Used textbooks

[vector601]

Hey yall, I will be lauching a new site www.textbookamerica.com. Lauch date is set for Mar "05".
Textbook America will be an online website for students to buy and sell their used textbooks, "Why not get more and paying less?". So... for those of you in College, the site will be hosting all CSU & UC colleges in California.

You will hear more info as we get closer to the lauch date.

To be continued....support an avid zilvia member!!!.

[rainier]

good job. finally somewhere else where i can sell my books.

[Inland180]

yeah finally... cuz those bookstores rip you off!!!

[FRpilot]

yes for real.. at sjsu you pay 120 for a brand new hardcover book. and then when u sell it back. its used and used ones go for about 90 for hardcover so they give you ridicoulous amount like 20% of that so you get maybe $25 for your used hardcover you paid 120 for!!

[wingsnthangs]

Theres a couple sites like this where students can sell textbooks through ads and such, but it's just a matter of how popular it gets. It all comes down to advertsing and marketing, and how quickly it can spread by word of mouth. Try working with thefacebook.com or xanga.com or something that's really exposed to students. Ive yet to see a site liek this to be as popular as autotrader or craigslist, etc.

[vector601]

Yeah, I've had this idea for about 2yrs now. I never really did anything about it. The web site is currently being work on and I hope it will workout. Like you guys said, its all up to the students and if they want to take the extra step. As for marketing and promoting the site I have some ideas. Hopefully things will come together and I can save you guys some money.

[Agent_S13]

yes for real.. at sjsu you pay 120 for a brand new hardcover book. and then when u sell it back. its used and used ones go for about 90 for hardcover so they give you ridicoulous amount like 20% of that so you get maybe $25 for your used hardcover you paid 120 for!!

Heh, reminds me of the Business Law class I took (Bus080 at SJSU) one semseter. Paid $120 for the hardcover textbook and at the end of the semester --- bastards said they'd give me a generous $7 for it. $7 freakin bucks! I laughed in their faces and kept he book. Now I have a visual reminder of why I'll never give another dime to that damn school! :down:

Good luck with your site. You always see these book sites advertise at the beginning/end of every semester/quarter/school year. I think you need to meet the expectations of every other book exchange/buying/selling site that exists and add to it --- create a community around it for all year visability.

In addition for people to register to browse/contact/buy/sell books --- invite these people to frequent the site on a regular basis. Make it the "IT" location of the internet for textbooks. Ebay originally started this way with it actually being a place where people could converse -- like a forum. Why not implement it that way... you're bound to have a pretty good sense of membership there. Include a messageboard, articles, reviews of stuff, anything related to college life --- shouldn't be that hard to find willing journlism majors to write articles and copmanies that want to reach out to the target demographic.

Then when you finally start to challenge a larger textbook reseller, sell out to 'em... take the cash and walk away. Hahah Maybe that's the lazy part of me... take the money and run! Let someone else handle the new competition, the complaints from current members, the overhead costs to keep the site going, etc.

Wow...I need to definitely find a job related to my major. Either that or I stop posting random business plans that pop into my head based on threads like these. ;)

-Aaron
'91 240sx coupe

[nightwalker]

whooo hooo! used books rule! I still got shit load of old college text books. ya want em?

[vector601]

Hey guys thanks for the support and recommendations. I'm creating this site for you guys. I'm graduating this Friday WHOO....HOOOO..I'll try my best on making this thing work. As of right now it's me, myself, and I. excluding the hired web builder.

[FastBack 240]

I traded in 3 today and only got back a 1/3 of what i paid. The three books I only got 110 back. Bastards.

[vector601]

Sorry to hear that that's why im creating textbookamerica.com. I hate selling my books back for $10 after I spent $120 on it. They like saying "sorry we're not using that book next semester". What butt faces tuition is high enough. Dam do they want people to go to college or what? It dont seem like it.