.com,
overstock.com, abebooks.com, bigwords.com, textbookx.com and
barnesandnoble.com.
Mary Ronau contributed to this
article.
Julie Carlton can be reached at carltoju@shu.edu.
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