Buy or sell

With the semester coming to an end, students are looking for the best and most cost-effective way to sell back their textbooks.

BigWords.com, a Web site used to compare prices for buying and selling textbooks, makes finding the best prices easier for students.

“There are a lot of stores convincing you that they are the best, but we figure out the best combination of stores to buy and sell books,” Jeff Sherwood, CEO of Big Words, said. “No one store is cheapest all the time.”

Sherwood said Big Words ends up being cheaper and getting students more money back than any store on average.

Big Words offers a return of up to 75 percent on the costs of books, said Tania Kempf of Tool Guy public relations.

This percentage is higher than the reported percentages of most book stores on campus.

Rocky Top Books West manager Aubrey Williamson said the store offers cash back and 50 percent off the new price of textbooks.

“We try to give the most cash back out of our competitors,” Williamson said. “Our customers usually tell us that we give them the most money back.”

Sherwood said college students should not have to do the research about textbooks. He said Big Words’ job is to watch the latest trends in the industry so students don’t have to.

“There’s nothing much more boring than watching all the textbook blogs,” Sherwood said. “So students can rely on Big Words to help them.”

Sherwood said it’s hard to know what has changed in the textbook industry when you only do it twice a year, but Big Words makes researching textbook prices much easier.

Olivia Brown, junior in psychology, said, while the process of looking into textbook prices may prove tedious, it merits the effort.

“It is a hassle to research the best deals, but I think its worth it as a college student because things are tight,” Brown said.

Brown said she sells back her books at Beat the Bookstore rather than the UT Book and Supply Store.

Some students say they end up selling back their books to the UT Book and Supply Store because it is the easiest option.

“I sell my books back at the UT bookstore because doing it online, you have to go to each Web site to compare,” Lasca Gaskins, junior in nutrition, said.

Sherwood said Big Words looks at new business models. He said there are a lot of companies buying and selling textbooks, but Big Words only lists the merchants with good track records.