Bigs Words allows people to easily search for books to both buy and sell back. Photo by Patrick Cowles/Daily Titan Asst. News Editor

By Cole Garrison
For the Daily Titan

BigWords.com has updated its iPhone application that is due to come out soon. The application will allow students to access beneficiary aspects of Bigwords such as comparing prices of school books and other great deals as well as help students sell textbooks. This will help students save close to $225 on multiple book orders or at least earn a 75 percent buyback rate.

Purchasing college textbooks has never been a pleasant experience for many students since prices tend to be extremely expensive, used copies are hard to find and new versions of textbooks are frequently updated, which makes it more expensive for students to buy and difficult to sell the previous version of the book.

“When it comes to selling back books on campus, there is always an issue. Like one time they said they are no longer using this edition,” said Neha Kamboj, a communications major.

That’s where Bigwords comes in. BigWords.com is a Web site dedicated to finding the cheapest prices for students and getting the students the most money back when selling their textbook. The site has been around for eight years, and Bigwords already has an application out for those who have an iPhone. However, the app is about to get new features.

The 1.1 version will allow students to set personal settings when trying to find the best deal and condition of a textbook. The settings will range from how much they are willing to spend to the quality of the book that they are looking for. There is also a section in the settings where the user can put what affinity program they belong to, for example, Barnes & Noble membership, Amazon Prime, Half.com and others.

Bigwords also has a share feature that will allow the student to post on their Facebook or Twitter account a link to show the prices that BigWords.com found.

“Purchasing multi-book orders with us saves students $225 on average,” saif Jeff Sherwood, CEO of BigWords.com.

Sherwood recognized the problem of selling college books back when he was a student and decided to help other students. In 1998 he launched Bigwords, first solely as retail, but the company did not do so well. Sherwood bought the remains of the company and later came up with the current version of Bigwords.

According to the Web site, Bigwords is “bigger, oranger, better looking, and better smelling than any other textbook store.”

The site allows anyone to find the cheapest books. An iPhone is not needed to buy or sell books, but with it a student has the ability to find out if buying a certain college book really is that great of a deal with just a click of a button.

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